The most ridiculous job

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Chelsea have once again departed company with another manager and the backlash from the Chelsea faithful is once again one of despair and anger.

The sacking of Di Matteo was greeted with disappointment from a large section of the Blues supporters, many feel Di Matteo had done a fantastic job since taking over, but it was the circumstances which sparked the departure that many fans see as unwarranted and disrespectful to the work the former manager had put into the club.

Di Matteo had delivered Abramovich what all former managers didn’t  the Champions League title, the one trophy which had eluded Abramovich for so long.

There is much evidence to show that Di Matteo should have been given far more time his record deserved, but that is not in the mindset of Abramovich or his somewhat ruthless and slightly deluded pursuit of total football domination.

What Abramovich constantly fails to see or understand is that managerial stability is the long term key to greater success rather than short term instant rewards, this is one of the reasons why Manchester United have dominated the Premier League, although this approach has worked for Abramovich in the past, over time it simply will not deliver on his personal ambitions for the club, hence why so many mangers have departed through the door of the bridge.

But what crime has Abramovich really committed here? Well to be honest absolutely none, Abramovich is the owner and he alone decides who is in charge and he alone hires and fires the managerial team. Many may not agree with his decisions or by how he enforces them but it is Abramovich’s call and he will do what he feels will make Chelsea a global force, even if it is perfectly clear to everyone else that this will never happen.

Chelsea simply are not in the same global commercial planet as Liverpool or Manchester United and frankly never will be, Chelsea are sixth in the commercial market according to NASDAQ behind Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Celtic and Aston Villa, but this does not stop Abramovich from pursuing this unachievable goal, and the more intensity he throws into this fantasy dream the more managers will be walking out the door of Chelsea. The fact is Chelsea are not as marketable or as worldwide supported as Liverpool or United you only have to look at worldwide supporters polls to see a large gap between LFC, MUFC and Chelsea. Until Abramovich understands this simple but truthful concept the Chelsea fans will have a list of managers that will resemble Jimmy Savile’s abuse list.

It is however ironic that Rafa Benitez has been appointed to succeed Di Matteo, the same Benitez who stopped the special one twice reaching the Champions League final and has never been a fan of Chelsea since 2005, and the feelings are mutual with the Chelsea supporters.

But as Chelsea fans seem dejected by the appointment of Benitez, many see this as once again only a temporary appointment, and a new change is on the cards for the summer, which is totally unacceptable for a club who wants to be a consistent force in the Premier League and Europe.

Let us not forget that we had those pair of conmen Hicks & Gillette who almost destroyed the club with their incompetence and mismanagement so to be honest if we had a owner like Abramovich who won us league titles and kept us in the champions league would we really be complaining that we have a new manager every 18 months? To be honest I think not.

One thing that Abramovich does is spend money and as a fan you cannot complain at all about an owner who invests into the club. But on the reverse side of that is the moral side, does our game have to be run by cynical money obsessed tyrants to be successful? How can you deliver what is required of you as a manager and still be replaced? Ask Di Matteo, Rafa Benitez and to some extent Kenny Dalglish. All delivered trophies but it still wasn’t good enough, only to be replaced and the cycle starts over again.

Abramovich must rethink his managerial strategy or he risks sending Chelsea on a path to nowhere, the trouble with his style of ownership is that he is morally insane but legally he is absolutely right to sack as many managers he wishes, even if they are successful and could have made Chelsea the next Manchester United. 

Which makes any manager think more than twice when taking the most ridiculous job ever.

28 Comments

  1. Nice way to slide Kenny in there. He wasn’t good enough.
    He was given time, and more money than Rodgers got, and we can clearly see already Rodgers has been doing better job than Kenny.
    Finishing 8’th in PL is simply not good enough. When Benitez won us FA cup it was considered not enough, but Kenny wins Carling Cup and suddenly he is the one who got us trophy’s.

    Good read, until the end, when you clearly loose your objectivity when Liverpool or Dalglish is concerned.

