Abramovich has run out of managers to sack and options to replace Benitez


I was asked which club I would have liked to have played for if I had ever moved abroad and left Manchester United. And my first instinctive reaction was Bayern Munich, followed by Juventus. The Bundesliga club had always impressed me when I played against them with Manchester United. It was the little details that told you everything about the professionalism of the club. Like the team bus.

They would always have their team bus, wherever they went. Most clubs, when they fly abroad, borrow a bus to get them from the airport to the hotel and stadium. Not Bayern Munich. Their bus driver would set off three or four days before the match, driving across countries, catching ferries, so that when the team arrived, their bus would be at the airport waiting for them. It was that attention to detail which so impressed me. When I spoke to Owen Hargreaves about the club at which he grew up during the Oliver Kahn, Steffen Effenburg era, you got a sense of the mentality that is bred into people at Bayern Munich.

So while I was surprised when they announced this week that Pep Guardiola was their new manager, I shouldn't have been. In many ways it's a perfect fit. It's presented as a huge coup for Bayern, which it is, but I would almost go as far to suggest that Guardiola has got the better of the deal. Here is a coach with an almost unblemished reputation, who in his four years of management has won almost every trophy available while his teams have played some of the greatest football we've seen. So to choose a club of such stature, with stability, an emphasis on bringing through young players and crucially, one that is run by former professionals, great names like Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, executives who have true appreciation and understanding of the game.

And it was impossible not to wonder whether this was the week when Roman Abramovich got his comeuppance. At times he seems to have been bent on creating a Utopian football team set up for Guardiola to manage. It's as though he's been saying: 'I'm getting rid of all these old players for you; I'm signing Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata and I've got Fernando Torres, who's Spanish, for you; I'm making a team for you. Come and manage my club.' And Guardiola has given an emphatic: 'No.'

He's had the foresight and sense to stay off Abramovich's carousel. Because he knows that if he manages Chelsea, then he's going to be tainted at some point.There is no doubt that it will end in confrontation eventually and that his reputation would be dented. And anyway, having managed Barcelona, one of the great clubs in Europe, it's natural that he would want to be at one of the traditional powers of the game.

People always talk about who will succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Well, I don't think he will give up for many a year, as I don't see any sign of him waning on the job. However, by taking the Bayern job this week, Guardiola preserved his position as a potential candidate for United when Sir Alex does eventually retire. The minute he had gone to Chelsea or Manchester City he would likely have ruled himself out of the job in English football he would probably most want to do.

And when you look at Abramovich and his nine and a half years at Chelsea, it's almost as though he has invented a proto-type for a new computer game: it's not so much Championship Manager as Championship Chairman.

He's veered from appointing the best up-and-coming young manager in Jose Mourinho to a friend in Avram Grant, to a World Cup-winning Brazilian in Luiz Felipe Scolari, back to another friend in Guus Hiddink, to a Champions League legend as player and manager in Carlo Ancelotti, back to the best up-and-coming manager in Andre Villas-Boas, to a club favourite in Roberto Di Matteo and ending up at Rafa Benitez, who the fans don't like.

So where does he go now? If you were a headhunter drawing up a short-list for managers next season and didn't know the history of the club, where would you look? The best in Spain? Well Tito Vilanova's not going to leave Barcelona so you would have to look at Mourinho. But you've sacked him.

In England, you'll never get Sir Alex or Arsene Wenger and you'll never buy out Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. So which manager is third in the league right now? Well, that's Benitez. You've already got him. What about fourth? That's Villas-Boas. But you've sacked him.

Look to France and who is manager of their biggest club, Paris St Germain - a man with enormous pedigree in the game? Ancelotti. But you've sacked him.Look further abroad then. Who is manager of the most successful nation in football history, Brazil? Who has been entrusted with that nation's most important campaign, the 2014 World Cup, which they will host? That's Scolari. But you've sacked him.

The reality is Chelsea will never be stable until Abramovich is the manager. Because if you don't do what he wants - if you don't play Torres, if you don't phase out the older players, if you don't play attractive football - you're probably going to be sacked anyway. The stories we used to hear about and laugh about from Italy 20 years ago, such as the owner turning up at the training ground and addressing the players, suggesting to the manager how to play and deciding who to sign, have become a reality.

