Rafa the symptom of what ails blues

To the list of ailments which we can only presume routinely assail whoever happens to be managing Chelsea at any given time, must now be added amnesia.

All the other unpleasant side effects are familiar, even commonplace — stress, insomnia, paranoia, chronic anxiety, feelings of helplessness, premonitions of certain doom etc – since they more or less come with the territory in the kind of job where, in a matter of months, a man can go from being king of Europe to being told to clear out his desk at four in the morning.

But short-term memory loss is a new one, though its symptoms were unmistakable this week when Rafa Benitez raged, raged against the dying of the light — and then, all smiles, resumed “normal business” the very next day.