    1. Thanks for the comments, Rafa also won us the CL and reached another CL final, Dalglish won us our first trophy in six years and reached another final. The objective wasn’t lost at all it was a comparison in terms of time and achievement’s which all three did within their time. Thanks Brian

    2. rodgers has clearly not done better than kenny . rodgers got us knocked out of the cup we were holders under kenny. he gave us one of the worst starts in our history. he is treading a thin line in the league and in the europa. how exactly is he an improvement????????????

      1. november 2011/12 6th position played 13 gained 23 points.
        november 2012/13 12th position played 12 gained 15 points.
        dont tell me rodgers is doing better as the facts prove you wrong

        1. Rafa earned through player sales as much as he spent on transfers. 6 years in which he won us CL and got us damn close to another CL title and PL title was time well spent considering the drought club has been going through.

          Rodgers was forced to let so many players go and is making new team out of youngsters. Liverpool team is the youngest in PL – fact.
          Kenny spent 110 mil. -fact.
          Rodgers spent 25, couldn’t recoup any of it because all Kenny’s signings were massively over-payed.
          He gotten rid of most of high earners and spent 28 mil.
          Under Rodgers we have younger team that are getting experience and they will have value in 2 years time.

          To compare Dalglish’s Carling Cup glory with Benitez’s Liverpool that was real force in European football is laughable.

    3. To say ‘kenny was given time’ when he had only 18 months is laughable while Benitez had 6 years in charge. Clearly maths isnt your best subject mate!

  2. So Chelsea, according to NASDAQ are not as widely marketable, worldwide as are Liverpool, Man Utd, or even Celtic or Aston Villa even! It would have helped if you had done some research beforehand. NASDAQ is a US stock exchange. Utd, Liverpool, Villa and Celtic are all listed clubs whose shares are available on the open market. Chelsea are not a listed club and is a privately owned institute. Therefore marketability will only be rated by NASDAQ in relation to their marketability on the open (stock) market. A far more reliable rating is issued by Deloittes who rate Chelsea’s rating as 6th worldwide with revenue of £249M. Liverpool’s incidentally is 9th with a revenue of £203m. Revenue is a very accurate measure of marketability. Villa and Celtic do not even appear in the top 20.

    1. Your quoting revenue my friend not marketability or support, Chelsea are not big in Asia, USA or Africa so quoting profits is meaningless mate, thanks for taking the time to comment.

  3. Revenue means marketability.If a firm is not marketable it will not get the revenue. That’s a fundamental basis of finance. A large amount of revenue comes from the US and Asia. Connections in Asia are strong otherwise they would not have one of Asia’s largest electronics firm (Samsung) as sponsors. Just for clarification, NASDAQ referred to those clubs only because they are listed on it due to their American owners. They are the facts of the matter and not the falsely founded, poorly researched beliefs of a one eyed red.

    1. My friend your taking absolute nonsense, Chelsea are one of the most unpopular teams outside the UK, please get your facts right, in the UK Chelsea are very profitable but outside in terms of fan support and commercially (ie shirts and merchandise sales) they are a non starter. please take your own advice and research before you talk. YNWA

  4. Mr Reece, I deal in facts and not assumptions as they do not lie. You make a big reference to clubs marketability according to the NASDAQ. The common denominator is that all of the clubs you mentioned are American owned. Arsenal included. The NASDAQ ratings also make no reference to other UK clubs such as Spurs or Everton or Newcastle. Why so? Because they are not American owned or listed on the NASDAQ. By the way, I know that as I’m in the business. You refer to Chelsea being one of the most unpopular teams outside of the UK. Where are the facts that qualify that? It is merely your opinion and which you cannot prove. Chelsea’s income from overseas has increased considerably over recent years due to a) popularity due to success and b) aggressive marketing and in particular fro the US and Asia. Liverpool’s however, has fallen due to the relative lack of success and inferior marketing and business activities. Overseas fans do not maintain loyalty as fans in the UK do. It’s not passed down from father to son as it is the UK. They have no reason to do so. Chelsea’s overseas revenue 2011/2012 is second only to Man Utd, for UK clubs. The facts are readily available. I think you’ll also find that the CEO of Liverpool has recently stated that the Club’s commercial activities need to improve as they are no where near as good as other top UK teams. Finally, here’s another fact, over the past 5 years 2007-12, the average sale of shirts for the past five seasons is 800,000 for Arsenal, 810,000 for Liverpool and 910,000 for Chelsea.They are official figures issued by pr-marketing plc. As I said, facts do not lie.

