here are two things those who know Roman Abramovich always say about him and Chelsea: Roman is always right (even when he is wrong) – and whatever happens will come down to the whim of one man. And that man is the club’s billionaire Russian owner.

Abramovich takes advice from business associate Eugene Shvidler, from Chelsea directors such as Eugene Tenenbaum and director of football Michael Emenalo, and key agents such as Vlado Lemic but, in the end, he always acts on instinct.

The bottom line with Roberto Di Matteo is that Abramovich has never been wholly convinced that he is the right man to coach Chelsea and mould the team in the flamboyant way in which he dreams they will play.

Abramovich was unsure of appointing the Italian as interim head coach when Andre Villas-Boas was sacked last March, initially dallying with the notion of employing Rafael Benítez, who he perceived as a disciplinarian, on a short-term basis. He certainly never expected Di Matteo to win the Champions League and earn a contract.

But Abramovich was persuaded to go with Di Matteo, partly because of his record at the club as a player and the esteem with which he was held in by the supporters and players. The other option had been Gianfranco Zola.

It may now be a permanent two-year deal (with a break clause next summer) but Di Matteo has never shaken off the interim tag. Even now. The first two questions after that incredible Champions League triumph in Munich were did Di Matteo expect to stay on, and what was the future for the man who scored the decisive penalty in the shoot-out, Didier Drogba? It really should not be like that on such an occasion.

Drogba went and Di Matteo – to his surprise – stayed. But even as he celebrated winning the trophy that Abramovich had pursued so relentlessly and expensively, he knew that the owner had again been attempting to woo Pep Guardiola despite the Spaniard’s determination to take a year’s sabbatical. Just as Di Matteo’s predecessor, Villas-Boas, knew that Abramovich was still trying to persuade Guardiola to quit Barcelona even as he prepared to pay Porto the €15 million (£12 million) buy-out clause in his contract.

The credit extended to Di Matteo has always been limited and maybe that has something to do with the claim that Abramovich does not have much of a rapport with the manager. It was also, possibly, as if the owner considered the Champions League achievement a fluke – and while he delighted in winning the trophy there were rumblings that the football was too ugly for his liking.

Not that Di Matteo was told this. He was not told very much as he went off on his summer holidays only to be finally informed that he would be staying on while Chelsea set about the task of creating what Abramovich told one adviser would be a “hungry, new team”. In, at a price of £80 million, came the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses and Marko Marin although how much say Di Matteo had in the signings is unclear.

This was to be a team built to serve Fernando Torres who had not been slow to criticise the style of play and although Di Matteo – like Villas-Boas and Carlo Ancelotti before him – has never been told to play Torres there has always been an implicit pressure around the £45 million striker.

But then the pressure from Abramovich is always implicit — he eventually simply avoided Jose Mourinho by not turning up at the club, Ancelotti despairingly claimed he barely knew him, Villas-Boas had more of a relationship but not a lot of direct contact. Indeed the communication usually goes through Abramovich’s trusted PA at Chelsea, Marina Granovskaia, who is arguably the most powerful presence at the club and a constantly questioning one at that.

What Abramovich appears to yearn to replicate is the start of the Mourinho era when he had a young coach with style and chutzpah and who he could talk to and who had the kind of confidence to believe he would dominate not just the Premier League but Europe. And do it with a certain panache.

The defeat last Saturday at West Brom certainly lacked panache was highly damaging to Di Matteo and there were discussions, it is understood, as to whether he should continue beyond that match.

Although Abramovich is the decision-maker it’s believed that on this occasion he was persuaded, for now, not to act.

Abramovich still hugely admires Guardiola and that admiration has grown during the 41 year-old’s time out of football. He remains a man in demand and the question for a number of clubs is this: will they simply sit and watch him walk into the arms of a rival?

Tuesday’s edition of the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport had a cartoon of Guardiola alongside a crossroads sign rating the chances of where he will end up: 20 per cent for Manchester City, 20 per cent for AC Milan, 20 per cent for Bayern Munich, 10 per cent for Manchester United and 30 per cent for Chelsea. It felt about right although the weighting towards Stamford Bridge could be a little higher.

Guardiola will sit down to discuss his options with his agent Jose Maria Orobitg next month. Or so he is planning. That timetable, and the intention to not return to work before next summer, may be tested very soon. November is so often the month that the position of Chelsea manager becomes vacant.

It may not seem right that Abramovich has employed eight managers in nine years spending hundreds of millions of pounds but he will point to three Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy and an unquenched desire to not only win more but win in style.

i hope pep take the seat > fat fat

a few loses and a slump in form and already wanna sack manager? then start all over from zero? how many times wanna do that? then rebuild team and sell. repeat cycle

this is a bad move, even for business.

NO STABILITY & SUSTAINABILITY
you cant always lie to urself. if it's a bad thing, it's a bad thing. if this is a culture at chelsea, then its no good for the club!

You also said "never know the future" . How you know RDM cant turn this around? Why wont let him fix it? After all, he managed to defy all odds and win the Champions League? Yeah sure, Roman, sounds more like you have no faith in RDM.

Not asking for an extreme approach but have a stand on what you believe is good for the club instead of accepting all decisions as a good one/ "a move forward" like a sheep mentality will ya?

Yeah sure, WE will all move on just like how we did with Mou. We'll keep winning trophies as long as there is a good manager to keep the team together but can we build a DYNASTY if we cant keep the manager? THAT'S my point.

