Roberto Di Matteo sacked by Chelsea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/

scandalous.

 

Manager Roberto Di Matteo has parted company with Chelsea, the club have announced.

Di Matteo won the Champions League and FA Cup as caretaker manager last season and was given a two-year deal in June.

Chelsea managers under Roman Abramovich
•Claudio Ranieri: Sep 2000 to May 2004
•Jose Mourinho: Jun 2004 to Sep 2007
•Avram Grant: Sep 2007 to May 2008
•Luiz Felipe Scolari: Jul 2008 to Feb 2009
•Guus Hiddink: Feb 2009 to May 2009
•Carlo Ancelotti: Jun 2009 to May 2011
•Andre Villas-Boas: Jun 2011 to Mar 2012
•Roberto di Matteo: Mar 2012 to Nov 2012

But in the wake of the 3-0 defeat to Juventus, which has left the Blues on the brink of a Champions League exit, he has left Stamford Bridge.

"The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first-team manager," a statement said.

Owner Roman Abramovich has made contact with former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez to gauge his interest in taking charge at Chelsea on a short-term basis.

The club's Russian owner made contact with Benitez even before the defeat in Italy as he assessed his options.

After an impressive start to the season, the Blues have won two of their last eight games.

They sit third in the Premier League table, four points behind leaders Manchester City, who they host at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Phil McNulty Chief football writer, BBC Sport Even by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic's sky-high standards, the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo is ruthless. This is the manager who won the Champions League and FA Cup in May. Chelsea's statement claims results and performances have not been good enough - and yet only a month ago they were top of the Premier League after an outstanding 4-2 win at Spurs. The decision makes it even more abundantly clear that Di Matteo was only keeping the seat warm for the first love of Abramovich's footballing life, former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. Will he ever be able to lure him to a club for which managerial instability is a way of life?

Chelsea could become the first-ever Champions League holders to exit at the group stage the season after winning the competition.

The statement continued: "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.

"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."

Former West Brom manager and Chelsea player Di Matteo, who had been working as assistant manager at Stamford Bridge, replaced Andre Villas-Boas in March.

He took over in the wake of Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

But they overturned that deficit with a 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge and secured a 2-2 draw at Barcelona in the semi-final second leg despite having John Terry sent off in the first half at the Nou Camp.

After beating Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup final, they beat Bayern Munich in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in the Champions League final.

They finished sixth in the Premier League and Abramovich waited until June to give Di Matteo the job on a permanent basis.

And after the arrivals of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Victor Moses, they suffered just one defeat in their opening 12 matches before the recent downturn.

Abramovich is now looking for a ninth manager since he took over at Stamford Bridge in 2003.

At 262 days in charge, Di Matteo lasted longer than previous Abramovich managers Villas-Boas (256), Avram Grant (247) and Luiz Felipe Scolari (223).

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is surprised by Di Matteo's departure.

"I'm astonished really," he said. "It just goes to show you how precarious we are as Premier League managers and we can't take anything for granted.

"As far as I'm concerned he's done nothing absolutely wrong. The philosophy was to perhaps change the look of the team which he's tried to do and that doesn't happen overnight.

"He's won two competitions in less than a year so it's unbelievable."

 

I really can't believe this. Roman is a total tool and will never bring long term success to this club.
He's obviously going for Pep, but even then I think even he will struggle.
If I were a world class manager I'd give this club a very wide berth now.

 

It'd be interesting to see how much money Chelsea have spent compensating their managers over the last 12 years.

 

Agree 100%
Chelsea have enjoyed success despite Abramovich, not entirely because of him.
No doubt we'll have other supporters reminding how shabbily Chris Hughton was treated, I'd have to agree with that, but it's becoming beyond reason at Chelsea, I'm at a loss over it!

 

Wonder how much compensation Abramovich would give us for Pards?

 

Codswallop! It is entirely because of Abramovich. Someone above mentioned "long term success" - what exactly is 1 Champs League, 3 Prem titles, 4 FA Cups and 2 League Cups since 2004? That's more than a trophy a year and they'll be up there again this time around.

My heart will not bleed for multi-millionaire Di Matteo and any Chelski fan doubting the chairman should shut the ffff up. Would I take that much success at the Toon if it meant I could only see one manager a year at the club?!? Hell yes. Because it might have meant that, come Jan/Summer I'm pondering who comes in, not waiting to crack open the champagne because we don't sell anyone....

And did anyone think Di Matteo was doing a great job?! Looked inept a lot of the time to me. Chelsea are bigger than him, the fans should sit down in the knowledge their 'man' was given a chance, and didn't take it.

