Wednesday morning’s news was littered with reports of Roberto Di Matteo sacking by Chelsea after their 3-0 defeat in Turin.
Many were surprised by the Russian billionaires harsh reaction but let’s be honest patietence is not his strong point, A very scary and quite informative stat is that at 262 days in charge, Di Matteo lasted longer than previous Abramovich managers Villas-Boas (256), Avram Grant (247) and Luiz Felipe Scolari (223).
Di Matteo has won the Champions League and FA Cup in his short tenure as Chelsea manager and seemed to have the fans and most importantly the influential players on side, last seasons disappointing 6th place finish was poor but this seasons start has been good, even if you take in to account only winning two in the last eight, and they sit in third in the Premiership.
You get the feeling that Di Matteo was never Abramovich’s first choice as manager and his sacking, at some stage, was inevitable as Abramovich always wanted a superstar manager and that he felt that Di Matteo wasn’t “big time” enough for Chelsea.
So today Rafael Benítez has been linked to what is fast becoming the job no one will want in English football, Pep Guardiola is also linked but I can’t see him rushing to be the next manager at Stamford Bridge.
Will the Chelsea fans welcome Benitez at the bridge after his poor performance and negative tactics at the back end of his term at Anfield, I doubt that, will they want him instead of the popular Di Matteo, I doubt that even more.
Guardiola will be the Russians first choice but will he end his self enforced break from football to jump back in at Chelsea mid-season?, you would suggest that he would wait until next season.
It felt like Abramovich wanted the Champions League more than anything else and a succession of managers failed to deliver his expectation….with the exception of the Italian who know joins millions on the unemployment figures.
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