Why Benitez Is Not Good Enough

We were just boarding a flight back from Turin when we heard the news that Roberto Di Matteo had been sacked following the defeat against Juventus the previous evening. There had been no mumblings or rumours that Roman Abramovich was going to get the proverbial axe out but this didn’t create any special surprise towards the news. Despite the unbelievable and unprecedented success Robbie bought us earlier in the year and a good start to the current campaign, a poor run of form in the Premier League and Champions League bought the Italian’s reign to an abrupt early finish.

Even though Di Matteo had won the all elusive Champions League trophy we all knew, deep inside, that Robbie was a ticking time bomb. Abramovich didn’t want the Italian in the first place and only reluctantly hired him after plan AVB failed and the lack of availability of top class managers in the summer left few other options. The Russian was waiting for the first opportunity to give Di Matteo the boot and that classless act, against a legendary player and manager, has left a sour taste in the mouth. But there was no surprise – we all know how ruthless our owner can be. And besides our love for Robbie, our managerial merry-go-round has bought us more trophies (since 2003) than the managerial stability at Manchester United and Arsenal.

What really left Chelsea fans shaking their heads was the appointment of Rafael Benitez as Di Matteo’s replacement. We all know the history between Benitez and Chelsea – stemming back to the earliest days of the Jose Mourinho reign and extending right up and until Benitez left Liverpool in 2010 – it is a history filled with hate. 

Di Matteo on the touchline at Swansea

So when Benitez walked out of the Stamford Bridge tunnel, was introduced to the home faithful and sat down in the dugout the boo’s that echoed around The Bridge was like something we had never heard before. Booing a new manager before a ball had even been kicked is unprecedented at Chelsea F.C. and possibly the world – but Roman Abramovich and his muppet advisors could not say they where surprised.

Back in March of this year, when Andre Villas Boas was relieved of his duties, Chelsea’s away following, up in Birmingham, let the Chelsea owner know exactly what we thought of the rumours that Benitez was going to be hired at that point. Chelsea fans played a part in the hiring of Di Matteo until the end of that season – and the rest is history (making it)!

However it is not just the rivalry between Chelsea and Benitez that is behind the booing of our new manager. Chelsea fans believe that Rafa Benitez is, quite simply, not a good enough manager for a club of our current stature. Benitez won the Champions League and F.A. Cup in 6 years in charge of Liverpool – Di Matteo duplicated that in 6 months at Chelsea. Benitez bottled Liverpool’s best chance of winning the Premier League in over a decade and his ending days led Liverpool onto the slippery slope they still can’t get off of.

  Anti-Rafa banners and chants are common

He then took over one of the greatest Italian club sides Serie A has ever seen – Jose Mourinho’s treble winning, Champions League winning, Inter Milan. He made them a mid table team after just 6 months and was sacked in December 2010. Since then, until Abramovich gave Benitez a career saving opportunity, he has been out of a job.

And who can argue with the Chelsea fans who still question Benitez’s ability to manage at the top level? His start to his Chelsea career has been poor and has even lacked the honeymoon period that most teams experience after a managerial change. Questionable team selection and in-game substitutions, a consistent rotation of our best players, poor media handling and poor man-management becoming more evident after quotes of displeasure towards Benitez leaked from certain players recently will just lead to Chelsea fans further staking their claim that Roman Abramovich, on this occasion, was so wrong to pull the trigger.

My Memories of Munich

Wednesday 22^nd August 2012. The date we had all been waiting for. A midweek Premier League encounter with newly promoted Reading FC and the first home game of the 2012/2013 season. The welcoming home of the newly crowned Champions of Europe.

As the players emerged from the tunnel all four stands of Stamford Bridge stood and belted out a rendition of “Champions of Europe, we know what we are” that sent a shiver down the spine and almost a tear to the eye. One fan sat behind me in the Matthew Harding Lower stand then aptly commented what we were all thinking, “it sure feels good to be able to sing that”. 

Two months on from the game against Reading and now over five months since the night in Munich there is still that ecstasy, unity and feeling of pride amongst the players, fans and staff of Chelsea Football Club that comes with being European Champions.

We all have our own memories and feelings of the events that took place in Munich during the middle of May. I was lucky enough to have a sufficient amount loyalty points on my season ticket and enough money in the bank to not only join the estimated 35,000 Chelsea fans in Munich but also take my seat amongst the 17,500 blues inside the Allianz Arena for the final. I can happily say that those few days I spent in the capital of Bavaria were the best days of my life and I’m certain I am not alone in saying that.

