Chelsea Sack Andre Villas-Boas, Rafa Benitez To Be Sworn In ‘Within 48 Hours’

Chris Wright

4th, March 2012

33 Comments

By Chris Wright

In this morning’s inevitable, ridiculous, knee-jerk news; Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked by John Terry and Frank Lampard Chelsea following yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at West Brom – a result that leaves the club lying in shameful, shameful fifth place in the Premier League.

Chelsea have released the following statement:

“Andre Villas-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today. The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.

“Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.

“The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.

“With that in mind we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.”

The word is Villas-Boas will pick up nearly £18 million in compensation – I can’t be arsed to fact check, it’s Sunday – while Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed as manager on an interim basis. However, several of the Sunday papers seem to be already pedalling the rumour that Rafa Benitez will be appointed as AVB’s successor ‘within the next 48 hours.’

Let the spinning wheel spin and history repeat itself…again.

Posted in Chelsea, Featured, Transfers & Rumours

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33 Comments

  1. Dylan says:

    Rafa would be mad to go to that shambles of a club.

  2. Rory says:

    Shame, he seems like a good guy and is a good manager. He needed time to clear out the old guard and get his own players in, the squad needs a major overhaul. In fairness I don’t think his reputation will suffer and he’s 20 odd million better off. Fair play Andre!

  3. Tom says:

    fucking ridiculous

  4. Scott says:

    I don’t think his time at Chelsea has been at all negative for him. He’s learnt a lot about the Premier League, no-one can really blame him for what’s happened and he’s left with a huge paycheck.

    All in all, result for AVB.

  5. MrMac says:

    There is only one replacement, and unless that replacement comes, i’m honestly afraid chelsea will become a mid club again.

    Only one special replacement.

    No one else will do – i hope to god abramovich and mr. buck realize that come summer.

    Else they might as well close up shop.

  6. Fellaini's fro says:

    I hope he stays in england, i have a lot of respect for the guy and give him a little more malleable of a team, he could really show off his talent. Perhaps another vacancy in london that could be opening up…
    And its about time we got rafa back in the league, with mccarthy and warnock gone, press conferences were getting boring again

  7. Anonymous says:

    Is unfair 4 me to believe in chelsea cound sack avb.

  8. Alayo says:

    All chelsea sporting director are mad for sacking AVB.

  9. sydex says:

    Rafa should go there pick up a 15 million pay check for being fired after 6 months and then go back into semi retirement happy (yeah even as an everton fan I have a soft spot for him). Di matteo should run like the wind before he gets caught up in the melee.

  10. man_dildo says:

    I truly feel bad for AVB. I agree with Rory that he seemed like a good guy and a manager, but Abramovich acted rashly again after sacking yet another good manager in Ancelotti simply cuz he didn’t win any silverware despite wining him the double and qualifying him to CL the previous season.
    Proof that Abramovich knows about football as much as i know about ballet which is next to nothing.

  11. Rob says:

    Whoever started calling him AVB needs to be sacked too.

  12. Arsenesbrasso says:

    Chelsea sold their souls to a petulant multi billionaire gangster (let’s not beat around the bush – Abramovich is an out & out criminal) & this is part one of their comeuppance. Part two will be when Abramovich loses patience with his toy, sells up and buys a NBA franchise.

  13. Romany Arbroathavich says:

    chelsea will never learn,its not the manager they need to sack,its them other two muppets,Lampard and ‘giz a go of your wife’ Terry. The Spanish Waiter isn’t the man either,get mourinho back right away.

  14. Fletch says:

    @Rob, That’ll be Colin ‘Fuckwit’ Murray.

  15. as says:

    It was about time. I’m getting sick of those arrogant managers who believe only they have the answer to everything. They give their own vision of football then leave the club and it’s a mess

  16. Fletch says:

    Tinpot team
    Tinpot owner
    Tinpot (Future) manager in Benitez.

    Long may they rot in mediocrity

  17. Mr. Sparkle says:

    Rafa Benitez would be the worst thing to happen to Chelsea. He was by far the worst thing to happen to Liverpool, even if they did win the Champions League (when it wasn’t his team other than the failure Morientes).

  18. Igor von Chudbucket III says:

    Ah, the seams of the russian moneybag is starting to burst. Old overpaid players, a new manager every 6 months. Too bad you can’t buy league points with money. Thank you for your stay in “the top 4”, chelsea. It was fun while it lasted. Now you can start to fall back where you belong.