    1. Yet again your including total profits not the ones that are just for overseas commercial and merchandise sales if you did Chelsea would be like a market stall compared to Liverpool, Man Utd and even Aston Villa, please fully research your stuff before replying your making yourself look like a fool, just like Chelsea this week. But then again I would rather be owned by Americans than the Russian Mafia, with reference to Chelsea being so popular, I don’t recall many people outside London who love the free plastic flags very much, we don’t need to buy our fans, they come to us, without free plastic flags.

  5. Firstly I’m quoting revenue and not profits. They are totally different. It would be helpful if you knew what you are talking about. Secondly, I’ve provided evidence of commercial sales. Thirdly you keep to Aston Villa. Chelsea’s total revenue is 200% more than Villa. If that is the case then logic dictates that overseas revenue for Chelsea will exceed that of Villa and in fact Chelsea’s overseas revenue is in excess of Villa’s TOTAL annual revenue. Fourthly you fail to recognise, despite being reminded, that the NASDAQ report refers only to those clubs American owned. The report was issued for potential investors, i.e.those investors buying shares in NASDAQ listed listed firms. As I said, I’m in the business and reports such as these are something I deal with on a daily basis.Finally in 2011 Brand Finance issued a report of the Top 30 Most Valuable Football Brands. The top ten were as follows: 1) Man Utd, 2) Real Madrid 3) Barca 4)Bayern Munich 5)Chelsea 6)Arsenal 7)AC Milan 8)Inter 9)L’pool 10) Juve. Villa came in at 25. So far you have provided no evidence to back up your argument, only subjective opinions and have not taken into consideration any other facts that have been presented. If you want to debate then do your research and present your evidence. Also if your talking about finances then make sure you know what your’re talking about because at the present time the fool on this site is you.Oh and don’t slip into standard “plastic fans” rant because it makes you look like a bigger fool.

    1. For someone who “CLAIMS” to be in the business you know as much about overseas merchandise sales and overseas support than Jimmy Savile did about child protection, for example lets take somewhere like Asia, the majority of football fans don’t even know who the plastic flag bunch sorry Chelsea are, look up shirts sales in Asia and USA for Chelsea sales and then compare them to Liverpool’s and United’s, sorry what was that! cannot find them, ITS BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS WHO THEY ARE, Chelsea are a big club in there own mind and your owner needs to fiddle the books to hide his money laundering exercises, problem is Chelsea fans are so occupied by see if they will get a free flag this week they cannot see that there owner is using the club to hide millions, and am sorry that the truth about free plastic flags hurts, but it true, you need to be conned to support Chelsea otherwise he would have to really go for it and give free entry, but then again am sure you and Rupert will enjoy the free flags and cream cakes at half time. YNWA

  6. When I first commented on this site I was hoping to have some kind of sensible debate with the contributor of the article. Some hope! So far you have used incorrectly referred to a NASDAQ report, you don’t know the difference between revenue and profit, you don’t know the relation between revenue and marketability and you have ignored facts and figures. What’s more, you have not provided any proof to back up your “arguments”. If you would care to refer to http://www.tribalfootball.com amongst other sites, you will see that the shirt sales figures I referred to are GLOBAL sales. In case you did not realise global also includes the USA and Asia, and, as the figures state Chelsea shirts sales on average over the past 5 years have exceeded Liverpool’s by 100K per annum! That is undeniable. Global revenue is in excess of Liverpool’s, undeniable fact. Brand value rating and marketability is better than Liverpool’s, confirmed by Deloittes and Brand Finance. Unfortunately, once again, you slip into small club tantrum, we are bigger than you blah, blah blah and that Abramovich is a money launderer (are you sure you know what that is? And if you do then to prove yourself quote the three levels of money laundering) which does you no favours. Frankly that’s a ridiculous statement which displays a small mind attitude because if RA had been money laundering then it’s a more than reasonable assumption that the law would have been involved after ten years. I’ve provided my evidence now you do the same. As for needing to be conned into supporting Chelsea, I’ve no need for that as I’ve probably been going to the Bridge for many years more than you’ve been on this earth and if you want to insult Chelsea fans then that displays a lack of respect for other clubs fans but unforunately that’s no surprise.

