Rafael Benitez may feel that three points against Fulham would help win Chelsea fans over.
But, as welcome as a victory in the derby would be, he’s wrong if he thinks the tide of opinion will turn in his favour any time soon.
At half-time against Manchester City, the usual announcement came that the highlights of the first half were about to be shown on the big screens.
Three or four people around me said “that won’t take long” and they had a point – the clash between the champions of Europe and England was a tedious and sterile affair.
But for me all the highlights of the day had happened by then.
When Roberto Di Matteo was a player at Chelsea, a great midfielder who scored in three Wembley cup finals, he wore the number 16 shirt.
And after 16 minutes of Sunday’s game the fans chanted his name and applauded for 60 seconds, an act of recognition for all he did for us in his Chelsea playing and managerial careers, both of which were cut scandalously short.
About 20 minutes earlier there had been another rousing minute of much-deserved applause for a Chelsea manager who won a European trophy and an FA Cup – the much loved Dave Sexton.
The death of the man who managed the great team of the late 60s and early 70s, the likes of Osgood, Harris, Bonetti, Hollins and Cooke, was announced shortly before kick-off and fans of both clubs rose to pay their respects.
Another highlight for me involved Ashley Cole.
Cole has his much-publicised faults but he has been a fantastic footballer for more than a decade, with much of that brilliant football played at Stamford Bridge.
He is only 31, still fit and still playing excellently. Yet on Friday it was announced he will probably be leaving in the summer. Quite why, I don’t know.
And so, again during the first half, there were long and lengthy chants of Cole’s name and of “Ashley Cole, we want you to stay”.
He heard and acknowledged them, giving a thumbs up to the thousands of fans who were chanting his name.
And what of the man who cheerfully announced Cole’s impending departure? The man who replaced Di Matteo after his shameful sacking? The man who must attempt to emulate Sexton by bringing trophies to Stamford Bridge?
Benitez was also given an emphatic reception by the Chelsea fans – but a very different one.
He was greeted by deafening boos and jeers from close to 40,000 people.
It lasted until the moment came to honour Sexton and had it not been for that necessary interruption I wonder if the booing would still have been going on when the match started. It wouldn’t have surprised me.
As it happened, as the teams kicked off Di Matteo’s name was being sung. Another way of making the point.
And while some people will not like it, Benitez’s reception – the boos, the chants of “we want you to go” or “you’re not welcome here” during the game, the banners and signs reading ‘RAFA OUT’ seen around the stadium – were another highlight for me.
It was bad enough that Di Matteo, a Chelsea legend, a dignified man who understood the club and its fans and who had brought unprecedented glory just six months earlier, had been sacked. But for him to be replaced by Benitez, a man who has none of the traits which make Di Matteo so popular, was shameful.
As the boos, jeers and banners showed, Benitez is massively unpopular among Chelsea fans.
It’s not just that he managed Liverpool at a time when there was huge animosity between the clubs, nor that he has a reputation for playing negative football, nor his general pompous demeanour.
This is a man who five years ago said he could never bring himself to manage Chelsea and openly criticised the fans, questioning their passion. And the fans have not forgotten.
When you support a club which goes through managers as rapidly as Chelsea, you have to have a certain level of pragmatism about comings and goings.
We accepted, however reluctantly, the sackings of trophy winners Gullit, Vialli, Mourinho and Ancelotti, and gave their replacements a fair chance (even if the owners who brought them in ultimately didn’t).
But the arrival of Benitez is too much. And the fans, rather than shrug and move on as we’ve had to in the past, let it be known.
The arrival of Benitez is nothing, for example, like the appointment of Avram Grant to replace Jose Mourinho.
Grant was an odd choice and not a popular one but he was a completely new face to us – not a man who had openly slagged us off just a few years before.
Benitez says he thinks he can win the Chelsea fans over. If he does it will be quite an achievement.
We are more than happy to praise people to the hilt when they have earned it – as was shown with Cole, Di Matteo and Sexton. But Benitez is not in their league.
And the fact we let him know it, rather than just turn a blind eye, was a source of pride for me
Maybe Chelsea fans don’t lack passion after all, Rafa?
James Clarke is the author of Moody Blues: Following the second-best team in Europe
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This post was last modified on 28/11/2012
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just 3 and half weeks to go to xmas chelsea plastics time for three new managers bet your excited
James, thanks for having the good grace to respond to your critics. But you haven't really defended the main thrust of your article - that Benitez can never be accepted because of attitudes he held towards Chelsea when he was manager of Liverpool. This, to me and many others, is totally irrelevant and just goes to show how pathetically over-sensitive football fans can be to the slightest provocation when it concerns their own club. We all love giving a bit of stick to opposing clubs and fans, so we should be able to take it when we get some back. Think how we laughed at those Arsenal fans who practically rioted after Adebayor, the target of their relentless abuse, had the temerity to score against them for Man City. They were rightly lampooned as hypocritical clowns. We (or those who share your opinions anyway) are now no better.
Just so you know, I'm not looking to argue, just stir interest, like you. I hope others also see my point.
David What fan are you? BrokenKops?Whatever, you suck bal .Chelsea is is the best club in the world!!
Oh and your line that Abramovich treats the club like a computer sim is incredibly accurate. And it's depressing given there are so many of us (yes me included, I am a Chelsea fan) who care what happens to the club which is being run according to whims.
Fair enough, Bignose. I have written before on this site about Abramovich's interference. The fact it's not the topic of this particular piece doesn't mean I don't see it too.
Bravo Chelski fans...
You are now officially the worlds worst.
You bemoan the 'scandalus' sacking of Di Matteo, and thats somehow Benitez's fault?
Ha Ha... Your idiotic logic cracks me up.
Abramovich and you deserve each other, what a disgraceful display all round.
Good luck trying to get Pep Guardiola.
You sell yourselves so wonderfully...
I meant to add, before you incorrectly write about which team I am affiliated with then I will add that I have not attended a Chelsea game since the Abramovich takeover, and I will not be going until he decides to pass on the baton to someone who will share the team with its fans and not treat it like a computer sim.
Although winning is good, the competition is now getting ridiculous, with Man City coming from nowhere by buying the league, who will be next... Leeds perhaps? I for one didn't want to buy the league, but the blueprint was set by Blackburn for others to inevitably follow. Then last season the supporters of the proposed Uefa financial fair play had more ammunition handed to them with City taking the league alongside Chelsea with the CL.
So Blaming Benitez for becoming the manager is irrelevant, the problem at Chelsea has always been Abramovich and will continue to be so until he stops interfering and lets a manager do his job.
Your completly wrong about hodgson he was never the right person for the Liverpool job we all new that but we welcomed him at our first home game and gave him several games in which we played the worst football ever at LFC but what you chavs did to rafa was disgusting its just a pity the ruski in charge of your plastic club cant get rid of plastic supporters like you i really hope rafa walks away from you no marks let me tell you chelsea were my second team as a child with the likes of charlie cook ozzy houseman ect but since you got the ruskie you have become as arrogant as man united fans rafa is to good for your club looser
If its good enough for Sir Alex to call Benitez lucky/fortunate to be in a position to add trophies from a team that he has not built, then I feel I have every right to call RDM THAT LUCKY.
Get all your facts straight then answer me. Oh and by the way do you really support Chelsea? Or do you just follow what everyone else is saying?