Knowing that prices were going to rocket and rooms were going to be sold out quick I decided to book my accommodation in Munich as soon as I returned from the pub after watching the magnificent performance against Barcelona in the semi final that confirmed our place as one of two finalists. Being a student and traveling by myself I went for the cheaper option of a hostel rather than a hotel (this was still an average £50 per night) and booked a bed from Wednesday night to Saturday night. I then booked an additional night in Cologne, a two hour train journey from Munich, for the Sunday night. I booked reasonably priced budget airline flights flying from Gatwick to Munich on the Wednesday and returning the Monday morning from Cologne. Somehow, despite adding in costs of extra food and drink for my additional days, this itinerary worked out cheaper than paying ludicrously expensive flights nearer the day of the game.

So having arrived Wednesday evening I must have been one of the first thousand Chelsea fans to arrive in Munich from London. The city was quiet but you could feel some anticipation in the air that a very special event was in the waiting. Already Adidas had positioned marketing ploys around the central Munich square in celebration of the Champions League final and the buzz was certainly building.

The next couple of days I spent just trying to kill time. I knew that most Chelsea fans would arrive late Friday and Saturday morning however there were certainly more Chelsea shirts milling around Munich on the Thursday than the previous day. I took the opportunity to visit the Official Champions League Fan Park where the competition’s museum, the women’s Champions League final, sun, food and drink took the excitement to a new level.

Friday I headed back to the Fan Park where I spent most the afternoon drinking stein after stein in the hot Munich sun, with other Chelsea fans, talking non stop football. There was then a failed attempt to get into the player’s hotel before heading back to the main square in Munich. I followed the noise of the Chelsea fans singing “The RAF from Chelsea” to an Irish bar located just a short walk off Munich’s central square. 

Blue flags were hung around Munich, beer flew down our necks and lumps of celery flew in the air. Tomorrow was the day of destiny.

For me the whole day of Saturday went too slow. I only had a couple of beers as I wanted to be sober for the game but meeting up with the Chelsea fans I had met the previous day and ringing my mum and granddad, both lifelong blues who couldn’t get to Munich, was great. 

I reached the Allianz Arena on a packed train from the central of Munich and headed towards the stadium for the second time that year. When I had been traveling in early April I stopped off at Munich and paid a visit to the stadium, hoping I would be making the same visit on 19^th May. I was and the thought of what was about to happen almost bought tears to the eyes for the first time that evening. We were here. It was finally sinking in. Just hours away from the Champions League final and we were confident Robbie Di Matteo’s blues could bring home the trophy we had experienced so much pain and hurt in trying to win for many years.

Much of the talk in the build up to the final was surrounding the subject of how we would fair without our suspended quartet - captain fantastic John Terry, Brana Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles. They are four players who deserved their place in the starting line-up just as much, if not more, than most of the others players in the squad. JT’s leadership and passion at home against Napoli summed our performance up that night while he’s defensive performance at home vs. Barcelona was inspiring and proved he still has what it takes to perform on the biggest stage. For me Ivanovic was the man of the match in the vital win at home against Napoli and his winner in extra time played a massive part in our run to the final. Ramires’ chip at the Nou Camp speaks for itself while Meireles’ goal against Benfica in the quarter final was a huge moment of relief for all involved with the football club.

However it was our injury concerns to our two centre halves that were most concerning for me. Both Gary Cahill and David Luiz had spent a good few weeks on the injury table racing to be fit for the biggest games of their lives. Our suspended four players were a massive loss but they were replaceable with players who would be playing in their natural positions and I was confident they would put in a good performance. If Cahill and Luiz were to miss the final then we would be forced to play perhaps a right back and a central midfielder in the two central defensive positions. Without wanting to sound arrogant my stance in the build up to the final was this – if Cahill and Luiz were fit we would be the new Champions of Europe. Of course I was wary to say this too much but when I did say it, especially to my United and Arsenal supporting housemates, a smug, excited smile was bought to my face.

I’m sure Bayern Munich fans were feeling equally confident at their chances. Their banners as the players walked out from the tunnel reminded us (although as no one around me could understand German we didn’t know what it said at the time) that this was indeed their home stadium and their home city. They finished their visual performance by unveiling “Unser Pokal” - English for “Our Cup” - well we were to have something to say about that!

I think this is a good time to mention how brilliant the Allianz Arena is. I have been to Old Trafford, the Emirates, St. James’ Park, San Siro and the old and new Wembley but the Allianz is by far the most impressive. It manages to keep the intense atmosphere created by the fans whilst combining that with comfort, brilliant lines of sight, large concourses and a fantastic futuristic design. It is something so many new stadiums fail to achieve.

