Rafael Benitez believes he has earned a stay of execution at Chelsea after stating that he has an "excellent" relationship with Roman Abramovich and that he expects to remain in charge until May.
Benitez's tirade last night at the club's hierarchy and the supporters seemed likely to hasten his departure from Stamford Bridge, perhaps even before Saturday's match against West Bromwich Albion, but, in an interview with BBC Sport today he insisted that he will be in charge until the end of the season.
The club are expected to continue to monitor the situation, but in the immediate term the situation is described as "business as usual".
That leaves the prospect of an awkward press conference tomorrow at the club's training ground, where he oversaw today's session with the players, but, far more pertinently, a toxic atmosphere at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with many supporters infuriated by his condemnation of their opposition to his regime.
Benitez had already confirmed that he will leave Chelsea at the end of the season, suggesting that the supporters should stop "wasting their time" on him, but in a press conference after his team's FA Cup fifth-round victory away to Middlesbrough on Wednesday he accused supporters of undermining the team by peddling an "agenda" against him, saying that they would be responsible if the club miss out on Champions League qualification.
The former Liverpool manager also accused the club of making a "massive mistake" by describing him as an interim. Abramovich is notoriously intolerant of downturns in results, let alone challenges to the club's decision-making process, but the word from Stamford Bridge today has been that of "business as usual".
"I have been in charge in football for 26 years," Benitez said at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday night.
"I have won the Champions League, won the Club World Cup, the FA Cup, the Italian Super Cup, the Spanish league twice – nine trophies, all the trophies you can win at club level. They [the supporters] are wasting their time with banners and songs. They don't need to waste time with me. I will leave at the end of the season. They have to concentrate on supporting the team, that's what they have to do.
"I don't say 'all the fans', but there is a group of fans who have an agenda. In the end, they are not doing any favours to the club, to the rest of the fans and to the players.
"Every game they continue singing and they continue preparing banners. They are wasting their time. What they have to do is support the team.
"If we cannot achieve what we expect to achieve, which is to be in the top four and in the Champions League for next year, I will leave and they [Chelsea] will stay in the Europa League. They [his detractors] have to take responsibility too. If they put players under pressure and don't create a good atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, they have to realise they are making a big mistake because the rest of the fans would like to see the team in the Champions League next year. It would be much better for everyone to have a good atmosphere and supporting the team, backing the players, and that's it.
"It's a team in transition. They [the supporters] don't realise. In the past, we had [Didier] Drogba, [Michael] Essien, [Salomon] Kalou, these players. It was a very strong squad, players with experience in the Premier League.
"Now we have a group of players with talent, really good players with talent, but they need time. It's a time of transition.
"But they don't realise it was a time of transition when I came here. The team was not in the Champions League, the team has lost some trophies, so I am trying to do my best and I will try to do my best until the end, until the last minute."
On feeling undermined by his "interim" title, Benítez said: "It's because someone made a mistake. They [the club] put my title as 'interim manager', which was a massive mistake. Why put 'interim' in the title? Why did they need to do that? Maybe they [the board] thought that, because I was at Liverpool, they will put 'interim' in. I'm the manager and I will be the manager until somebody decides otherwise. It might be June."
No comments:
Post a Comment