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Thank You Robbie

BLUENUT

By BLUENUT
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Eton Blue at the Chelsea Megastore

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  • 2 months later...
Huttsey

Huttsey

Posted
Posted (edited)

Di Matteo is in The Sunday Times today:

‘Football is my drug. I’m an addict craving a new fix’

For the first time since being axed by Roman Abramovich, Roberto Di Matteo says he is ready to return to management

THE Di Matteo Lounge was full on Tuesday. The directors’ box boasted a black-and-white image of a beaming club legend shouldering the European Cup in Munich. Yet one architect of that unlikely triumph was absent when Chelsea played Galatasaray in the Champions League last week — the coach who took just 74 days to deliver what Roman Abramovich had lusted after for a decade.

Roberto Di Matteo has not sat down at Stamford Bridge since November 11, 2012. His job then was manager. Ten days later he was sacked despite delivering unprecedented success. He has yet to enter the stadium again.

“I didn’t want to go back there yet,” Di Matteo says in his first newspaper interview since the dismissal. “There will be a time... but the right moment probably hasn’t arrived.” He is sitting in the white, modernist living room of the Wimbledon villa he rented to be within a quick commute of the club’s training ground. That move was made when his “interim manager” status became “permanent” — a permanency that lasted all of 12 Premier League matches. And he says he is “very happy” with a “conscious decision made to take time out, to follow a different path for a little while in my life.

“As a manager I’m immersed in it because I want to do it properly, so that means there’s no time for anything else, it is 24/7. I thought it’s probably a good time to enjoy different aspects of life; and it was also crucial for my family to be able to settle them a little because we had been moving around for the past five years and they didn’t see much of me and I didn’t see much of them.”

Temptations to return have been plentiful. When Carlo Ancelotti left Paris Saint-Germain last summer France’s richest club came calling. There have been approaches from the business end of La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, the Premier League and national teams. “I’ve been overwhelmed by offers, which I’m flattered by,” Di Matteo says. “But I made a decision. Many, many people disagreed but that’s the way I am. I follow my own path.” And now he is ready to manage again.

His CV is no hard sell. The third-youngest coach to win the Champions League (marginally behind Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho), Di Matteo is the only man to take charge of a squad mid-season and win the competition in its modern format. He threw in an FA Cup for good measure. Some, though, have sought to rewrite the narrative of that extraordinary campaign.

“Funny,” he says. “I remember the final that Bayern played against Man United, where Bayern dominated the game and United won it 2-1. I was at the final when Bayern played Inter Milan, it was exactly the same, there was one team playing and the other counterattacking. And winning. I know people think we were lucky but I don’t think we were. We deserved everything that we got because we did everything in our power to be able to win.”

Hugely handicapped by injuries and suspensions (he awoke on the morning of the Champions League final ready to name five full-backs in his starting line-up) Di Matteo triumphed at Barcelona and then Bayern Munich through astute defence and precise counterattacking. The earlier 4-1 turnaround victory over Napoli and home-and-away defeats of Benfica were ignored as his Chelsea were painted as both negative and fortunate.

“People probably didn’t like Chelsea winning it but I don’t see any other team that has gone to Camp Nou and played an expansive brand of football. It’s a bit of a myth that media have created. We had Barcelona and Bayern, those three games we had to play in a certain way to overcome those teams. And we did. That is a positive rather than a negative.

“We certainly didn’t play that way against Benfica. We didn’t play that way against Spurs in the FA Cup, or Liverpool. Or in the [Premier] League at all. If you look at the numbers, my teams have always been free-scoring teams.”

What of the theory that Di Matteo himself got lucky, that he inherited a squad full of experience,desperate to right wrongs by finally conquering the Champions League? Here the mythology has Di Matteo as a mere figurehead, with the wise players that his predecessor, Andre Villas-Boas, had been told to phase out steering themselves to success.

This visibly offends him. He is “interested to see who leaked that one because I took every training session, I took every single decision about the team with my staff, every single tactical aspect. I wouldn’t think you would find one player who would say that. Absolutely not.

“I am happy to not be in the media, the public opinion. But I would like to know who said that because I would like him to stand here in front of me and have the balls to say that. It’s further from the truth than anything else.”

