The only thing certain about Chelsea at this point in time is that they will appoint a new manager in the summer. Chelsea started this season like a house on fire with many predicting a strong title challenge from the Europeans Champions as a result. However, things have gone further downhill since Roberto Di Matteo’s sacking and the subsequent arrival of the unpopular Rafael Benitez.
Fans have been against the former Liverpool manager since day one and Chelsea have already bowed out of 5 trophies this season, but are still in the FA Cup and Europa League and have a fight on hand to finish in the top 4.
Interim manager Rafael Benitez has already confirmed his departure at the end of the season following his rant on the Chelsea fans for not backing him. The Blues will be naming their eleventh manager in less than 10 years during the Abramovich era.
A number of candidates have been linked with the post, from the Premier League’s Michael Laudrup at Swansea, to other European managers like Antonio Conte at Juventus, who guided the Old Lady to the Serie A title last season undefeated. Naturally Jose Mourinho is being linked with a sensational return to the Bridge.
The newest name to be linked with the managerial post at Chelsea is that of former England manager Fabio Capello. The Italian is currently the coach of the Russian national team but has previously talked of his desire to manage in the Premier League.
Capello has an excellent track record having won numerous trophies in Italy with AC Milan, Roma and Juventus and has also won La Liga twice with Real Madrid. Capello has not managed a club team since he was sacked after winning the La Liga title for Madrid back in the 2007-08 season. He has recently admitted he would like to manage in England.
However, Capello resigned from the England post after having disagreements with the FA board over the John Terry affair and you could think that there are bound to be problems with Abramovich considering his track record with his managers. Abramovich will have no hesitation in replacing the manager if results are not going according to plan. This could very well be Capello’s last stint as a club manager and he would not like to go out by being dumped by the Chelsea owner.
Capello has also further distanced himself from the Chelsea post by admitting that making Russia qualify for the 2014 World Cup is his sole objective. He said, “At the moment, I am not thinking about anything else. I have received no offers. I am only thinking of reaching the World Cup Finals with Russia.”
Even though Capello looks set to continue on as the manager of Russia, stranger things have happened in football and with his own admission of wanting to manage a Premier League club, one cannot rule him out for the Chelsea post.