Rafa Benitez wanted to stay at Chelsea but the fans wanted nothing less. What if the board ignored that and persisted with him regardless?
Roberto Di Matteo’s sacking hurt. Chelsea was having a rough November when Roman Abramovich, perhaps for the last time, wielded his axe quickly and with little remorse. The Italian was inexperienced but nothing will take that Champions League away from him.
Little did the Blues know it could get worse. Rafa Benitez, hated from his time at Liverpool and his comments about “plastics” was brought in as the interim manager. The fans hated him from the go but Benitez was adamant he wanted the job full time. Reality saw his personal rival Jose Mourinho return to the club as Benitez left for Napoli.
But what if Abramovich and the board had ignored the fans on Benitez and Mourinho? What if Benitez was granted the Chelsea job full time like he desired? Where do the Blues go from there?
The big story that summer was John Terry. He made no secret his dislike about Benitez’s management of him. He opts to stay at Chelsea like the true Blue he is, but he is by no means in Benitez’s corner.
Chelsea manage to start the season quite well with Eden Hazard, Oscar, and Juan Mata fueling a slowly resurgent Fernando Torres. The main issue the Blues seem to be running into is the one they faced the previous season; they simply cannot hold leads well. 2-0 is the most dangerous lead and for Chelsea, it is all but guaranteed to evaporate.
But when things go wrong, Terry is not quite in his criticisms. Nothing he says is overt or wrong, but it riles Benitez in pressers nonetheless. The fans begin to grow satisfied as early as November, especially as Manchester City and Liverpool begin to pull ahead as Chelsea’s failure to maintain leads pulls them down.
The only old guard player truly in Benitez’s corner, or at least not opposed on some level, is Frank Lampard. Lampard has been a main stay of Benitez’s midfield but there is a growing sense that his use deeper on the pitch is becoming more and more of a thing of the past. Benitez reacts to all of this criticism by making Chelsea more defensive which begins to cut into Lampard’s playing time.
It is late January before Lampard begins to join Terry’s chorus about Benitez. A loss in the League Cup final is enough to end Benitez’s time after a great deal of fan pressure. Jose Mourinho, who quit Real Madrid a few months into the season, arrives to salvage Chelsea’s season. Benitez almost immediately makes his intentions for the Real Madrid job known, especially to “one up” Mourinho like he had attempted previously at Inter Milan.
Benitez at Chelsea was never going to work because even the good times were so close to the edge. Fans and the old guard were barely keen on him even on good days and it simply would not have taken much for that to reach a tipping point.
What other what ifs would you like to see? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!