  19. KingB3113 says:

    A real shame but I think the question on everyone’s lips should be, what does this mean for the hot Chelsea doctor? :(

  20. Giancarlo says:

    Lets get something straight here: Benitez didn’t win the Champions League; Milan lost it.
    Look at how poorly he did with Inter, and how fucked they are still because some of his choices. He brought in some horror shows at Liverpool, too.

    I think they really need to take some time and find the right person, but I feel as though there will never be another person good enough for Abram. nor to fight through the shadow of Mourinho. Andre was set to fail before he even started being a young Portuguese coach. He is nothing like Mourinho but the comparisons never stopped. I feel for him because he does seem like a good person, and just seemingly the right person at the wrong time.

    What everyone seems to know except Abram. is, like others have mentioned, an overhaul. Stop the reckless purchases, and create a solid plan to capture players down the spine of the team. Drogba, Lampard, Terry, and Cech can still perform but not to their 2005 days. That’s the area that needs work. They should’ve fought tooth and nail to get Parker that’s for sure!

    Anyone see the irony in their losing ways without Obi Mikel playing holding midfielder? :P

  21. Mr Sensible says:

    Good to see your prediction of Chelsea winning the league looking like it’ll happen.

  22. alex ferguson says:

    lampard is a bad guy! i condemn him to hell!

  23. Stu says:

    I hope Frank’s local pie shop shut’s down.

  24. Stewart says:

    Here’s a thought. We have player managers from time to time, but as far as I know we’ve never had official owner managers? Why doesn’t Roman just go for it? I’m the manager and I can’t be sacked because I’m the owner? I buy ’em, I pick ’em and I pay for the nets and the floodlights as well?

    It makes perfect sense.

  25. John says:

    I would love to see Roman be the manager for the sheer WWE soap opera spectacle of it.

    However, I think you need UEFA coaching license to become a manager these days, and it takes 2-3 years to get accreditation.

  26. lfc_man says:

    If the old guard thought AVB was hard to deal with, they will really have it bad with Rafa. While I don’t think Rafa is the best in the world, he did go to the champs league final twice, an FA cup, got Liverpool to challenge for the title with their highest ever points tally. He also had to deal with those American owners. As for Inter where are they now?

    Sometimes the machines broken and it needs to be replaced or retweaked. Changing the one who operates a machine doesnt really help if it is fundamentally flawed. I think AVB should have had more time.

  27. Bill Smith says:

    VERY sad to see AV-B sacked, as he was doing a quite outstanding job.

    With any luck at all, he could have ensured Chelsea lost every game for the rest of the season, so great shame he has gone.

    Ho Hum………let’s just hope that his legacy lingers on for as long as possible, and that Chelsea end up in the Doc Martens League (South) before too long where they belong, and then we could all blow a MASSIVE raspberry and raise two fingers to Abramovitch and the arrogance & corruption of the beautiful game created by his rotten £millions.

    So far as AV-B is concerned, he is better off out of that place, so in all seriousness, good luck to him.

  28. Mr. Sparkle says:

    I’m pretty sure Roman can buy anything he wants to, UEFA and FIFA are far from incorruptible. I mean when you have two of the biggest twats in the world of football leading both organizations, I’m sure a cool couple of million will buy you anything.

  29. sleeba says:

    No facial hair…..or Mick McCarthy

  30. sleeba says:

    pop-up ads are annoying as fuck

  31. Papi says:

    ”Giancarlo” is right on the money. Let dumb shit Benitez come in. As stated before, he screwed Liverpool, perma-screwed Inter, and he’ll obliterate Chelsea. He’ll even keep Torres, just because he’s Spanish. I hate Chelsea though. If Abramovich wants to ruin his already wounded toy, go on then. More easy points for the better teams.

  32. Vincent Cole says:

    As a lifelong Chelsea fan, I’ve got a massive respect for Di Matteo and not that he couldn’t do a good job, but he won’t win the League for us or any trophies even if he’s in charge for the next 10 years. And when things start to go bad, he’ll get treated like sh*t and I feel bad for him. And Newton.

  33. SULTAN says:

    CHELSEA REMAINS AS THE GUT ROT OF LONDON.

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