Is Chelsea losing it? Rafa!

By Kolawole Ilori

“We don’t need to give away stupid plastic flags to our fans to wave. Chelsea fans lack passion.” Rafa Benitez 2007

Will this statement amongst many of them haunt Rafael Benitez? Will he bring in the desired passion as the new manager? This and many more are unanswered questions being asked by different sections of the club fans.

Rafa’s appointment has solely been executed by Nigerian Micheal Emenalo; with the former claiming not to have either spoken to nor seen the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abrahamovic. The series of event that unveiled in the wake of the appointment of a once bitter rival of the stamford bridge club then as a Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has been more than shocking, considering the enthusiasm of the followers of the London club.

Since the appointment of Rafa Benitez, Chelsea have lost 12,548 followers on twitter and had 54,362 people ‘unliking’ them on Facebook as at the time of filing this report. This does not seem a good welcome for the manager who has this weekend to win back some hearts at stamford bridge in a tricky fixture against the English premier league defending Champions and leaders Manchester City.

Rafael Benitez assured fans at the press conference last evening of his decision to continue with club legend John Terry as captain of the London outfit.

Rafael Benitez told Chelsea fans he and they wanted the same things after arriving for his first day at the training ground following his controversial appointment as interim manager.

It is impossible not to deduce part of Benitez’s appeal to Abramovich was his relationship with £50million flop Fernando Torres, who he helped make one of the best strikers in the world at Liverpool.

Benitez began the challenge of winning round his new club’s players and supporters this morning, something that could be helped by the addition of a former Blues star to his coaching staff.

Boudewijn Zenden has become Benitez’s assistant, according to the Dutchman’s father and agent – although the Spaniard could still face an uphill battle with supporters for whom he has long been a hate figure.

With Benitez deciding to bring in his fitness trainer, goal keeper trainer and the choice of ‘Bolo Zenden’ former Chelsea player who also played under Rafa at Anfield between 2001-2004

Rafael Benitez replaces Roberto Di Matteo’s at Chelsea

Chelsea have appointed former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez as interim manager until the end of the season.

Previous manager Roberto Di Matteo was sacked on Wednesday following the 3-0 Champions League defeat by Juventus.

Benitez’s short-term appointment could pave the way for owner Roman Abramovich to make a summer approach for ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

Benitez, 52, becomes the Blues’ ninth manager since Abramovich took over in 2003.

 

Watch out for more on this page.                                                                                                                       source – bbc sports

Chelsea Football Club of London part ways with Former Player, Manager Roberto Di Matteo.

Roberto manager has been sacked by Chelsea, following what the club described as a string of results that were not good enough.

Only last season the Italian led the club a Champions League title at the first time of asking.

Here we look at Di Matteo’s career highs and lows:

1970: Born 29 May in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to Italian parents.

1988: Starts career as a midfielder with Schaffhausen.

1991: Joins FC Zurich.

1992: Joins FC Aarau and wins the Swiss Super League in his only season at the club.

1993: Moves to Lazio in Serie A.

1994: November – Makes Italy debut as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Croatia in qualifying for Euro 96.

1996: Joins Chelsea, then managed by Ruud Gullit.

1997: April – Scores his first international goal in a World Cup qualifier against Poland which Italy won 3-0.

May – Scores what was then the fastest ever goal in an FA Cup final, netting after 42 seconds against Middlesbrough as Chelsea go on to win 2-0.

1998: March 29 – Scores as Chelsea again beat Boro 2-0 to win the League Cup.

May 13 – Wins Cup Winners’ Cup with 1-0 win over Stuttgart in the final.

2000: May 20 – Scores the only goal of the game against Aston Villa to win the FA Cup for a second time.

2002: February – Retires due to injury aged 31 after failing to recover from a broken leg he suffered 18 months earlier in a UEFA Cup tie with St Gallen.

2008: July – Appointed manager of MK Dons in League One.

2009: May – Misses out on promotion as the Dons lose their play-off semi-final on penalties to Scunthorpe.

June – Appointed manager of Championship side West Brom.

2010: May – Wins promotion to the Premier League as the Baggies finish second in the Championship.

2011: February – Sacked by West Brom.

June – Appointed assistant manager to Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea.

2012: March – Named the Blues’ interim coach after Villas-Boas was sacked.

May 5 – Wins the FA Cup as Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final.

May 19 – Leads Chelsea to the greatest achievement in the club’s history as they win the Champions League by beating Bayern Munich on penalties in Munich.

June 13 – Appointed Chelsea’s permanent manager and first-team coach on a two-year contract.

Nov 21 – Chelsea announce they have parted company with Di Matteo, the night after a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Juventus makes their qualification out of the group stages unlikely.

The Italian won 24 of his 42 games in charge of the club but, after their 3-0 defeat to Juventus left them in danger of missing out on the knockout stages of the Champions League, Chelsea have decided to end his tenure.

“The team’s recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season.”
Chelsea statement

Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and ex-Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez have emerged as the early favourites to replace Di Matteo.

However, former tottenham hotspurs manager Harry Houdini Redknapp and former stamford bridge boss Jose Mourinho have also been mentioned as contenders for the position.

“The team’s recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season,” read a statement on the club website.

“The club faces a difficult task ahead in qualifying for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League as well as maintaining a strong challenge for the top of the Premier League while competing in three other cup competitions.

“Our aim is to remain as competitive as possible and challenge strongly on all fronts.

“The owner and the Board would like to thank Roberto for all he has done for the club since taking over in March.

“Roberto helped guide us to an historic Champions League victory and a seventh FA Cup. We will never forget the huge contribution he has made to this club’s history and he will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge.

“The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first team manager.”

Chelsea’s defeat in Turin means they must beat Nordsjaelland in their final group game in a fortnight’s time and hope Juventus lose to the already-qualified Shakhtar Donetsk in order to reach the last 16.

Allied to a run of four Premier League games without a win, Di Matteo’s position as manager at Stamford Bridge had come under increasing scrutiny just months after signing a two-year contract.

Rafa Benitez is the early front-runner to replace Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea boss. Bet now.

Di Matteo was handed a permanent deal after leading the Blues to Champions League and FA Cup success having replaced previous boss Andre Villas-Boas in March.

However, he has become the latest manager to fall victim to Roman Abramovich’s axe after risking the owner’s wrath by dropping record signing Fernando Torres for the Juventus game and radically overhauling his tactics.

Di Matteo had taken more than an hour to emerge for his post-match press conference before taking full responsibility for the result.

He said: “I’m responsible for the result. I’m responsible for the performance. It’s a negative evening for us.

“If anyone has to take the blame, it’s me. I selected a team I was convinced was the right team to win against Juventus, or get at least a draw, so the blame belongs to me.”

He added: “I’m responsible for positive and negative results. This is what I do.”

The owner and the Board would like to thank Roberto for all he has done for the club since taking over in March. Roberto helped guide us to an historic Champions League victory and a seventh FA Cup. We will never forget the huge contribution he has made to this club’s history and he will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge. The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first team manager – read the London clubs website.