Benitez on the edge?
The Mirror recently reported that Benitez’s two-month reign at Stamford Bridge could be nearing an end and the axe could fall as soon as the weekend if Chelsea fail to beat Wigan.
Last weekends 3-2 defeat against Newcastle compounded an already miserable run of results which has seen us lose 2-0 leads against the likes of Southampton and Reading, failure to League One side Brentford and a limp performance away at Swansea in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg…and that’s not even the half of it.
The Blues support haven’t wavered in their opposition to Benitez despite some critics claiming that their anti-Benitez chants were having a negative effect on the team’s performances but the fans understand that any manager will have difficulty with absences because the squad is so small and the former Inter manager is only a symptom of the problem, but they just don’t like him because he showed a lack of respect towards them in the past and has shown no hint of remorse since whilst an apology isn’t forthcoming.
Roman Abramovich is allegedly furious over the team’s results and we’re all hoping that he is as sick of Benitez’s daft excuses as we are. The Russian is also concerned that the Spaniard’s failures will see us drop outside the top four in a second successive season and failure to qualify for the Champions League isn’t an option as there’s plenty of work to be done on the squad and staff over the summer as this season has been an abject disaster.
It’s also thought that Chelsea’s technical director Michael Emenalo, who is almost as unpopular as the manager, is also in line for the chop as he pushed for Benitez to replace fan favourite Roberto Di Matteo and is responsible for our unbalanced and small playing squad.
Will we see Benitez’s name scrolling along on Sky Sports’ yellow ticker including the words ‘has departed Stamford Bridge…’ if Chelsea fail to beat Wigan?
The only possible upside to this whole catastrophe is that almost any manager is going to seem like a breath of fresh air after Benitez and I’m hoping that lessons have been learned by the board. The fans have backed the club even when decisions have been made that they don’t like or agree with but they warned the club not to appoint this man, it’s going to take some doing to repair the situation.