Blues facing Benitez backlash

Chelsea face a backlash from their own supporters after they named former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez as the interim successor to sacked Roberto Di Matteo.

Benitez flew from Abu Dhabi, where he was speaking at a coaching seminar, to agree a contract at Stamford Bridge yesterday and has signed until the end of the season. He will meet his players at the club’s Cobham training ground for the first time today and begins his reign with a crucial Premier League match against Manchester City on Sunday.

The news of Benitez’s arrival came just hours after Di Matteo was ruthlessly dismissed by owner Roman Abramovich following a 3-0 Champions League defeat against Juventus in Turin on Tuesday.

In fact Chelsea were so anxious to remove Di Matteo from his post that he was summoned to his office at the training ground in the early hours of the morning as his players drove home and given little opportunity to say goodbye to the squad that won him the Champions League last season.

It is not the first time Abramovich has made such a cold and ruthless decision about a popular manager; he also fell out with Jose Mourinho before dismissing him and then sacked Carlo Ancelotti a year after winning the double.

However this is possibly the most controversial call yet, given that Di Matteo, who was also a legend as a player at Stamford Bridge and universally liked by everyone at the club, had helped make Chelsea European champions only a few months earlier and looked to be slowly transforming their style on the pitch into the kind of attractive football so admired by their owner.

His departure has angered some supporters who have long felt that Abramovich is too quick to sack managers at a club which craves stability after eight different coaches in nine years.

However, it is Abramovich’s decision to replace Di Matteo with former Liverpool and Valencia manager Benitez which has stirred up an even bigger hornets’ nest amongst fans who are vehemently against it.

The Spaniard, 52, is seen by Chelsea as the perfect man to guide the club until Pep Guardiola becomes available when he finishes his self-imposed sabbatical; and they may even consider offering him a longer deal if that plan falls through — a prospect that has sent Chelsea fans into apoplexy.

“Rafa Benitez is not a Chelsea manager,” insisted David Johnstone, spokesman for Chelsea fans cfcuk before the appointment was made.

“Some people are born to play for or manage certain clubs and for us, Benitez isn’t what we want. When he was Liverpool manager and Jose Mourinho was Chelsea manager there was a bit of ‘beef’ between them. He’s very dismissive of Chelsea, very rude towards us and my impression of him was, whenever anything went wrong it was always somebody else’s fault, not his.”

Chelsea Supporters Group chair Trizia Fiorellino was equally vociferous, saying: “Benitez will just not be accepted by Chelsea supporters. I simply don’t think Benitez is a good manager. He’s been out of work for two years now, if he was any good why hasn’t any club snapped him up?”

It is clear that former Barcelona manager Guardiola is Chelsea’s first choice as a long-term successor for Di Matteo; they have been chasing him for years and owner Abramovich has twice offered to send a private jet to whisk the Spaniard to his yacht for talks.

However Guardiola’s biographer Guillem Balague has warned it may not be as simple to snap up the man who won Barca two Champions League trophies as Chelsea hope.

“Chelsea made an approach and he said no,” said Balague. “I always said there is no chance of him coming to the club before the end of his sabbatical which is next summer. And even then he will need to be persuaded.

“As for Benitez, Chelsea fans who say he isn’t a good manager really need to look at the facts — he won Liverpool the Champions League with very little to work with. He could be a good appointment and not just short term.”

Benitez has been out of work since being sacked by Inter Milan and faces a real challenge to win over Chelsea supporters who have always seen him as ‘the enemy’ and accused him of negative tactics.

However Abramovich sees him as the man to reignite the career of £50m striker Fernando Torres, who performed so well under Benitez at Anfield; and a statement on the Chelsea website backed the Spaniard by saying: “The owner and the Board believe that in Benitez we have a manager with significant experience at the highest level of football, who can come in and immediately help deliver our objectives. He comes with outstanding pedigree.”