The first three matches of Rafael Benitez’s reign as the new Chelsea manager has been littered with protests over his appointment as fans try to come to terms with the dismissal of Stamford Bridge legend Roberto Di Matteo.
Benitez failed to register a win in his first three matches, before an ultimately fruitless 6-1 defeat of Nordsjaelland in the Champions League. The Blues will not make it to the next round, due to other results.
Up until the 6-1 defeat, Chelsea had gone seven matches without a victory. That is their worst run in seventeen years.
He was not responsible for their Champions League situation, but was taunted heavily by home fans.
Are the taunts at justified?
Surely the real blame lies at the feet of Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich. In a relatively short space of time, the oil tycoon has transformed the club from near-bankrupt title pretenders to opulent European champions.
That rise in stature has come at a price however. The Russian billionaire runs the club like a dictatorship.
Abramovich is the person – and seemingly the only person – who makes important decisions at the London club. He is the one who decides who should take over as coach and then he decides to get rid of them whenever he feels like it, even if they recently delivered the biggest prize in European football.
Di Matteo is not the first manager to feel the ice-cold wrath of Abramovich. Carlo Ancelotti was sacked a year after winning the League and FA Cup double. Avram Grant was axed after leading his team to their first Champions League final.
Multiple title winner Jose Mourinho ‘mutually agreed’ to leave the club after success was no longer guaranteed.
Andre Vilas-Boas was brought in to reinvent and rejuvenate the team but was shown the door because he was no longer relying on the older players that had brought success in the past. It makes no sense.
Abramovich has had ten managers since he took control of the club. Ten managers in less than ten years. It seems to me that the club continues to try and solve problems in the same way and yet expects different results.
All managers need time to be successful at a club. Building a team and developing a playing style takes patience. Alex Ferguson has proved this by becoming one of the most successful managers of all time despite almost being sacked early in his Manchester United tenure.
Chelsea mangers aren’t afforded the same luxury. Success must come quickly and must be achieved in style. The managers also have to work with a team that consists of players that they didn’t choose.
Abramovich buys players that his managers did not want and then insists that the managers field them. Is it surprising that Fernando Torres has failed to fire in a blue shirt when none of his managers have had confidence with him up front?
Benitez, however, should have confidence in Torres. The two had a prospering partnership at Liverpool but ‘El Nino’ no longer looks like the player who ruled the pitch at Anfield.
Any man that steps into the managerial shoes at Stamford Bridge will know that it is an impossible task to keep the owner happy, but Benitez now also has to worry about changing the views of the fans.
The fans, however, need to give Benitez a break and redirect their jeers towards Abramovich, who sits in the stands like a king surveying the realm he has created, but is now busy destroying.
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