A Quiet Adios From Benitez

A Quiet Adios From Benitez

Following the untimely, acrimonious and shocking sacking of Roberto di Matteo last year, Roman Abramovich brought in Rafa Benitez to steady the expensively assembled ship of the Russian billionaire. This move was met with severe criticism from the Chelsea faithful, who were not keen to see their one-time rival boss take over the helm, given Benitez’s former ties with Liverpool.

The fans sounded out their discontent at seeing the Spaniard take over, and made themselves heard during his first game in charge as he was incessantly booed, however Benitez was unaffected by this as he maintained a figure of calm and poise and went about carrying out his job like a professional. The fractious relationship between the fans and Benitez reached its peak when Benitez had enough of the behavior towards him, as he lashed out at the fans and at Abramovich in a pre-match press conference.

That story then died away, and Chelsea ended their current season at 3rd spot in the table along with a piece of silverware in the form of the Europa League. Sunday’s 2-1 win against Everton at Stamford Bridge marked the end of Benitez’s short reign at the club.

The club’s stalwarts, John Terry and Frank Lampard along with the retiring Paolo Ferriera addressed the club fans after the game, however none of them mentioned and credited Benitez and his work at the club. He was also not present on the lap of appreciation at the end of the game.

However, these incidents were dismissed by him as it was reported by Metro as he said, “‘I received more than 200 messages on [Chelsea’s website, from fans saying thank you,”

“The majority of [the fans] were very positive in the end. That is good. We couldn’t change the opinion of some of them. We tried to do our best until the end.”

It is more than likely that Benitez will not face a problem finding new employers following his short successful reign as Chelsea boss despite the difficulties he faced. Where do you see the Spaniard heading next?