    1. HAHAHAHAHA your “evidence” is based on a fan site that isn’t even an official one hahahahaha, what was it again blobbyfootball oh no its Chelseasviewoffootball oh sorry tribalfootball thats it hahahahahahaha and personally I dont think you even knew who Chelsea was when I was born, in fact you chums wasn’t given free tickets for cakes and flags in my day young lad, so take a grip of yourself, when you come back with official revenue of shirts and merchandise plus your global support figures do come back, it shouldn’t take you that long, you only have a couple to count, as for respect please don’t insult real clubs supporters Chelsea have as much respect for clubs supporters as a suicide bomber, you show the personality that your owner wanted to attract, in fact you fit the profile to a tea, arrogant and deluded, oh sorry you are already a Chelsea fan, and by the way about insult and respect, FA Cup Semi Final last year, silence for the Hillsborough victims, ring any bells? No didn’t think so, so please don’t tell real supporters about respect as we all know what you lot are.

  7. Well here’s a surprise. Yet another patronising Mickey that looks down its considerably long nose at others. As for proof I was suggest you look at the following http://www.brandfinance.com, http://www.deloitte.com/uk, http://www.nasdaq.com. The shirt sales figures are quoted by the manufacturer and are available on a number of sites and in particular http://www.pr-marketing.org. Now all of these firms are world wide respected firms but probably unheard of by an innorant oik such as you but probably because you choose not to. Now on more than one occasion I’ve asked you to provide evidence to back up your statements. You haven’t because you can’t and then when you realise what an absolute lunchbox you look you fall into patronising mode. As for a young lad and not a real fan, well I’ve been going to the Bridge since 1965 which is before your mum and dad were even married or perhaps even thought of. So don’t patronise me any further. The simple fact is times change, some get bigger, some less so. You just live in the past like so many other Liverpool fans. By the way,your patronising attitude is one of the reasons why Liverpool fans are despised more so. If you can’t be polite and sensible then go and nick a few more hubcaps. YAWN.

    1. HAHAHAHA brilliant a Chelsea fan telling real supporters how to conduct themselves, your fantastic hahahaha, once again you still are reluctant to provide your massive worldwide support figures, the only reason for that is that unfortunately Chelsea are as big as your Champions League trophy cabinet and the fact that your captain the “Mr Chelsea” JT is a racist not many people in Asia or Africa will even touch you lot with a infected poll, I in turn have asked you on numerous occasions to provide the real sales figures for the sale of club merchandise and club support figures but just like your owner you fiddle the figures to make you look a big club but in reality you a market stall, people overseas don’t need free shirts or flags to support us, our fans buy our shirts, so once again find your supporter figures and the real merchandise sales and come back, that’s after your morning choux bun with Rupert and get felicity to make you a jam sandwich or given your lot track record with people you might stab her, yes you are Chelsea, AND WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, 1965 hahahahaha youngster, beside that hope Rafa does well for you as we all know he really loves Chelsea, oh and you never know you might win the Europa Cup. PS you couldnt afford my hudcaps not unless you you got them for free like your tickets. YNWA

