Key trio ... is there a reunion beckoning at Chelsea? Source:AP
Some Manchester City fans fear Roberto Mancini's sacking is the first step to becoming Chelsea.
But with the London club on the cusp of yet another trophy under Roman Abramovich, is that such a bad thing?
A win in the Europa League final against Benfica will be Chelsea’s 11th of the Russian’s era in charge, which is about to celebrate a decade of decadence at Stamford Bridge.
City fans might ask: is the circus worth it?
- Claudio Ranieri: September 2000 to May 2004
- Jose Mourinho: June 2004 to September 2007
- Avram Grant: September 2007 to May 2008
- Luiz Felipe Scolari: July 2008 to February 2009
- Guus Hiddink: February 2009 to May 2009
- Carlo Ancelotti: June 2009 to May 2011
- Andre Villas-Boas: June 2011 to March 2012
"It is better to do it in a quieter way. It is very hard to explain. We keep getting trophies and winning things and we keep changing manager when there are some clubs who keep the same manager but haven't won anything for a long time. But which way is the best, it is hard to tell," goalkeeper Petr Cech said this week.
And so here they are again, with Chelsea manufacturing another run to silverware with an interim manager. It worked for Guus Hiddink in 2009, Roberto Di Matteo in 2012 and perhaps for Benitez in 2013.
Cech adds: "You can’t change 20 players in the middle of the season so it becomes dangerous for the manager if you have a spell where nothing is working. The easiest way to cure the problem is to change the manager".
And that’s exactly what Abramovich has done. Second under Claudio Ranieri – not good enough. Avram Grant and a penalty-kick away from a Champions League crown – not good enough. A poor start under World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari – not good enough. A poor season after Carlo Ancelotti’s impressive double – not good enough. Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo suffered similar fates – poor starts, not good enough.
Trevor Birch, Chelsea's chief executive in 2003, recalls the moment Abramovich bought the club. The impulsive nature goes some way to defining the 10 years since.
"We did the deal in 10 minutes, nothing like that had ever happened," he recently reflected. "I don’t think people appreciated what a game changer it was. I suggested he spent £20m on players. He spent £140m in six weeks, the biggest change I’ve seen in English football."
He’s lured some massive names to the Premier League; Drogba, Cech, Essien, Makele, Robben, Carvalho, Ballack, Crespo. The legacy is mixed with some massive failures, with Shevchenko, Mutu, Kezman the most memorable. Currently, Abramovich’s riches have helped Chelsea to some wonderful talent like Eden Hazard and Oscar. Players have been prized from their rivals, too; Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Demba Ba, Shaun Wright- Phillips, Scott Parker feature on the list, headlined by Fernando Torres.
And there has also been the interference. Obscene amounts were splashed on Torres and Shevchenko. The latter arguably influenced Jose Mourinho’s demise in 2007.
It’s been a rollicking ride for Chelsea supporters, and pretty interesting viewing for neutrals.
On Thursday, Interim manager Rafael Benitez will hope to become the second manager to win the title with two different clubs (Valencia his first; Giovanni Trapattoni is the other manager to do it) and win his first trophy since the 2006 FA Cup at Liverpool, while making Chelsea the first team to do the UEFA Champions League/Europa League double in consecutive seasons.
But Benfica aren’t moved by Chelsea’s ambition. Midfielder Pablo Aimar sledged: "They have not been convincing - in Europe or in the Premier League. Since they have inherited a wealthy owner, this is probably the weakest Chelsea team there has been."
Abramovich might agree, which is why it looks a fait accompli that he’s reaching out to his old sparring partner, Jose Mourinho, to bridge the gap to the Manchester clubs and return the side to the swashbuckling juggernaut it was in Mourinho’s title-winning seasons.
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Abramovich’s money has single-handedly pushed Chelsea into the upper ether of Europe’s elite, but despite the high profile comings and goings, the core of Mourinho’s success - and winning mentality - remains, even though they are just holding on.
Lampard will captain Chelsea on Thursday and earn a new deal despite all efforts to move him on, John Terry is injured for another final but unlikely to be released by Mourinho, Cech and Ashley Cole still remain as their old manager appears destined to return.
With the likes of Mata, Oscar and Hazard – who will miss the final through injury – capable of football just as good as Arjen Robben, Joe Cole or Damien Duff produced in yesteryear, Mourinho is charged with the task of reviving that aura around the team. The chequebook won’t be spared either, especially in the pursuit of someone to reprise Didier Drogba’s heroics.
While Chelsea look to create history, they’ll be up against a Benfica side looking to ignore history and buck a trend of six losing European finals dating back to 1963. They head into the match after losing their first match of the season on the weekend – an incredible 93rd minute loss to title rivals Porto, which denied them the chance to close out the championship.
But it's fitting that a Chelsea win still won't be enough to see them retain their manager.
That's the Roman Abramovich era, in a nutshell.
"After Thursday we will have played 68 games. For the last six months we have been playing two games a week at least," Rafa Benitez said this week.
"Imagine any team in the world doing that and progressing to semi-finals of two competitions and final of one. It doesn't matter what a lot of people say, we feel we have done a good job. Hopefully we can do even better."
But to do that, Abramovich will bring in a new manager.
As we look to define 10 years of foreign ownership at Chelsea, this final does a good job at doing just that.
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