DI MATTEO NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR CHELSEA.. By Wale Bakare

If there is one tough decision the Chelsea management board is to make real quick, that will be the dilemma as to who succeeds the interim caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo. The Italian born coach has achieved in less than four month arguably what mourinho could not in his brief spell at Chelsea except perhaps the premier league title. Most Chelsea fan are still basking in the euphoria of their triumph over world super power Barcelona and former European Champion Bayern Munich to clinch their first ever Champions league title. Considering the team poor run in the league after dipping further down the table signalling what would have become their worst season ever; Andrea Villa Boas was shown the exit door thus paving way for the Italian as a caretaker manager. The impasse to appoint a long term future manager may linger on; factions within the Chelsea board hierarchy are torn between offering Di matteo a permanent deal or probably a year contract. This rises the poser- what is/are the criterion for a permanent deal? It will be unfair if he was given just a year contract after bringing two silverwares, most especially the Champions league trophy that had long eluded the club. He has managed the old guards at Chelsea to bring out the best in them a feat Villa boa could not achieve. His CV looks incredible at the moment and he deserves the job. Soccer analysts further argues that Di matteo may actually not be the best for Chelsea, they atoned his resounding success to individual players determination and hunger for success rather than his esteem professionalism in the game. Football is a contest of goals not aesthetic. Di matteo has achieved what older managers are still yearning for. He was able to organise a fractured dressing room; the same “bigwigs” that dangled the axe on former manager Andrea Villa Boas. Di Matteo was fated for the 3-1loss to Napoli, ever since, the dexterity with which he took each of the remaining champions league matches to the delight of his critics would remain a critical success point in his career. The second leg against Barcelona was a class by all standards and the final drama in Munich was perfected in heaven. Nothing had suggested that the match would go the Chelsea way; even the book makers and soccer bets had gone in favour of Bayern. The atmosphere at the stadium was electrifying, earlier before the kick off, Bayern Munich fans had unveiled a huge banner along with a set of boldly written messages: USER STADT, USER STADION, USER POKAL translating to (Our town, our stadium, our cup) it was a graceless statement that never came to past as the sky would- and always remained blue all night. Club owner Abramovich is known for his penchant for success, he has paid a whooping 2billion pounds to hire and fire coaches in recent times. The 24million pounds spent on Drogba would go down as his most effective buy as Chelsea owner. Drogba has consistently saved Chelsea blushes pulling them back from the brink of disaster times without number; He has taken one of the greatest decisions in his career departing the club when the ovation is loudest. With Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou also giving the green light to leave, this would pave way for an additional one year contract for the thirtysomething year old trio of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry. All contract talks are shrouded in secrecy and Di Matteo oblivious of his impatient Russian billionaire owner has come out to defend his future by saying the speculations about his role at Chelsea is “irrelevant “and he will “accept” whatever the future has in store for him. Wale Bakare (@waleflame) Lagos Nigeria.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Travails Of A Senator

Image
BY.... WALE BAKARE There has been a beehive of activities in the Nigerian political terrain of recent. Top on the melee is the Farouk Lawan subsidy scam probe being attended to by the house on the recommendations of the subsidy committee. The report has been aired and read by the house, we eagerly await the presidency for full implementation to prosecute those indicted by the report. In a society where high profile case of corruption such has the 2 Trillion naira fuel subsidy scam discovery, one would have expected a show of remorse from the culprits by voluntarily resigning their current appointments and maintain a low profile pending when further actions would be taken by the presidency and the anti-graft bodies. Surprisingly the reverse is the case; the cabals are even gathering more momentum to witch-hunt and torment Senator Saraki with corruption case that holds no water. Rather than bury their head in shame for committing the greatest c
Read more

Anambra Youths and Elders Storm NASS in Solidarity to End Blackmail Against Andy Uba

Image
  By J. Alagenyi A group of young and old alike, including women from Anambra State and the Southern senatorial district today staged a peaceful demonstration at the National Assembly Complex to express their distaste for the recent protest by some unscrupulous elements posing as Anambra youths which was aimed at blackmailing one of their amiable representative in the person of Senator Dr. Emmanuel Andy Uba, they termed the recent deliberate campaign of calumny against the Senator as evil and a campaign that is aimed at smearing the image of their performing Senator.  The group trooped out in their numbers bearing different placards with messages to express their dissatisfaction and in solidarity for Senator Dr. Emmanuel Andy Uba. Speaking with Comrade Engr. Chidi Orji, who led the group of Anambrarians to the National Assembly, he said that their sole mission was to speak against the incessant hiring of hoodlums to protest against Senator Andy Uba, and spread false news that the
Read more

Kwara and the Abiding Faith in Party Leadership by Hauwa Sambo It was a classic made in Kwara State. About three weeks ago, 15 incumbent local government chairmen and 181 Councillors in a move that should provoke a fresh study in consensus politics voluntarily tendered their resignation ahead of their tenure expiration in solidarity with the political structure and the leadership of the ruling party in the state. Newly elected chairmen and councillors were subsequently sworn in. What prompted this rare demonstration of commitment by these elected members of the local government was the move by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party, who lost out in the local government election primaries to scuttle the swearing in. These elements readily became the working tools of a faction of the party at the national headquarters in Abuja. On its part, the opposition political party, the All Progressive Congress, APC did not meet the time mandated by the electoral law to participate in an INEC organized elections. The party made spirited efforts to participate in the LG polls by seeking extension of the election date from the courts. It’s prayers that as a newly formed political party it needs more time to put structure in place to conduct its primaries were dismissed by the state high court on lack of merit. As the opposition APC was battling to participate in the election, the aggrieved PDP elements were also pulling the strings. They took their grievances to national headquarters of the party alleging irregularity in the conduct of the LG primaries. Unknown to them however, the party in the state had already satisfied all the requirements by the national body and was given the go ahead to conduct the primaries. Realizing they had lost at the party level, the aggrieved elements headed for courts. By this time, the election had been worn by PDP, with the elected Chairmen and councillors waiting to be sworn in on the expiration of the tenure of the incumbents. However, with the legal moves by the aggrieved elements which sought to truncate the swearing in of the newly elected Chairmen and councillors, the incumbents in rare show of commitment to the state party leadership, voluntarily resigned from their positions, paving way for the swearing in of the newly elected LG office holders. This patriotic move by the outgoing Chairmen and councillors guaranteed the political peace and stability Kwara State is known and reputed for. It also showed the abiding faith the resigning Chairmen and councillors had in the Bukola Saraki-led political structure. Historic as this development was, it should not come as a big surprise, especially to those conversant with Kwara politics. The emergence of the late Dr Olusola Saraki on the Kwara political scene in the 60s came with a brand of politics which has since become a case study for political scientists. Late Saraki provided a political leadership. He gave a political direction upon which Kwara thrives till his demise late 2012. His death did not toll the knell of his political philosophy and enduring followership. Kwarans have kept faith with his son and successor, Dr Bukola Saraki who has not only taken the mantle of political leadership to higher heights in Kwara, but has also risen to become a key player in national politics. Today, the younger Saraki is solidly on ground. He has further strengthened the political structure he inherited from his father and made it more formidable. The plethora of success the ruling party has recorded under Bukola’s leadership underscores his acceptance by majority of Kwarans as the de-facto strong man of Kwara politics. –– Hauwa, a freelance journalist writes from Ilorin

Read more