It’s even hard for fans to like Chelsea

It seems nothing can buy you time as manager of Chelsea.

New systems must work immediately and misfiring strikers must start scoring. Injuries and the failure of others to buy in key areas will not be taken into consideration.

Di Matteo may not have been my first choice at the start of the season, nor can I honestly say I have been convinced with his stewardship since taking the job, but he should have been given time to put his project into place.

Given the influx of new players to implement a different type of game this was always going to be a time of flux. Most of us expected inconsistency. Seemingly not Abramovich, however.

Be under no illusion, this was an Abramovich decision. Buck and Gourlay are mere monkeys to the organ-grinding oligarch.

You cannot give someone just 262 days to change the entire ethos of a club. It’s amateurish, inept and unrealistic. It also tells you everything you need to know about Abramovich and his advisors demonstrating they don’t understand football.

Of course they can argue our trophy haul gives them a reason to run the club the way they do, and they would have a point.

However, things have changed in the last few years. We were once one of the few clubs who could afford anyone but more clubs now than ever can compete with our financial muscle.

If you were a highly regarded manger who could have his pick of wealthy clubs why would you choose Chelsea? A club that buys unsuitable players with no input from the manager, imposes coaching staff on you and would sack you the moment a blip came along. Not exactly tempting.

As supporters we are grateful for everything Abramovich has bought to the club. It is down to him that we have won everything there is to win in the game. He has elevated us from Chelsea the music hall joke, to Chelsea, Champions of Europe and we will always be grateful. But this aggressive stewardship cannot bring long-term success.

I trust that Roman wants what is best for our club but I do not trust his advisors. There is too much to be gained by some with the club in a permanent state of flux and too many Mr TenPercenters have his ear.

So what now? What is the minimum standard? What if new manager Rafael Benitez loses his first four games? We can’t just keep sacking managers.

Every club at some point goes through a difficult period. Sacking the manager every time this happens merely demonstrates a lack of ideas from those running the club.

Di Matteo was a good man who deserved better, but sentiment is something Roman doesn’t do — along with losing. Perhaps if he did we would not be perceived as pariahs of the game.

As much as I love the very bones of this club, I simply can’t actually like them very much at this moment, but then can any of us truly love the corporate monsters that the majority of our clubs have become? The club’s relationship with the fans is strained at the best of times so how they handle this could have repercussions.

Many are already discussing a boycott which may seem dramatic but given the ridiculous ticket prices, it seems almost immoral to pay out what will almost certainly be a six figure sum to sack a Chelsea hero for one from a pool of unwanted and in some cases, hated individuals.

You would think we Chelsea fans would be used to this crass behaviour from those that run our club, but expecting it and liking it are two very difficult things. Every time this happens, our credibility takes another knock.

This must have an effect on how we are perceived, not just by other football fans but by potential players and managers. It can only do us harm in my opinion.

We have fought our way up to the upper echelons of the footballing fraternity and if we are going to maintain that position we need to stop sacking managers with ridiculous frequency and look at the root causes of problems instead of blaming scapegoats.

But I won’t hold my breath.