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Waving My Plastic Flag With Pride

The last time I felt so miserable as a Chelsea supporter, we’d just replaced Jose Mourinho with Avram Grant. Ok, so Di Matteo is no Mourinho but then Jose Mourinho is no Roberto Di Matteo either.

Obviously some of you will think that’s a ridiculous statement, so let me explain myself. Jose Mourinho came in at a time when Chelsea were already on the way up, we’d just finished second in the Premier League to Wenger’s ‘invincibles’ and thanks to Claudio Ranieri’s shrewd work in the transfer market, had a great attacking side with bags of energy. As we know, Jose Mourinho picked up the momentum to become the most successful manager in Chelsea’s history.

There was another side to Jose Mourinho though, he had an ego the size of a house that seeped through to the players and all too often spilled out onto the pitch and irrespective of what he may have said to the contrary, when Mourinho was at Chelsea, it was all about him.

When did we see Di Matteo’s Chelsea chasing refs the length of the pitch? And let’s be honest, there’s been times this season when they’d have been justified. And when did we hear the Italian manager questioning an opponent’s upbringing in the press? Of course we didn’t get any of that with Di Matteo.  As a player and a manager, Roberto Di Matteo carried himself professionally.  I had immense respect for the man way before he picked up a disempowered, de-motivated squad and somehow instilled enough belief and fight in them in just a few short months to deliver the first Champions League trophy in Chelsea’s history.

He had a lot to learn in management, granted, but even Roman’s empire wasn’t built in a day. Did Ferguson deliver everything on a plate to Manchester United from day one? What if they’d got rid of him the minute he had a few dodgy results? I suspect we’d all be a lot happier if they had because we wouldn’t hear the number 19 as much as we do now.

Di Matteo, as a former player, was clearly brought in to appease us – both the players and supporters had gone through an uncertain and disappointing period under Andre Villa Boas, the press were having a field day (because they don’t need porn when a Chelsea manager isn’t performing) and the feel inside Stamford Bridge was about as warm as frostbite.  So, Roman placated us and probably got the shock of his life when Di Matteo managed the unimaginable – because let’s be honest about it, the time it took the club to appoint him on a permanent basis spoke volumes – and in hindsight, the board were probably just waiting for an excuse to have him out again.

Mind you, if I thought that was disgraceful behaviour on the club’s part it doesn’t even come close to the appalling decision that followed – appointing a man who had openly slagged off our club, players and supporters to demonstrate his allegiance to Liverpool. As miserable as I was with the appointment of Avram Grant, even he hadn’t done that!

So, you’ll have to excuse me if for however long the Fat Spanish Waiter is at Chelsea, there won’t be anything positive about him on this blog but I refuse to acknowledge him as the manager of my club. Just as it was with the disgusting remarks he made about Chelsea, I expect him to have nothing to say of any relevance to me anyway but I sincerely hope that by the time his P45 comes – and it will – he’ll have learnt that along with our plastic flags at Chelsea, we have something else……… pride in our club.

 

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