The system stinks, but it works

Roman Abramovich’s decision to sack Roberto Di Matteo just 186 days after he won the Champions League, underlined — as if it really needed emphasising — that Football Plc has finally sucked out all the goodness from a sport that used to be known as the beautiful game and yet is now beholden almost entirely to the ruthless rules of big business.

There have been plenty of pundits and supporters crying wolf on message boards and radio phone-ins, claiming Di Matteo was harshly done by and shown painfully little respect for what he had achieved at Stamford Bridge.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor led the way: “I know Roberto well and he is a good man so this is sad news. It’s also quite incredible that he can be sacked so soon after winning the Champions League — and the FA Cup for good measure.

“It must be a record, and not a good one. It just shows that patience now seems a rare commodity at some clubs and that is a shame because the record of other successful clubs shows that stability can breed success.”

But the sad and uncomfortable truth is that if Chelsea, and indeed football in general, truly valued loyalty, common sense and proportionality as much as some would have us believe then it wouldn’t have abandoned, or perhaps sold, those principles so easily in the first place.

English football has gleefully accepted the dollar offered to it by billionaires from all over the world and enjoyed the benefits in the shape of new revenue, new stadia and increased prestige. The price, as is becoming increasingly obvious, is that signing on the dotted line also meant signing up to the ruthless, callous and uncomfortable morals that made the new breed of owners billionaires in the first place.

Does anyone really believe Abramovich became one of the richest men in the world, and the owner of so many of Russia’s natural resources, by adhering to the kind of gentleman’s rules that used to be so highly valued in football?

The answer is clearly a resounding no. So there should be no real surprise that he shows a similar level of cold detachment when making decisions about his football business; a fact that has never been more obvious than right now following the treatment handed out to a man who was a legend as a player at Stamford Bridge and then became the first, the only, manager ever to win them the Champions League.

The silver lining for Chelsea fans, however, is that if being ruthless has made Abramovich successful in business then it has also done so in football; and there is no reason to think that trend will change in the near future despite the warming hope that one day Abramovich’s lack of loyalty may come back to haunt him.

If you look at his managerial decisions so far then almost all of them appear cold and uncaring; because during nine years he has sacked a manager who won Chelsea’s first title in more than half a century; dumped another who took his team to a Champions League final (as well as one who made it to the semi-finals even before huge investment), kicked out a man who won the double, and now gave the same treatment to one who made his dream come true and turned Chelsea into European champions.

But on each occasion Chelsea have responded on the pitch by winning trophies. When Claudio Ranieri was sacked, Jose Mourinho came in and brought glory. When he went, followed by Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari, there was further silverware in store thanks to Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti. When André Villas-Boas departed, Di Matteo arrived to win an FA Cup and Champions League double against the odds.

So whether Rafa Benitez or Pep Guardiola end up in long-term charge at Stamford Bridge there is no real reason for Chelsea fans to be nervous about their future or concerned that the adventure will end. They can be disappointed, perhaps; uncomfortable certainly. But nervous? Sadly not.

The system may stink; but the system works — and Chelsea have gone too far too quickly to ever think of turning back.

lDidier Drogba was being linked with a sensational return to Chelsea yesterday after FIFA confirmed the Shanghai Shenhua striker had asked their permission to join another club on loan outside the transfer window.