There will come a time in the not so distant future when Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will run out of managers to fire or at least most of the good ones.
To give you an idea, the trigger happy Russian has terminated six in the last five years. Among them and not restricted to is the most successful manager in the club’s history (Mourinho), a World Cup winner (Scolari), Premiership and two time FA Cup winner (Ancelotti). Seeing the pattern, it is then no surprise that the latest to join this decorated list is the man who last year after taking over mid-season (another sacking) guided the club to not only an FA Cup triumph but also the elusive Champions League trophy.
The Italian was never supposed to last this long though. The plan was for him to come in, steady the ship and be on his way in the summer. Abramovich’s best laid plans went out of the window as Roberto Di Matteo delivered where even the Special One had failed. Chelsea had won the right trophy but seemingly with the wrong manager.
There was a feeling that Di Matteo would eventually be a victim of his own success and a summer shopping spree in excess of eighty million pounds only served to increase that notion. That the Italian was under pressure was an understatement. He began well enough though with Chelsea sitting top of the Premier League in October but you always felt that he was a couple of results away from getting the sack. Those results came in November and ironically it was a failure in a Champions League tie that proved to be the final straw.
Chelsea had dropped to 3rd and not 13th in the league when RDM was shown the door and while he arguably may not have been the right manager in the long term, sacking him mid-season does not make much sense. What is even more puzzling is the man who has replaced him: Rafael Benitez.
There are few managers who are as divisive as Benitez and for good measure. For all the positive qualities he brings to the table, there are some question marks around the Spaniard’s head. Benitez fell out with the boards at all three of his previous clubs for various reasons and even though this arrangement is temporary replacing the seemingly passive Italian with the rather vocal Spaniard is a recipe for fireworks and possible disaster. Rafa’s strong personality is not just restricted for the men in suits. He is likely to care little for reputations. There is the possibility that this may not go down well with the senior players at the club who enjoy a fair bit of clout and who have, if rumours are to be believed, influenced the sacking of more than one manager.
Thirdly and perhaps most crucially in the short term is how Benitez sets his teams out to play. It is believed that Roman Abramovich wants his team to play an attractive and fluid style of football. Why then would you replace the manager who was delivering on that front and replace him with someone who has a reputation for being a cautious manager? It was no surprise then that Chelsea recorded their first clean sheet in eleven games last weekend but failed to score at home for the first time this season. This was followed by another 0-0 score line midweek against Fulham. A decade later and worryingly for football fans in general and Chelsea fans specifically, Abramovich still lacks a coherent plan or vision for his toy.
This is not to suggest that Benitez is a poor manager or that he is guaranteed to fail at Stamford Bridge. Far from it and you could quite easily argue that Rafael Benitez is a better manager than Di Matteo but that does not necessarily mean that he is the right manager for Chelsea. The fans have certainly not taken a fancy to the former Liverpool manager and it remains to be seen if favorable results do eventually placate the Chelsea faithful.
