Rafa’s Rant – Who’s next to walk the Abramovic’s tightrope?
Rafa Benitez is no stranger to the occasional rant. In his spell with Liverpool in 2009 at a press conference Benitez declared “I want to talk about facts” before pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket and ranting about Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson.
Benitez left Liverpool in 2010 and took over the reins at Inter Milan after the departure of Jose Mourinho. Benitez lasted just six months.
Rafa was appointed as interim Manager at Chelsea after the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo in November 2012. His appointment wasn’t a popular one with the Chelsea fans due to his association with Liverpool and comments he had previously made about the club. He received a hostile reception as he was introduced at his first home game against Manchester City on 25th November.
After beating Middlesbrough to progress into the Quarter Final of the FA Cup Rafa confirmed that he will leave the Managerial post at the end of the season. He went on to claim that Roman Abramovich the Chelsea owner undermined him and he also launched a scathing attack on the Chelsea fans who have plagued his reign with chants and banners against him.
Senior Chelsea officials described Benitez as having “gone mad”; one stated “they call it Loco in Spain don’t they?”
Will Benitez see out the week as Chelsea Manager let alone the season?
Since purchasing Chelsea in 2003 Roman Abramovic has backed and then sacked the following:
2000 – 2004 – Claudio Ranieri
2004 – 2007 – Jose Mourinho
2007 – 2008 – Avram Grant
2008 – 2009 – Luiz Felipe Scolari
2009 – Guus Hiddink (Interim)
2009 – 2011 – Carlo Ancelotti
2011 – 2012 – Andre Villas-Boas
2012 – Roberto Di Matteo
It was widely expected that Abramovic could convince Pep Guardiola to take over at Chelsea, however, Guardiola agreed to take over Bayern Munich from the start of the 2013/14 season.
So with Rafa Benitez to finish his Managerial tenure with Chelsea at the end of the 2012/13 season at the very latest who next will Abramovich appoint or indeed who would want the job?
The list of favourites for the role are as follows:
Jose Mourninho
David Moyes
Gus Poyet
Michael Laudrup
Avram Grant
Manuel Pelligrini
Fabio Capello
So who would you like to see get the job? Any of the above or does somebody else fit the bill?
