Chelsea Football Club News
Welcome Demba Ba
Demba Ba has now officially made the Switch to Chelsea FC. Chelsea have managed to sell Sturridge for 12 million and replace him with Demba Ba for 7 million, it seems the days of doing silly transfers and splashing unneccasary cash is over for this club, who are no doubt a little more cautious of spending big on strikers after Fernando Torres, so where will Demba Ba fit into Benitez's plans, he has already stated his intention to throw Ba straight into the lineup in Torres' place but was keen to state that it was only because he feels that Torres could do with a rest.
Was Demba Ba a Good Signing?
05.12.12
Chelsea crash out at Group stage, becoming the first holders to do so. This caps a disappointing few weeks in the life of Chelsea FC and will only intensify the fans anger towards the new manager and owner Roman.
21.11.12 - Rafa Benitez Announced as New Manager
In a highly controversial move, Roman Abramovich has chosen to sack the fan favorite Roberto Di Matteo and replace him with a very familiar adversary of the club, in the form of ex Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, whom when at the Liverpool helm, oversaw the strongest period of Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry and therefore may need to win the fans over a little.
It seems that Roman once again wants experience, he just can't seem to make his mind up, one minute he wants a youthful innovative manager in the form of Andre Villas Boas and the next minute he wants the experience of Rafa.
However it is not even that simple, the position has only strictly been offered to Rafa til the end of the season, it is public knowledge that Pep Guardiola is taking a 1 year sabbatical in New York with his family, it seems abit more than a coincidence that Roman has only promised the position til the date at which it is rumored that Guardiola may look for a return into management, he was a key player in the rumor mill surrounding the 'Next Chelsea Manager' after the dismissal of AVB and it would seem that Roman has only 1 man in mind for the future of Chelsea and wants to see the same kind of dynasty created at Barcelona replicated at Chelsea and the best to do so is the same manager in the eyes of Roman.
What is unestablished is whether this is something which Rafa has agreed to or whether he is under the illusion that he can become a perminant manager but it begs the question, if Roman really did intend for him to be a long term manager, surely he would offer him a great length of contract. Roman is sure to be even more unpopular than he already was in the Footballing world after his treatment of RDM, who is widely respected and liked in the Football world and it really begs the question, who would even WANT to be Chelsea's manager, with their track record of sacking managers arguably unfairly.
21.11.12 - RDM Sacked
Despite doing a great job at turning the club around and bringing Roman Abramovich his much desired Champions League trophy and doubling it with the FA Cup, Roberto Di Matteo has been sacked only 1/3rd into the English Premier League 2012/2013 season, despite Chelsea sitting top from Gameweek 1 to Gameweek 11.
However it doesn't fully come as surprise, as he wouldn't be the first manager in the history of the russian typcoons helm at the top of the south London Football club, to be dismissed despite relative success and trophy lifts, inparticular Ancelotti and Jose Mourihno.
However Roman is reportedly unimpressed by some results, such as the loss in the Community shield to Manchester City and the loss in the Super cup to Athletico, which by all rights SHOULD go to the club that won the superior Champions league competition rather than the inferior winner of the Europa league.
He appears to acting pre-emptively to save them from a seemingly impending exit from the European Champions league, following a 3 - 0 loss to Juventus 20.11.12 and after conceeding the lead in the title race to rivals Manchester United in Gameweek 11 of the English Premier league and then following it up by a disapointing 2 - 1 loss to West Brom, is what sealed Robbie's fate.
When Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions league against all the odds in the 11/12 season, people would have been forgiven for thinking that he would immediately be offered the perminant position as manager, however perhaps it was an indication of Roman's reluctance to see Robbie in his long term vision of the club, that he stalled a long time before doing so, clearly he was looking into other avenues, its no secret that he is an admirer of Barcelona and would no doubt like to take Pep Guardiola to the bridge.
