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.