 

No real surprise, its his way of doing things. They'll never get the longevity of a Man U until they look to someone long term and build something to last. While he is there though they'll always be competitive. Shocking really, first run of bad games and he is gone. Everyone was spunking over them in the first 6 or 7 games. Benitez till end of season then Guardiola is the rumour. I think they might just go Guardiola straight off the bat personally.

He did keep picking Luis though

 

Always liked Di Matteo, he came over as a very nice guy. However at the end of the day, the piper plays the tune and RA can be a bit ruthless.

Di Matteo won't need to worry about finding a job straight away, but I'm sure there'll be clubs out there that would jump at the chance of getting him.

 

I doubt anyone would be surprised at the sacking of Di Matteo, I'm certainly not fighting his corner, but constant change of manager often causes instability both on the pitch and in the dressing room, it and if a club has a 'Long term plan', perhaps showing some faifth in the manager running the club and keeping his job is a start.

 

New manager will be employed before January, when Chelsea will sign Radamel Falcao who will be 100 times better than Torres (who will probably go the other way to Atletico) and new manager will get all of the credit for Chelsea's much improved form.

Benitez is the favourite at the minute, as a United fan I'd be more than happy with that.

 

My point was, what's a "long term plan" actually mean? For a club like, say, Brighton it involved or continues to involve a bit of investment, stability, new ground, stable management with a view to getting the $$$$$$ from promotion. That's a plan, it makes sense. Lesser clubs, who don't sit at the top table, have a plan to better themselves. Even we had one, eventually. But for Chelsea? I don't know there is one, they are already at the top table, they are global. Their goal is no longer "long term", it's game by game to STAY there. In 2002, there probably was a plan, which mainly involved investing heavily in branding and players and, ultimately, winning trophies. That's their model, and 10 trophies in just 8 years suggests two things - it worked, and enough money guarantees success. There is no long term plan any more - there is just the need to keep winning matches in the most lucrative of competitions; Di Matteo is failing at that, they are at risk of going out. Last year, every man and his dog could see that they were arguably the least deserving winners of the CL. Ever. RA knows this, and wants a bigger, better manager in so they can keep global status. Simples.

 

Suppose it is a good job for someone who wants to earn a load of money in a short time

.... think I may apply

 

I'm sure you'll get it!

 

I've had a look on the Chelsea forum, they seem pretty outraged at the decision, whilst appreciating the owners financial input and the success the club has enjoyed, it has not gone down well so far.

 

Roman Abramovich has no respect, no manners and overall is just another greedy **** of a businessman.

 

Reaction has been the same on the SSN phone lines. Only really one emailer seemed to think it was a good idea and came out with the usual line when someone gets sacked "he had no plan B". What a cliche remark. I don't think it will send them on a spiral, they have too many good players and too much money. But their fans like most fans are fed up with the fickle nature of it all. It all seems very cold and difficult for a fan to associate with. I think they love the money (who wouldn't when you sign Oscar or Hazard) but just want to see something that won't crumble when Romans time passes.

 

I wonder how much it would cost RA to snare AF away from Man Utd?

I'd like to see that.

 

If I'm honest WP, as much as I know you wont be shedding any tears about the sacking, I have found in the past that you are the one that reminds us it's 'Business' and we have to move on when we've sold players or made decisions that have probably affected us emotionally.
I truly believe Abramovich wants success, de Matteo will probably get a fair pay off to soften the blow, but who'd want the Chelsea job other than someone who thinks, 'Well if it doesn't work out, there's always the money'? What a legacy for Chelsea!

 

It is a business but not a normal business. Fans have an emotional attachment to their club, often over the whole course of their life. This means they take both a short and a long term view. Its a shame for Chelsea fans they have to continually take to a new man at the helm and have this plaything stigma attached to their club. Of course the blow is softened by regular success and that is what Roman would say is the trade off for his indulgence. At some stage he'll go though. Saying that I think you also have to recognise the good he has done for the long term health of the club with infrastructure etc. I just think if they could find a young manager who could grow with the club like SAF at Man U, they'd be much better served over the long term. Roman would argue those days are over though. His legacy at the club will always be sullied by his trigger happy nature.

To be honest you get so well paid there and so well resourced, not many managers would pass on the opportunity. As Minx points out, its a short route to a lot of cash and they'll have no trouble getting just about anyone. I prefer the long term route and think a legacy is about more than just winning things. Others see it differently of course.