Hard to survive on Russian Front

SO, in the never-ending soap opera that is Chelsea Football Club, we have now axed four managers in the five-and-a-half years that Roman Abramovich has been in charge. This is a record of transferring people to the gulags that would be impressive even in Stalinist Russia.

Claudio Ranieri is in charge of Juventus, who in a delicious twist of fate we meet in the Champions League in a fortnight. Jose Mourinho is at Inter. Together those two are dominating Serie A. Avram Grant, manager for Chelsea’s first ever appearance in a Champions League Final, is currently, and worryingly for us, unemployed, while ‘Big Phil’ Scolari has been sent packing ignominiously from Stamford Bridge, his reputation in tatters.

The timing of this has shocked even the most cynical of regular fans, and there are plenty of those, but in retrospect there was a whiff of gunpowder in the air less than a month ago. On that occasion Chelsea were playing, and struggling, at Roots Hall in Southend in an FA Cup replay which was almost called off at one point because of fog.