The Chelsea Rota

A few days ago Chelsea made an astonishing decision which was to sack Roberto Di Matteo after only 6 months in the job. Interestingly only 6days more then Andre Villas Boas lasted at Chelsea. So are Roman Abramovich's sights aimed too high? What exactly did Di Matteo do wrong? How many more managers will fall into the Abramovich trap? Is Benitez really the right man for the job? We will cover all of this in this post.

So Di Matteo won the Champions League, FA Cup and bought 2 world class players in the summer transfer window. Not bad for someone who was only sacked from West Brom the previous year. For probably 95% of the Chairman in the world that is a dream come true. Your club winning trophy's, buying world class players and being debt free in the same year. So how on earth can Mr. Abramovich justify the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo? He connects and gets on with everybody at the club. He is loved by nearly everyone at club. He has the players playing the best football of their life and yet this is not good enough for Mr. Abramovich. This simply amazes me.

Some people tried to view the whole situation from Mr. Abramovich's point of view... He has lost 3 games on the bounce, their losing ground on the title race, they are in danger of leaving the Champions League and El nino is still misfiring. Could you imagine how long Fergie or Wenger would have lasted at Stamford Bridge? Now I'm not the betting kind but, I think that they would have probably both lasted a maximum of 6 months in the job.

If you look at previous managers from Chelsea that have gone on to better things since their short stints...

Since 2000:

Claudio Ranieri (2000-2004) - Valencia, Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan, A.S Monaco
Jose Mourinho (2004-2007)- Inter Milan, Real Madrid
Avram Grant (2007-2008)- Portsmouth, West Ham, Partizan
Luiz Felipe Scolari (2009-2010)- Palmeiras
Guus Hidink (2009-2009) - Russia, Turkey, Anzhi Makhachkala
Carlo Ancelotti (2009-2011) - Paris Saint Germain
Andre Villas-Boas (2011-2012) - Tottenham Hotspur
Roberto Di Matteo (2012-2012) - None yet
Rafa Benitez (2012-present)

That is 9 managers in 12 years. They are all top managers as swell that have all proven themselves on the highest level (even Abram Grant).

Although Mr. Abramovich's sacking method is quite unorthodox it does though seem to be effective. Since 2000 Chelsea have won a champions league title, 3 premier league titles, 5 FA Cups, 2 league cups and 3 Charity Shields. So they haven't done too bad despite this endless chain of sacking managers.

Now this ludicrous decision so sack Roberto has already been made it is time for Chelsea fans to suck it up and move on. Life under Rafa starts now and he will have a big job under his hands to win over Chelsea fans. A large part of that responsibility will also rely in feet of Fernando Torres. If Rafa can't get the best out of him at Chelsea then nobody can. Let's not forget Rafa's track record which is absolutely brilliant. I though remain unconfident that Rafa Benitez will do well at Chelsea. I fear that he will not have enough time at Chelsea and he will be subject to an upset from the players who may still remain in a state of frustration at the sacking of did Matteo considering how close he was to all of the players at Chelsea. So Rafa has a job not just on the pitch but off it as well. Rafa may also feel that he is simply just warming the Chelsea managerial seat for a certain former Barcelona manager. I think his name starts with P... Pep someone. Anyone have a clue who? I hear that Mr. Abramovich is particularly fond of Pep and sees him as the perfect man to take Chelsea forward. Now that would be a risky job!


Interesting times for Chelsea fans, this decision could really go one of two ways.

By Chip