Roman Abramovich: Blue-beard
Roman Abramovich bears a scary resemblance to Blue-beard, the French nobleman who reportedly had made it a habit to murder his wives. While there have been no such claims about the Russian billionaire, he does have a habit of sacking the various managers
at Chelsea throughout the years since he took over the London club in 2003.
Abramovich fits the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bill-c7610, like the French nobleman Blue-beard; the Russian is immensely rich and can afford to get away with irrational and rash decisions. His habitual sacking of manager after manager cannot be described as anything else but rash. The Blues
have had seven managers in eight years, with the newest manager Andre Villas-Boas being the seventh.
Abramovich began his rule by sacking existing manager Claudio Ranieri, who had been managing the Blues since 2000, in the summer of 2004 and appointing Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho in his place. The Special One lasted until 2007, leaving the club with
mutual consent.
Despite the media being made to believe that Mourinho had not been sacked, one cannot help but wonder what made the brilliant coach want to leave in the middle of the season. True, he did not exactly have the best season but that was no reason for him to
just leave.
There is only one thing that comes to mind that could have made the now http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid coach leave the London club, Roman Abramovich. The Russian was reported to have had disagreements with Mourinho on various issues, after which it was decided that Mourinho
would leave the club.
He settled for some money and left, leaving the former Director of Football and a friend of Abramovich’s Avram Grant to take over as care-taker manager. While the Israeli tried his best to fill in Mourinho’s shoes, he did not possess the charm or charisma
and despite leading the Blues to a UEFA Champions League final, was sacked.
It did not matter that he called himself Abramovich’s friend or that he had been an important part of the club as the DoF before taking over the manager’s position. His replacement was World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The Brazilian manager was undoubtedly the least liked out of the recent Chelsea managers, by both the supporters and Abramovich. After just a few months Abramovich was disillusioned and bored with the 62-year-old and after a dip in form, sacked the former
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984 national team manager.
He then appointed another acquaintance (read friend) as the care-taker manager, Guus Hiddink. Abramovich managed to convince the Dutchman to simultaneously manage the Russian national team along with the London club. He did exactly that, leading the Blues
to and FA Cup finish.
Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t good enough for Abramovich. Instead of offering him a more permanent contract, Abramovich appointed former AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti as the new http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 manager. With the Italian manager having led the Serie A giants
to two Champions League trophies, there was a lot that was expected from him.
Managing to deliver the never before achieved domestic double of the English Premier League and the FA Cup earned him another season at the Bridge, but Abramovich was not as forgiving the second season when Ancelotti failed to deliver any silverware. That
was the end of the Italian manager’s reign at the Bridge.
Some 30 days after sacking him, Abramovich appointed Andre Villas-Boas in a surprise move. In his first press conference as the Chelsea manager, the 33-year-old manager revealed he expected to be sacked if he did not lead the Blues to any trophies, meaning
he was well aware of what was in store for him.
Will Villas-Boas survive the axe? Pun intended. Or will he be like all the other managers’ who fell victim to Abramovich’s sadistic sacking ritual?
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