For me the whole first half and half time flew by. My emotions at the time were nerves (although not as nervous as I was expecting or had been in previous big games), excitement and a feeling of being overwhelmed by the occasion and possibility of what could happen. The main memory for me from the first half was the brilliant support from the Chelsea fans. Despite being outnumbered by Bayern fans, we rose to out sing the Germans with a brilliantly fitting rendition for Dennis Wise – scorer of perhaps our first big, important goal in the UEFA Champions League 13 years ago. “Oh Dennis Wise, scored a f*cking great goal, in the San Siro, with ten minutes to go”, belted out for the world to hear.

That song wasn’t just for Dennis Wise though, it was in memory of everything pre-Roman Abramovic and before we could even dream of taking part at these events. For Wise, Zola, Dixon, Osgood, Harris and Matthew Harding. There was something special happening in the Allianz Arena and everyone involved with Chelsea Football Club inside that stadium could sense it – even if it was still 0-0 and we were being completely dominated by the Germans.

The second half, much like the first, flew by in a blink of an eye and up until Thomas Muller’s goal on the 83^rd minute I can’t really remember much of the half. Up until that headed goal I had been confident Chelsea would end their wait for the Champions League trophy but when I saw the ball just get past Petr Cech at that far post, I thought that was it. I thought we were done for and it was going to be another heartbreaking Champions League game. 

I should have never doubted the team though. Growing up I had always been told by my Chelsea supporting family that “Chelsea always have to do it the hard way” and we certainly made it hard for ourselves on the road to Munich but overcame the adversity to get through each challenge. Here we were again the biggest challenge so far, seven minutes to get a goal and send the final to extra time.

The main thing that sticks out in my mind after they took the lead was the unbelievable noise the PA announcer was making. He was certainly a Bayern fan as he keep shouting Muller’s name over and over in sync with the Munich supporters. That and the minutes directly after the goal where substitutions and meaningless fouls caused a frustration amongst the Chelsea faithful but the songs were still there and the hope hadn’t dwindled completely, even if my confidence had dropped.

As Torres was running down the wing, surrounded by 3 players I was just praying he’d win a corner or a free kick. I think we all were. When the ref signalled for the corner I vividly remember thinking “this is it, we have to score here”. It was our first corner of the game; we had Luiz, Cahill and Didier Drogba in the penalty area and a brilliant set piece taker in Juan Mata. This was the moment. The corner wasn’t the greatest but there was Didier. Yet again. The man for the big occasion. The man for the finals. Smashing a header, from a tight angle, past the hopeless Manuel Neuer in the Bayern goal. Game on. 

That shut the German’s up. We had ripped their script up. I have never celebrated a goal like I celebrated Drogba’s on the 19^th May 2012. I thought I was going to throw-up or have a heart attack. It was mad. A drink down in the concourse helped calm the emotions but only briefly as not too long later we see the other side of Drogba as he gives away a needless penalty after tripping Franck Ribery.

It had to be Arjen Robben who stepped up. A player who delighted the Stamford Bridge faithful six or seven years ago. When Petr Cech dived correctly and saved the penalty the ball wasn’t completely in our number one’s grasps and the moment of celebration was on hold until, what seemed like a life time of a wait, he finally gathered the ball into his chest and the Chelsea end erupted. Now the belief really was back. Hoping for no more drama. 

The final whistle went and just like Moscow four years ago our Champions League final was to go to penalties having finished 1-1 in the 120 minutes. The moments in the build up to the penalty shootout was incrediably intense and nerve-racking but Chelsea fans, while the German's sat in silence, were in full voice with "We'll keep the blue flag flying high".

Every one of our penalties, with the exception of Mata’s, was struck brilliantly and with purpose and passion and Cech was unlucky not to save more than his two that he did stop going past him. When Drogba stepped up for the decisive spot kick, like he should have done in Moscow, there was no doubt in anyone’s minds. This was our time to live our destiny that should have happened four years previous. Only Drogba’s short run up was the concern but as he struck the ball and we saw it roll to the left as Neuer dived to the right we could finally celebrate – Champions of Europe, Kings of Europe, European Champions. At last. 

The first few moments after the ball rolled over the goal line are very blurred for me. I remember Didier turning around towards Cech and the players on the half way line running off in different directions. Then I really do not remember anything until perhaps a minute or two later where I was stood on me seat, crying into the scarf and trying to call home!

I think the feeling in the direct aftermath of the final was absolute relief. We had finally done it and we had done it in such a memorable spirit that we can be proud of. Munich was the perfect location for the perfect final. The weather was superb, the beer was superb, the food was superb, both sets of fans had the correct spirit and the game itself will be remembered by Chelsea fans, no matter where you were in the world, for as long as we live.

“Champions of Europe, we know what we are!”