It's an incredible way to run a club. It has brought success - but at a price. You can't help wondering what might have happened if they had stuck with Mourinho in 2007. Or stayed with Ancelotti in 2011.

So if you're one of the few pedigree managers left that might be available and is as yet untried at Chelsea - Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund or Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid - then you'd be worried. Chelsea might be coming for you.
And with that comes a degree of grief that means you might be better off elsewhere, just as Pep Guardiola decided last week.

Sauce:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2265064/Gary-Neville-Roman-Abramovich-run-options-replace-Rafa-Benitez.html

Neville

Lol, brilliant article.

It's funny coz it's true.

I think Felix Magath could be a viable option still

Quälix at a club notorious for dressing room problems?

That should be entertaining, how wonder how many Hitler comparisons he would get in the English tabloids.

magath would sack roman

Instead of building a mountain Magath would just coach the Chelsea squad in Siberia o.O

great article .

Neville

nope he gonna sack rafa soon

Good article.

Abramovich is probably going to have to sacrifice a few things in order to win trophies. I mean it's kinda happening at Real Madrid. Perez is allowing Mourinho to do his own thing, in order to win trophies. And once that winning mentality is there, Abramovich can appoint someone who does everything that's on his checklist.

Very good read

Great article and he speaks the truth.

Should have stayed with AVB

GOAT Neville

Now that's something I thought I'd never say

CBarca wrote:Great article and he speaks the truth.

Should have stayed with AVB

Then this would have never happend......



Meh people keep doubting Roman decisions and he keep proving them wrong.

Boring article tbh, hey maybe because i have read a lot of the same article with the same narrative.

With the exception of RDM i don't feel bad about any of those sacking and all of them were justified. Ancelotti is another sympathetic case in many people eyes, but Ray Wilkins recently admitted again that Ancelotti was the one who pushed for Torres signing. Seeing how big a flop Torres has been, i feel no pity for Carlo and he made a massive mistake. He is also being exposed as a fraud at PSG, strengthening Roman case even more.

Mourinho? He is doing the same thing at Real Madrid as he was doing at Chelsea. Trying to get fired the best way he possibly can.

Also media is knee jerking because apparently Pep turned down Roman offer. There is no way knowing if we were pursuing him and Pep said on numerous occasions that he will not pursue a managerial job with a manager in place. So with Rafa being on a 18 month contract( does include an exit clause in the end of the season) and with him and Pep knowing each on a personal level it is very likely out of respect he would not interview for the job.

I don't know who will be managing Chelsea, but i am sure he will have a track record worthy of managing Chelsea.

Sometimes (read: a lot of times) long term success is better and more sustainable than short term.

I just think it's an absolute shame to fire someone so quick. AVB and RDM both were shamefully sacked.

AVB sacking was not shameful, it had to be done. RDM should not have been sacked though.

I'm not going to bring my feelings about AVB's sacking here. They are well documented in your section

Avb sacking was well deserved. Rdm wasn't. Can't understand how you sack a coach that won you the Champions league last season even if you don't win anything this one.

free_cat wrote:Can't understand how you sack a coach that won you the Champions league last season even if you don't win anything this one.

Jupp Heynckes was sacked by Real Madrid right after winning the CL in 1998, too. Happened before, will happen again...

Excellent article.

From the biggest idiot on the field to the most knowledgable pundit, Gary 'The Rat' Neville.

rwo power wrote:

free_cat wrote:Can't understand how you sack a coach that won you the Champions league last season even if you don't win anything this one.

Jupp Heynckes was sacked by Real Madrid right after winning the CL in 1998, too. Happened before, will happen again...

The difference between Di Matteo and Jupp was that Di Matteo hadn't even completed half of the season and was having solid results in the PL (while being a huge fan favourite) while Heynckes finished fourth in La Liga, 11 points behind Barcelona and given the resource, that was unforgivable.

Arquitecto wrote:The difference between Di Matteo and Jupp was that Di Matteo hadn't even completed half of the season and was having solid results in the PL (while being a huge fan favourite) while Heynckes finished fourth in La Liga, 11 points behind Barcelona and given the resource, that was unforgivable .

Read that carefully, Mou XD

Great article.

AVB seems to be a great coach but he couldn't manage the pressure at Chelsea.He is doing very well at Tottenham.Also I don't understand why Di Matteo was sacked.Lack of patience maybe...