So after another abject and dismal home display I find myself at a strange place regarding Chelsea. Last night was the first time I'd been to a Chelsea game of any description this year and first game I'd been to under Benitez. I did in fact mention in a previous blog I would never go again whilst Benitez is there but relented due to a change in circumstance. The main reason being this will be the last season for Lampard, Cole and possibly JT and I will be going to the last game against Everton for their farewell games so I may as well have brought my brief boycott of games to an end. Everton at home always seems to be an emotional one regarding club legends, many of a certain era may recall the fantastic Zola lob which sent us way on our way to the top 4, it was Zola's last goal for the club. Anyway, back on to current matters last night was also the first time I left a match before the final whistle. The home performances under him have been abject to say the least but the masochistic side of me had to see for it myself. Words can't describe how bad that game was, for me it was up there with Southampton at home on Boxing Day in 2002.
I criticised Benitez heavily before he had even managed a Chelsea game and win or lose stuck by it, even after the wins against Everton, Sunderland and co. I believe Benitez is a substandard manager and will continue saying it until the chickens come home to roost. Cast your mind back to the 08/09 season when Liverpool peaked. Mascherano, Reina, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres at the heartbeat of that team and a solid backline. Liverpool finished on the highest points tally never to win the league although they should have won it and probably would have but for a meltdown on Benitez's part which caused a mid-season collapse. That Liverpool team was so much better than United it's hard to fathom how they didn't win it. Liverpool actually won more away games than home games that season, Benitez's tactics cost them so many games at home hence costing them the title and we are seeing that at Chelsea now. 4 games out of 6 under him that we have failed to score and in all honesty in all 4 of them we haven't even looked like scoring. Under RDM we created chances and scored in every home game across all competitions, despite media spin every Chelsea fan deep down knows this team was better off with RDM as manager, the stats speak for themselves. If the media had the lube at the ready over just one lucky win at Everton, God only knows how they'd have reacted if Benitez had lead us to wins at the homes of our biggest rivals and won comfortably. That 4-2 ranks up there with one of the best away Chelsea performances in a derby and although I wasn't present for the 2-1 at the Emirates and truth be told so humgover and drunk from the previous nights excursions to even remember the 1st half, it was one fo the most professional performances you'll see away from home in such a big game.
The soul of the club has been stripped from the core, having spoken to Chelsea fans I know and on social networking sites never before have fans felt so removed from the club. This is a club that I simply cannot identify with at the moment. Usually I am either angry or crestfallen immediately a defeat but last night I was neither. Quite frankly I didn't want to be there before, during or after that game so my ticket was wasted and would have been better off in the hands of a tourist. I just simply get no buzz or thrill in going to Chelsea games any longer, I thought that I may feel differently once I started walking along the Fulham Road but it never came. Losing to West Ham and to a lesser extent QPR and Swansea at home should hurt but it doesn't. I actually admire and envy fans that can still go home or/and away every week and still have the same passion for the club. It's got to the stage now where I am counting down the days to the season's end. If we make top 4 great if we don't, we don't. Something has been stripped out of this football club that is far more valuable than any win or trophy. Whatever we think of Benitez, he isn't responsible for that, he's just simply the fall guy for Abramovich's relentless act of vengeance on those who he felt betrayed his 2nd most prized possession after Torres - AVB. The smart people can see Benitez's appointment was merely just a smokescreen. The board are stripping out the soul of the club, removing fan favourites and treating club legends like chewing gum off the sole of a shoe and what are we sat here doing? Castigating Benitez who was inevitably going to get poor results as he is a sub standard as proved by his record in England and Italy, even in Spain he was only aided by the financial capitulation of Barcelona and decline of Real Madrid under the megalomaniacall Perez. I'm not sat here saying we should lay off Benitez but we have to be focused and get down to the root problem.
We are Champions of Europe and I couldn't care less, we laugh at Spurs and Liverpool almost weekly (it's hard not to) but they are clubs with a soul, just like the Swansea side we saw today. These are people that can be proud of their football clubs and what they stand for. Gary Neville will never become Liverpool manager and Tony Adams will never become Spurs manager, that I am 100% certain of because fundamentally they have owners and a board that respect the principles and history of the club. I'd rather be a midtable/relegation battling non-entity as we were when I first became a fan and be proud of the club than what we have become now. This isn't Chelsea Football Club, it's a club that the owner has decided to build around one failed player. A Dave Whelan or even Ken Bates would put their hands up and admit they got it wrong and would try other methods but not this owner and this board, over the summer we somehow managed to entice two or three of the best young attacking players in world football yet are wasted our time on a player that simply cannot cut it at top level football due to horrific injuries he sustained a few years ago. If I were Oscar or Hazard my transfer request would be in this Summer, in all honesty when these two fulfil their potential they can/will be playing for much better clubs than Chelsea.
It's hard to believe I can no longer get excited for a semi final of a cup any longer such is my drained passion and enthusiasm for the club. I can remember begging my parents to let me stay up for the League Cup semi against Arsenal as a kid such was my excitement but if I'm being totally honest my passion never has been the same since Mourinho left, sacking after sacking of good and nice managers has worn me out and the appointment of Benitez was the final blow, Di Matteo was a rare exception to the rule, I went to his first game as manager at Birmingham midweek and the support for hom was as strong as ever. I knew he was always on borrowed time but still feel the club could have dealt with the situation in an appropriate manner
As with any football club it's always the fans - the people who care about the club most that suffer.
I'll always love the club, but it's not a club that I like at the moment nor one I can relate to.
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