Chelsea's Managerial Merry-Go-Round: And Another One Di Matteo Bites the Dust

Photo: Six months ago. Today: .... sacked.

The only thing that shocked me about RDM’s abrupt dismissal is that it did in fact catch me by surprise. On many levels, and by many, I do mean all here - there was no way that Di Matteo was ever going to remain a permanent fixture at Stamford Bridge. Not that he’s not deserving of his time to shine, but it’s just not how the club is going to operate under Roman Abramovich. We all learned it as quickly as it took Roman to say Ranieri’s name.

And if I’m being honest, I had my own questions about the tactical nous that Di Matteo possessed for the long term success of the club. There’s a bit of guess work and a lot of luck certainly helped Chelsea achieve the heights that they did under the club legend. Maybe I didn’t want to get too attached to him in the role to avoid the shock of this morning’s chop. 

That being said, and despite my own hesitations, I was fully behind Di Matteo and think that a big f*ck off shiny European trophy with bonus FA Cup success should be more than enough to keep the man until the end of his contract. It wasn’t a ridiculous Pardew sized contract - but a short and sweet one to give a little stability to a club very clearly in transition. 

Coming to a Club Near You... Managerial Special

Roman may need to remove Meireles
hair from Hazard's face before showing
him to Pep.

At the time Chelsea were on the brink of a Champions League exit crouching manager hidden ginger was shown the door at Stamford Bridge, there was a need to fill his D&G suit. With managers like Rafa Benitez putting himself forward, there was obvious panic throughout supporters to get someone in because, there was just no physical possibility that he would be able to fit into Villas Boas’ suit. It is unconfirmed that the designers of club sponsored suits, Dolce & Gabanna, have refused to make a suit Rafa size.

Although a lot of other names were bandied about, I decided to investigate the possibility of the man I thought was going to take over last summer, Brendan Rodgers. Speaking to a source close both to the club and Rodgers, it was mentioned that the likelihood would be he would be at “a big club next season.” With hard-pressing subtle follow-up questions like “a big club that plays in blue?”, it’s no surprise the answer was merely a shrug of the shoulders and a wink. Of course this has meant months of smugness quiet confidence. Rodgers has been fantastic at Swansea and although publicly dismissed a move to Chelsea this season, could have been swayed back. So, it’s no surprise after this investigative journalism, that it appears that Brendan Rodgers is on the brink of joining a big club a club that plays in blue Liverpool.

Liverpool had previously been in for Roberto Martinez, but meetings appeared to break down when the big boy papers had nothing to discuss about Martinez except for the poor choice of shoes he wore to the meeting. I’m not implying that John W. is swayed by terrible fashion choices, but after the match reports following their FA Cup loss were more disappointed in Kenneth’s Merseyside formal wear than the poor first hour performance of the club, it’s evident who is making the decisions in the Henry household how much Henry understands about American soccerball football.