  8. Figures? OK. Liverpool 2011/12 Financial results Total revenue 203.3m. Matchday income 45.3m. Commercial and broadcasting income 157.8m. Average shirt sales over past 5 yrs, figures provided by manufacturers – 810,000. Chelsea – Total revenue 255.9m. Matchday income 67.2m. Commercial and broadcasting revenue 188.7m. Average shirt sales per annum for past 5 yrs 910,000. So there you are, marketing wise you’re no longer in the top rank.
    Official “support” figures are not available because there is no “official” figures only unproven and unnamed “polls” – probably taken within a group of ten living in in Toxteth. As for me and my family – I don’t eat choux buns, I’m an ordinary working class bloke. However, I don’t regard a dead cat as a treat, unlike you. My son’s name is not Rupert, it’s Ryan. He also works for a living (probably unlike you)and is a serving member of the British Army and has just spent six months on the front line in Afghanistan with the Royal Anglian Regiment.He probably has more guts in his little toe nail than you could ever have. Frankly I’d like to call you a prat, but that would be paying you a compliment.
    Please answer a conundrum that’s been bothering me for a number of years – how is it that Liverpool fans like you can talk out of your arse when you have your head stuck up it at the same time.
    Word of advice for you pal, if you want to quote figures and reports learn what they are about and what they are because quite frankly you don’t know what you’re talking about.

    1. Hahahaha loses an argument and then tries to portray that you a simple lad and a hero worshipping family, of course you are mate, course you are, You lot just cannot break out of the matchbox your club is in globally, and you never will, still haven’t proven your blobbyfootballl sorry facts that you simply cannot provide as Chelsea are unknown outside London, but keep believing that one day you will become as big of a club as Liverpool or United or even Celtic, am sure your owner will bribe or launder some more figures and funds to make you lot look a big club, but then again you lot are use to prostituting yourselves for a free flag or a spare free ticket, you still cannot defend your lot actions at the semi final last year but I suppose when you support the ex England captain and your current club captain “Mr Racist JT” who you would all lick his balls if you thought it would get you a free flag, then I suppose what else are real fans of real clubs meant to think, It must be very frustrating supporting a club who wants to be big but without any history before 2005 then it will be difficult to buy any supporter from outside London, Every Chelsea supporter we encounter that loses an argument always magically have someone in the Armed Forces who we are all suppose to feel sorry for and think “wow” sorry mate that one has been used to many times to be even considered truthful, and its an insult to all the real brave men and women who defend us overseas, shame on you, shame on you. But then again you are Chelsea so despicable behaviour is common place for you, matchbox men for a matchbox club. YNWA

  9. Lose an argument? There’s a new one. No facts, no figures, no proof provided by you only heresay and a big mouth. The facts and figures provided by me are available from the Deloitte website.
    Having said that you’d probably have difficulty in reading it given the level of intelligence you show. You have still yet to provide any facts or figures from any verified source.
    As for my son, he is Pte R A Mayes, 2nd Batallion Royal Anglian regiment (The “Vikings”) who returned to Bulford Camp, Wilts on 26/10/2012. Check it out on their website. He was awarded his campaign medal the following week and I am proud of him and the job that he has done. Compared to him and his comrades you are nothing less than a disgrace. My son put his life on the line for toads like you and it is a travesty that he did so.

    1. haha finally you admit you lost the argument, not that you had one in the beginning, Oh please do me a favour you probably using someone else’s brave son you conman, shame on you, you disgraceful excuse of a human, once again you use a public website to tell lies, shame on you. I agree the Armed forces are brave young men and women as a former Royal Green Jacket, then a 289 Commando Volunteer in civilian life, please don’t insult the Armed Forces with your fake lies or use there name in a vain attempt to hide your unresearched shite that you lot keep dribbling out, your so called “facts” are manufacturers sales not shop sales I could sell 10m books to tesco doesn’t mean they would sell them all you fool, get shop figures then come back, but once you do I don’t think I will hear from you due to your shame in the results, the depths of utter gutlessness you lot will swoop still beggars belief, shame on you, utter shame on you, sums you and your club up totally.

  10. By the way, you still haven’t managed to say how it is you managed to talk out of your arse with your held still up it!