You asking me to go support Wenger shows how much of a blind folded supporter you are.

This is a poor decision and the board and fans should acknowledge it.

"It's no surprise Di Matteo has gone as the results over the last two months or so have been poor; I watched the game (against Juventus) last night and it just went from bad to worse. I couldn't see any spark and as soon as it finished I felt that would be it for Di Matteo. That was Di Matteo's biggest game and I thought he would have gone all out for it, rather than play cagey. It's easy to say from the side but if you're going to go out you might as well go out in a bit of glory and who knows what would have happened if he had the centre-forwards out there and attacked Juventus.

"The hierarchy don't expect results like (the 3-0 loss to Juventus) and they expect to be competing in the latter stages of the Champions League, which looks very unlikely now, so Robbie has paid the price, but with the club in transition and the team having changed its style of play from last season I think he has been a bit unlucky.
"I don't think there is anyone lined up and, once again, Chelsea will take stock of what's required, interview certain managers and come up with someone they think can take the club forward. Someone will always want the Chelsea manager's job as it is one of the top jobs in Europe and you have the opportunity to manage a side that is going to win things, plus you have the chance to boost your CV as Di Matteo did by winning the FA Cup and Champions League. I don't see anyone turning the job down."

"I think the failure to get out of the group stages of the Champions League is a pretty poor return for a club with a huge wage bill and a big transfer kitty and Di Matteo even admitted himself that if you fail at Chelsea, you lose your job. In normal circumstances you would think that he would warrant some time on the job, but the owner hires and fires on a regular basis.
"The club has still achieved many goals in that time; they have won Premier Leagues, FA Cups, the Carling Cup and Champions League, so let's face it, his strategy works. I think he will keep on hiring and firing, but I think Rafael Benitez will come in and steady the ship until the end of the season, as he nearly came into the job before Di Mateo - and then everyone will be looking at Pep Guardiola in the summer."

ohhhh Wenger never won trophy... ok

Well maybe if you had put in a lil more effort in trying to form more accurate sentences, I wouldnt have trouble understanding what u wrote.

Exactly what I meant by sheep mentality. Jst quoting all the press for comebacks, is that all you gonna do?

Yeah, so RDM made a mistake last night, Chelsea might face elimination bla bla bla.. The fact still remains that RA never allows anyone to make mistakes and let them remain in their managerial seat  for more than a season is a BAD culture for the club.

And theres nothing you and I can do to change his mentality but at least I wont be a sheep to jst accept that, shouting KTBFFH everytime shit happens

i got a feeling that RDM will replace Mark Hughes at QPR

drogba on loan hope we can get him lol

win UCL kena sack
win FA Cup kena sack
win CS kena sack
win Carling Cup kena sack
win EPL pun kena sack

so what he really wants?

win all 5 cups and stay unbeaten for one whole season...then if another season first game lost...sack juga...

who really dare to take on this seat? many good coaches came...but many die here...

pity you all have this kind of owner

Why Roman Abramovich believes Rafa Benítez is right for Chelsea

Benítez is a winner and can get the best out of Fernando Torres, but his skills stretch far beyond that

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Thankfully for Blues, they are already there.

If Atletico Madrid superstar Falcao is to join them, that will not be the new manager’s decision either.

Hell, if he makes Fernando Torres sing, he could even be given another season, like previous caretaker Roberto Di Matteo.

Owner Roman Abramovich clearly wants to give Torres one last big chance to make it at the Bridge.

Who better to bring in, then, than the man who coached the Spain hitman during his best years at Liverpool?

Rafa has hopefully learnt that at times he can be exceptional as a coach, but he is a hit-and-miss manager.

In other words, poor at building teams, good at coaching them.

At Valencia he won titles — two La Ligas and the UEFA Cup — when others made the signings. He wanted control of signings, they said no. He said adios.

At Liverpool he won trophies NOT with his squad but with Gerard Houllier’s.

The Frenchman bequeathed him a mishmash to which Benitez added Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia. But he also signed Josemi and dozens of other flops costing hundreds of millions.

He won trophies in his first two years but nothing in his last four when it was effectively Liverpool created in his own image. That was the proof that he can coach but cannot manage.

He is lucky in that respect. For he will not manage at Chelsea — no senor.

There is only one boss there, Abramovich. There have been eight coaches in eight years.

Benitez has to prepare Chelsea to play and not worry about being in control. He’s the hired help, there to serve.

Punch in tactics, preparation and squad rotation. Punch out.

Torres had his best years under Benitez at Anfield — after the Reds signed him from Atletico.

They did not always see eye to eye but their relationship remains strong. Torres will surely welcome his arrival.

Rafa’s tactical acumen was, quite often, annoyingly good. Annoyingly for his rivals like Jose Mourinho, Alex Ferguson — as well as Arsene Wenger.

Benitez did not always get it right at Liverpool but he did on several important occasions in cup competitions.

Most of his signings were disastrous though and even the good ones he fell out with, like Alonso.

Benitez enjoyed his biggest successes when he did not have to construct a squad.

He does not have to now, either.

Although Rafa is famously stubborn, he is also aware that this is probably his last chance at a big club and he must make it work.

seems like a lot of ppl dont like rafa. don be surprise if he going to be success for you guys. lol.. then you guys will hip with praises of him.