Chelsea boo boys lack courage to attack Abramovich
LET’S all laugh at Chelsea FC. Those fans yelling for Rafa Benitez to go are missing their target. The former Liverpool manager was given a way back into top-level manager by Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s sugar daddy who views managers as a harem of talent. Roberto Di Matteo was not shunted aside by Benitez. He was sacked by Abrahmovich. He delivered the favoured son (Champions’ League success) and was then put out to pasture.
At Chelsea, the boo boys don’t dare attack the owner. You will not hear the fans telling the Russian “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “We want out Chelsea back”.
Chelsea fans point to Benitez’s crimes. He said:
“Chelsea is a big club with fantastic players, every manager wants to coach a such a big team. But I would never take that job, in respect for my former team at Liverpool, no matter what. For me there is only one club in England, and that’s Liverpool.”
He called Chelsea big and fantastic. The swine!
“We don’t need to give away flags for our fans to wave – our supporters are always there with their hearts, and that is all we need. It’s the passion of the fans that helps to win matches – not flags.” (in regards to the 2007 Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea.)
Bitchy. Yes. But not exactly on a par with Sir Alex Ferguson’s words on Liverpool:
“My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ing perch. And you can print that.”
And that’s it. Oh, there is one more thing: Benitez accused Didier Drogba, the former Chelsea striker, of diving. That marks Benitez out as agreeing with pretty much everyone else who has seen the Drogba dying swan.
Know that during the Benitez period, Abramovich’s Chelsea aimed to persuade Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard to join the concubine. Gerrard said Chelsea’s continued interest unsettled him at the 2006 World Cup:
“I knew that Chelsea were very interested in me…I was driving myself mad thinking about should I go to Chelsea or not. Mentally it might have drained me…”
Benitez did not damage England’s World Cup chances. But Abramovich might have. Not that Chelsea fans are paying much attention to the top dog. “We want the owners that be to realise we didn’t want him,” said Trizia Fiorellino, chair of Chelsea Supporters’ Group of the boos aimed at Benitez. It was Abramovich who hired Benitez. Why not boo the money? Fiorellino adds:
“It was almost as if the board and the owner were trying to send a message to the fans to say ‘we run this club, not you – you have no say’. Benitez is not popular and I think he will remain unpopular throughout his reign.”
As if the board run the club… As if!
So. Boo Abramovich and the board? Or are the fans scared he’ll hear the catcalls and leave, taking his cash with him? As if.
This Chelsea fan site looks at the Benitez boos:
Many consider such a reaction to be futile, childish and pointless, however the mood in the stands and the surrounding pubs before the game was one of frustration. Roberto Di Matteo, a club legend, has been tossed aside, the latest in a long line of victims of Roman Abramovich’s ruthless management style.
Di Matteo was over-promoted. He’s a likeable bloke who got lucky. But again the question presents itself: why not boo Abramovich? The Chelsea fans want to show that they are a crowd not just an audience. They boo to make voices heard and have a say. But they don’t have a say in how the club is run.
Danny Baker mused on Twitter:
Chelsea fans. You HAVE no voice. That is the price you paid to be what you are now. You are season tickets. Program sales. Product. Face it.
Another Chelsea fan writes beneath the headline “Is it possible that Roman Abramovich hates us?”:
It’s too soon after the teary, exquisite night in Munich to permit the majority of Blues fanatics to weigh up feelings about Abramovich’s hold over our badge, but I for one have had enough. Being a billionaire’s plaything was often orgasmic and we have dazzling silverware sprawled around us, as we never would have dreamed. He deserves our thanks for the incredible highs his deviously gotten gains have brought us. It’s time to think about giving the club back though.
And the fans will take it back by making life miserable for Benitez, reasoning, perhaps, that his failure will bring about the arrival of Pep Guardiola. Forget it. No Abramovich. No success for Guardiola to ride in on. Forget it. Send for Kerry Dixon.
Booing your manager – who has yet to lose a match – is madness.
Posted: 27th, November 2012 | In: Sports Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
