Burned by the hot seat

This week saw the first Premier League managers to be sacked this season with Mark Hughes dismissed by QPR and Roberto Di Matteo axed less than six months after his Chelsea side lifted both the Champions League and FA Cup.

And let’s not forget that as recently as four weeks ago his Chelsea side were top of the Premier League and receiving a lot of plaudits for the free-flowing, attacking style of football.

Still, we shouldn’t be too surprised to see Roman Abramovich react swiftly after their poor results in what he sees as the Holy Grail, the Champions League. Even after Chelsea’s euphoric European exploits last season, which saw them produce some fantastic performances — none more so than in the final against a superior Bayern Munich side — I was still surprised to see Di Matteo get the job on a permanent basis. It was no secret Pep Guardiola was Chelsea’s first choice but his insistence on a year’s sabbatical after his sudden and surprising exit from Barcelona made the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge look elsewhere and, obviously, after looking around they felt the best option was to stick with Di Matteo.