Chelsea Terrace Talk – Irish Examiner Article By Trizia

Who could have predicted such a tumultuous season after the fairy tale ending in Munich last May? For those of you with good memories, you will remember that I was very uneasy about Di Matteo being given the job permanently – as good a guy as he was he never had the experience for such a high profile job with a big club – and despite leading us to Champions League glory, his lack of tactical nous was exposed for everyone to see when defending the trophy – that said, he was very shabbily treated, sacked at 3am at the training ground after having just landed back from the Juventus game – what a way to treat a man who helped deliver the first trophy since our resurgence arguably began in 1997.

But as out of depth as he was, never in a million years did I expect the hated Benitez to rock up at Stamford Bridge – I honestly (stupidly) believed that even our board weren’t that stupid – I know, I know – I am naive…..

There are those saying that his appointment has been vindicated – because we have qualified for the Champions League and won the Europa Cup – this is no demonstration of anything other than the fact that we have some of the best players in the league. He barely delivered the bare minimum.

When Di Matteo was sacked, although we were all but virtually out of the Champions League, we were still in contention for the title – 4 points off United. We have now ended up 14 points behind them, down mainly to Benitez’s inability to counter opposition tactics and being totally unable to change a game.

Some of the awful teams we have lost to under Benitez’s stewardship have been a testament to his ego, stubbornness and tactical acumen or should I say lack of it. He has guided us to losing 16 points from winning positions (look back to how many points we finished behind United….) and his substitutions were at best ill-advised, at worst, often spiteful.

Then who could forget his little tantrum after the Middlesbrough cup game where his loathing of us was laid bare for all to see – we didn’t care – we loath him more – he may have won over half a dozen idiots with short memories but the majority of us despise him as much now, if not more so, than when he was first forced upon us. But I don’t want this review to be all about Benitez – he simply isn’t worth the column inches.

This has been the season where Lampard cemented his place in Chelsea history – a record breaker, an ambassador, a legend. His contribution to our club has been unbelievable; many (including some Chelsea fans) questioned the eleven million pound price tag when we bought him – name me anyone who has provided such a return – I honestly can’t think of one player who even comes close to measuring up so consistently for so long. He’s earned the extension to his contract and I can only hope that he will take the opportunity as much to study under the genius of Mourinho as add to his goal scoring tally and one day become our manager.

One has to mention Torres too – another average season but he has scored more goals than you would think and for me – that goal at the Nou Camp justifies the signing alone. The papers are already saying that his time is up at Chelsea – surprisingly I would have liked to have seen how he would have fared under Mourinho – not his sort of forward granted, but if anyone could get him going then I think Jose could have done.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Paulo Ferreira for his contribution to our club – bought in as part of the Jose revolution, he has always been dependable, the ultimate professional and one of the most dapper individuals to be associated with Chelsea – Paulo epitomises style – the King’s Road and Chelsea – good luck to him wherever he ends up.

Obviously winning the Europa trophy was great but I did enjoy finishing above Arsenal almost as much – to see the Gooner gonks celebrating 4th like they had just beaten Real Madrid in a Champions League final shows how low their expectations now are – how very small time.

Tottenham missing out again also makes me all warm inside – with any luck Bale will leave for some club who have believed the hype and send them back to the ignominy of mid table nothingness.

But I have to say, that although the season turned out better than I expected, I am still relieved that it’s over. It has not been fun seeing supporters arguing with each other while others still have boycotted games since Benitez joined us. The board must have been most relieved when Champions League qualification was achieved – I’d imagine they felt that the decision was justified – but at what cost?

So we await the official announcement of the next manager – we think we know who it is – we hope we know who it is – the banners of adoration are ready – we know it will eventually end in tears – but we know there will be some mental times in between.

As for Benitez, he left it until the last game of the season to finally make two good decisions – firstly to give Paulo a couple of minutes at the end of the Everton game – a fitting farewell; and secondly not to come out for the traditional lap of appreciation – he would have soured the moment – most of us still detest him and will never forgive – no matter what was scrawled on a grubby pillowcase by some retard with a crayon. As an aside he publicly put himself forward for the Everton job – he’s got some front – perhaps he thinks that their fans have forgotten the fact that he called them a small club with a small club mentality; the man has no shame and for that I leave my final sentence about him to William Shakespeare…..

“Go now and fill another room in hell”