A headline that will shock and surprise many..... Caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo is struggling to impose himself with the Chelsea players because he is so unpopular in the dressing room. I can only see one reason why any decent manager would want to manage Chelsea, the size of the pay off you get when sacked. To me Chelsea are starting to show the danger of building a club on one man's money with no apparent connection with history, fans or consequence. I don't want to drag up the derby again but in all the anger we saw two managers and two sets of players who seemed to understand what football was all about up here and TBF two owners in the stands who looked like fans, not rich men with a toy.
If this really the case then no wonder AVB struggled. diMatteo was one of them until recently and was part of the Chelsea rise to power. I have that feeling that the owner deserves the players and vice versa. Chelsea has always been a cosmopolitan club and there is not one shred of affiliation to local folks' they would lose support to Fulham or QPR without the ECL. At the current rate maybe Abramavich will sell up and buy a Russian club.
Totally agree Syd....Knifings in the back...deceit...high politics...money...power.....debauchery(nice) ....violence..... defeat.....Its like a mirror of "The Rise and Fall Of The Roman Empire"....(see what I did there?...Ill get me coat)
Chelsea seem to be in the position where certain players seem to have far too much influence with the owner. Whilst this mindset prevails, it will always be difficult for a manager.
Not starting to, Syd, have been for some time. Terry is a nasty piece of work and their "established" stars all follow his lead. Abramovitch should have let AVB clear the dressing room out or not hired him in the first place.
I agree, AVB was always young inexperienced and needed time, backing and help. Would he have made it, who knows, was he given a chance, I think we all know.
I don't want to drag up the derby again but in all the anger we saw two managers and two sets of players who seemed to understand what football was all about up here and TBF two owners in the stands who looked like fans, not rich men with a toy.[/QUOTE] Got to agree with that - there has been load said about the derby but what cannot be disputed is that the managers, players and fat mike for that matter showed what football is really all about on Sunday. As a supporter if you get passion like that from your club you can't really ask for anything more. Simply buying in mercenaries who are only there for the money will never fully bring you success - Jose had passion which is why he was successful whilst he was there - Ancelotti is a top class man manager which is why he had some success - but the rest have all be undermined by the mercenaries and were always going to fail. Arsenal for fourth spot for me this season and Chelsea to implode until they replace the old guard with players with passion.
Absolute joke of a situation and everything that is wrong with modern football and players. It takes 3 years for any manager to truly put his stamp on a football team. 8 months into a period of transition with an obvious need to recycle players, they sack the man they've paid 16m to get released to do it. Why? Because some of those players you've tasked him with recycling have got the hump, threw their toys out and created an atmosphere that will see him fail. Same as Scolari. Chelsea deserve everything they get for me. Di Matteo has no magic wand and cannot suddenly get them all singing from the same hymn sheet. As much as it might benefit the likes of ourselves if they implode, its sad that a club the size of Chelsea is indeed nothing more than a plaything for a billionaire owner.
They need to get rid of some of the elder statesmen out there. With the money they have they could comfortably replace the likes of Cole, Lampard or anyone else who has an over-inflated ego and doesn't respect the manager. Until they do that, I hope they don't get anywhere. I was rooting for them cos of AVB, as I quite like him, but now he's gone they can drop like a stone for all I care.
Maybe they should have got old Brucey boy......but... Steve Bruce could be in line for a return to management in Turkey. The former Sunderland boss, sacked last November, is among candidates being considered by a consortium planning to buy Besiktas.
Anyone see that QPR four year plan TV programme the other night? Briatore and his yes men, getting involved in team matters running around screaming and deciding who should be in the team? 7 managers in 3 years says it all.
I had Sky Sports News on last night and they did a quick feature on Chelsea coupled with some footage of the players driving into training, and even my wife who doesn't follow football spent the whole time saying 'why would anyone want his autograph?' as the likes of Terry and Cole appeared. Team full of twats, and aging twats at that which is why Chelsea will go nowhere but backwards for 2 or 3 years until they all retire. Coles still got it but Terry and Lampard are showing their age, but are completely undroppable. Not ideal for the spine of your team.
These players sicken me to my very core. They have single handedly tried to ruin a young managers career with their idiocy. I feel sorry for their next manager and I hope they get what is coming!
