Five years on: Chelsea and the curious case of Rafa Benitez
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Updated 28/11/2017 at 09:24 GMT
Stamford Bridge usually offers a warm welcome to those who return, but on Saturday things may be very different. Dan Levene on Chelsea's curious relationship with Rafael Benitez.
FC Chelsea 2012/2013 Benitez
Image credit: Imago
“We don't care about Rafa, he don't care about us, all we care about is Chelsea FC...” (repeat to fade).
That was possibly the only printable thing Chelsea supporters, en masse, had to say about their caretaker manager during the bizarre, dysfunctional, self-harming 2012-13 season.
And some of his own words about the fans might have been better left unprinted too.
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Chelsea fans call for Rafa Benitez's exit (Reuters)
Image credit: Reuters
On Saturday, Rafael Benitez returns to SW6 with Newcastle United. And his reception is expected, at best, to be mixed.
The Spaniard is often thought of as the any-port-in-a-storm candidate who took the reins at Stamford Bridge for six months, five years ago this month.
But the reality was that Chelsea had been pursuing him for some time.
He was the preferred option when both Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas collected their cards: both times rebuffing Roman Abramovich's advances.
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Roberto Di Matteo interim manager of Chelsea lifts the trophy in celebration after their victory in the UEFA Champions League Final between FC Bayern Muenchen and Chelsea at the Fussball Arena München on May 19, 2012 in Munich, Germany.
Image credit: Getty Images
By the time of Roberto Di Matteo's dismissal, the club was both on top of the world, and in a huge mess.
The Italian had achieved one of football's unlikeliest ever feats, in claiming what is still Chelsea's only European Cup.
But that achievement had forced the club into giving him the permanent job his superiors never believed he was suited to.
Negotiations with Benitez kicked off for a third time before the 2012-13 season started: and Di Matteo was a dead man walking almost as soon as a ball was kicked in that Premier League campaign.
Chelsea cannot say they were not warned about the deep unpopularity of the ex-Liverpool boss among fans, prior to his appointment.
That was mostly borne out of the Spaniard's testy relationship with Portuguese Jose Mourinho, over the course of numerous clashes in vital league and cup games.
The words attributed to him in relation to Chelsea and plastic flags (some insist they were never said, others with no agenda in the matter are clear they were in the room when they were) grated with the club's match-going fans.
During Di Matteo's first game as caretaker, post Villas-Boas, the away end at Birmingham City could not have been ignored in its assertion that Benitez was 'not welcome here'.
When he was ushered in to the training ground at Cobham, the storm could surely not have been more perfect: replacing Di Matteo, darling of the faithful both on and off the pitch.
All of this also came just a year after relations between club and support were badly damaged by the hostile (and ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to wrestle the freehold of Stamford Bridge from shareholding fans.
Having tried to steal their home, and sacked their hero, Chelsea were now putting the fans' biggest cartoon hate figure in charge.
Senior sources say they expected hostility when Benitez was unveiled at home against Manchester City on 25 November 2012: but they were utterly unprepared for the fierceness of what followed.
It was as if the Spaniard had strode into the Colosseum, only to be welcomed by a reception of 40,000 lions.
It will disappoint many to hear that the new boss was, one-to-one, a great guy to deal with. At first.
After the incredibly tetchy Villas-Boas, and the somewhat opaque Di Matteo, he was friendly and chatty on and off the record; and seemed to lift the mood around the club.
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Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez looks on after his side's defeat to Huddersfield
Image credit: Getty Images
Some fans were certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But, with his constant positive references to Liverpool in press conferences, he seemed to erode the little goodwill that was there for him.
Relations with the club also struggled: over a disagreement about whether he should be termed 'interim' – something which very nearly led to his dismissal in February (until someone pointed out to the owner: “You can't sack the caretaker”).
Later that month, at Middlesbrough, Chelsea's travelling support gave him both barrels; for 90 minutes.
And he snapped. His post-match rant looked certain to be the end: as he tore apart those who had travelled hundreds of miles, on a midweek evening, to support their side.
But still he was unshiftable.
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Chelsea's manager Rafael Benitez holds up the trophy after his team won their Europa League Final soccer match against Benfica at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam May 15, 2013. REUTERS
Image credit: Reuters
Once it was clear he was in the post until the season's end, an unsteady truce was established, and the song at the top of this piece became the norm.
The Blues finished third, then took the Europa League trophy: probably, at the time, considered the barest minimum expected of a Chelsea manager.
And Benitez left: to be replaced by Mourinho, and a whole different set of dysfunctional conditions.
On Saturday he returns: some will welcome him; many will not; and one can be certain that outside observers will fail to understand exactly why he gets the reception he does.
But 40,000 at Stamford Bridge will get it. And so, though he'll probably refuse to admit it, will Benitez.
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