Chelsea fans, this is the man you ought to despise!
The news is Rafa Benitez survived his rant at the club supporters and his interim status. The Chelsea board voted to let him continue.
What one doesn't get is why fans are lining up against Rafa? Probably because he is low hanging fruit. Their ire should really be directed at Roman Abramovich who's hiring and firing seems driven by something more picayune than any futuristic vision.
Andre Villa-Boas if he had been granted his second season at the club with the present talent at his disposal, would have been challenging Man Utd for the title. After a slow start, Spurs are the brightest spark in the league buoyed by a young coach and his philosophy and eagerly accepted by younger, fresher faces. You can see the shared excitement of a new discovery. This is not a cabal of cynical, brainwashed veterans who decide who they will play for and when. Even Jose Mourinho was shunted out after a player revolt led by John Terry who went up the chain straight to Peter Kenyon and said in gist, "Its my way or the highway."
AVB's predecessor Carlo Ancelotti, an AC Milan legend, despite winning them the league and the FA Cup found himself out of a job in the midst of his second season, after his assistant was bewilderingly axed. His cerebral approach typified by the arching left eyebrow did not sit well with the new chain of command. The manner of his firing should sit in first place in the hall of shame. Now, he's settled at PSG, Chelsea's very, very near East version, with a less whimsical group of owners. Doing well, one might add.
With the constant parade of managers traipsing in and out, even after three league titles, a couple of FA Cup, and the glittering Champions League prize, almost a decade after Abramovich's takeover, Chelsea feels curiously stillborn. What exactly have they accomplished? An enviable style of football? A quarry of homegrown talent that they can mine? Their pixilated goals include resuscitating a £50m boondoggle. Casting envious eyes at Bayern spiriting away Pep Guardiola. Crashing out of the CL the following season, a new low for Europe's champions.
Stamford Bridge is the King's Landing. With a Game of Thrones mentality, is it any wonder a coach worth his salt would consider Chelsea his home? Rafa was foolhardy taking this job, rusty after being out of one for a couple of years. He's not at fault. The owner who has poisoned the well, is. Take him on. Boo him, berate him, direct your fire and brimstone at him.
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