Roman's Merry Go Round

When I woke this morning my first thought was to write a piece on Rafael Benitez's new book Champions League Dreams co-written with the excellent Rory Smith. But having seen the news of the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, what signal does this send out to a Chelsea supporter. Di Matteo joins managers thrown off the Roman Abramovich merry go round such as Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas Boas. Unlike the names mentioned above, unluckily for Avram Grant, Roberto Di Matteo succeeded at the holy grail of the owner in bringing the European Cup to Stamford Bridge.

Fast forward six months, since Chelsea Football Club's greatest moment, Roman pulls his trigger finger and another manager bits the bullet at the Bridge. Where to next for Chelsea supporters who have seen their fair share of managers in the last decade as mentioned above. Is winning the European Cup good enough for a manager to be given time, surely in the real world I would say yes but the poison chalice that is the Chelsea managerial position is not for the faint hearted.

Now so quickly after firing Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea hope to announce a successor TODAY. If that isn't an indication that he was being undermined behind the scenes puts into context some of their performances recently. According to the BBC, they have indicated Rafael Benitez was contacted before Tuesday's defeat. If there is any manager that could get the best out of Fernando Torres it is Rafa, his record under Rafa compared to his time at Atletico Madrid and Chelsea are poles apart. Some Liverpool supporters might say, Chelsea don't deserve a manager of Rafa's quality, I believe Rafa being the professional that he is would jump at the chance of managing what is a talented squad of players at his disposal.

If he is appointed as the new manager of Chelsea, he will have an owner that will back him unlike Gillett and Hicks. As Rafa said in his book, "For Five Years I Had Being Manager of Liverpool. By the start of my sixth,  I had become something else entirely. I was suddenly supposed be a bank manager" - the one thing is for sure he won't have to be a bank manager or have his transfer budget wiped away under his nose to fulfil a 30 million interest payment owed to two banks.

Chelsea and Benitez, could be the perfect fit the way it was supposed to be with Liverpool and Benitez until the two Americans and Christian Purslow road through the Shankly Gates. Should be interesting day ahead to see does the appointment come to pass. If I was a Chelsea supporter and an admirer of the Milan sides of the late 80's/early 90's get ready for the ardent student of Arrigo Sacchi.