  11. So the argument has been lost? Let’s have a recap –

    You refer to a report issued by NASDAQ – but you don’t know what the NASDAQ is.

    You grab some figures from this “report” – but you don’t actually know what the report is about

    You don’t know the difference between revenue and profit

    You refer to clubs being marketable – but you don’t know what marketable or marketability is.

    Looking good so far for your side of the “argument”!

    You fail to understand that marketable and revenue has a direct connection

    You can’t seem to understand that a total revenue of £255m (Chelsea 6th worldwide) is greater than £203m (Liverpool and down from £225m in 2010. 9th worldwide) Source -Deloittes Football Finance Report

    You can’t seem to understand that commercial revenue of £181m (Chelsea) is greater than £158m (L’pool)

    You don’t seem to understand that shirt sales of 910,000 p.a. is greater than 810,000 p.a.

    You can’t grasp that sales of shirts globally includes Asia.

    You fail to comprehend that the report for Football marketability rates Chelsea as $398m(5th) against $367 (9th) – Report BrandFinance Football 50 2012 – The worlds most valuable footbal brands

    This now looks even better for you!

    So, what is the basis for your “argument”

    The supporters polls prove it – but you don’t say which polls these are, when they were done, where they were done, how many “supporters” were polled. But what this actually means is – you don’t know.

    Chelsea will never be popular in Africa or Asia. Why? Cos you say so! (Incidentally in two pre season friendlies in Hong Kong, Chelsea had two sell out crowds of 38,000 plus, whereas Liverpool also played two in Asia. One in China with an attendance of 13,000 and they other not revealed. Well, if Chelsea were not reasonably popular in Asia they would not be sold out).

    Shirt sales of Liverpool in shops are greater than Chelsea’s. How do you know – again it’s because you say so. I can’t give you shop sales. But neither can you as you don’t know them. In fact they’re not even available! But here’s a bit of advice for you, shops don’t buy stock from manufacturers that they can’t sell. If they did they’d go bust. Here’s something else, as the figures provided by the manufacturer say Chelsea are selling 100,000 p.a. more, and as a shirt costs approx £40 each that means at least £20 million unsold stock after 5 years by your way of thinking. Sure there is!

    Well that’s a really convincing basis for an argument.

    So then you say RA is over here only for money laundering. So he’s been here 15 years and money laundering without law having picked it up? Ummm! Actually, you don’t know what money laundering is!!

    So what happens after that? Well you start insulting my family and assume that I’m some upper class toff. So how do you know this? You don’t. As it happens I come from a working class area of north London (Kentish Town), which is Gooner territory. Also and regretfully my family are die hard Spurs fans but fortunately my grandfather took me down the Bridge when I was kid. Unfortunately my wife also follows Liverpool and often went to Anfield,but that was before we were married. I no longer live in London, as my parents could not afford to so we moved out. Then there’s the ultimate insult to my son. I know what he’s done and where he’s been and what he is. I saw him at his passing out parade at Catterick, met him at Bulford on his return (and if you were a squaddie then you’d know what and where these are) and watched him with pride on his homecoming parade in Ipswich two weeks ago. If you were in the Army, then I respect you for that although it is strange that a Scouser would end up in a Buckinghamshire regiment. But don’t call me a liar about my son. I always thought that Liverpool fans were meant to be magnanimous and gregarious. You’ve blown that myth out of the water!

    So, what’s the conclusion – Well basically you’re trying to convince and impress others about something you know nothing about. You’re can’t or won’t read, you can’t or won’t count and you can’t or won’t do your research. And you can’t provide anything to back up what you say other than “I said so”. Not exactly the brightest button on the jacket are we! Not exactly a good example of a supposed true Liverpool fan. Embarrassing!

  12. So you delete my latest post that blows your theory out of the water and also allows me to defend myself. No surprise there! You do your “reputation” proud!

    1. Hahahaha just found this by the off chance. hahahaha you despicable excuse of a human, go and try to hoodwink real servicemen and women families you fraud, hahaha your a true blue hahahha oh hows Rafa loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool mug

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