What is not well known is how Di Matteo’s players reacted when Abramovich dismissed him three months into the 2012-13 season. Friends who saw the deluge of messages, the promises to follow Di Matteo wherever he coached next, say they brought tears to the eyes.

“We achieved something that will connect us for the rest of our lives,” Di Matteo says. “That group of players, with the staff that we had. And there were a lot of supportive messages from the players in the days and weeks after my release. I knew the team was behind me, we were together in all of this. And there will always be a positive feeling between us.”

The group were not easy to manage. Privately, one former coach describes them as a cohort of individualists who didn’t much like each other. For evidence he directs you to their celebrations immediately after Didier Drogba’s decisive penalty in Munich — rather than run to each other, most ran off to celebrate alone.

“There was an extent of that, yeah,” Di Matteo says. “And I had to deal with that. You won’t find one dressing room where they all love each other and it’s all fairytale. So there is also a normality that you have a dressing room like that. In Chelsea maybe it’s a little bit stronger, but you might need a bit of strong characters to be able to win and be at the top level.”

Part of how Di Matteo dealt with the egos was to call in each squad member for individual conversations in early March 2012 when he moved up from assisting to Villas-Boas. “I was an ex-player, they respected that,” he says. “And I had a lot of respect for their achievement. I believe a lot in communication and there was a lot on an individual and on a team basis. And then you just slowly, with a win here and a win there, increase confidence. At the time confidence was pretty low, the atmosphere was low.”

On the eve of the Champions League final he deployed more psychology, showing edited footage of his players at the start of their careers. It drew laughs, relaxed nerves and framed the importance of the moment. “There were clips from when they started playing. It was about showing them how far they had come and what they could achieve the day after, the dreams of many of these guys who had never won it. It took a lot of nervousness out of the team. We could feel when we went into the meeting that there was a little bit of tension in the air and after the video there was a relief in the players.”

The next night, as he walked up to receive the European Cup, Di Matteo exchanged his first words with Abramovich since becoming manager: “I did it”. The Russian had spent months seeking an alternative appointment for the 2012-13 season and did not sign off Di Matteo’s two-year contract until 25 days after the Munich triumph.

The Italian accepted a remit to regain the Premier League title (Chelsea finished sixth in 2011-12) playing a more possession-oriented, stylish game. He accepted that Abramovich’s staff would take the lead on player recruitment and he tolerated the club’s decision not to discipline Fernando Torres for a wantonly selfish post-match interview in the Allianz Arena.

What was meant to be Di Matteo’s first full Premier League campaign opened with Chelsea rising to the top and attacking fluently, yet the word was that Abramovich wanted more. By the end of September the club were readying to sack the manager if they lost at Arsenal. They outplayed Arsène Wenger’s men and won 2-1. It was a mere stay of execution.

“I was deeply disappointed about the change but I wasn’t in a position to do anything,” Di Matteo says. “That’s how football works these days; the average tenure of a football manager is, I think, 13 months. I still wish Chelsea and all the players every success. I spent so many years connected to the club. One incident is not going to change that.”

The experience and the 18 months spent observing football from the outside have helped him work out what he wants now he is ready to manage again. “It doesn’t matter the country but I need to be challenged by it. I need to feel the ambition of the club. I need to know it’s an ambitious club with a target that I can fulfil.

“Of course you need support from above. Absolutely. But we all know in football that you need to be successful, you need to win games. All the rest has just become a cliché of saying we have a three-year programme, a plan, we want to do this. Even this season you have so many examples of teams going through three bad games and the panic button is pressed. Forget all the project.

“So you need to have a good relationship, with the board and with the owner. And you have to have a long-term vision but a short-term solution, because in the short term you need to win games while you try to implement your long-term vision.”

All this makes you wonder why a wealthy man who appreciates life outside football would want to re-enter the maelstrom.

“It’s an addiction. It’s like a drug. That’s the issue. Football is like an addiction that you have and I had it since I was a child. And as much as I do enjoy my time away from it I can’t lose my addiction, that’s why I’m always drawn to it. Now I’m watching I don’t know how many games a week because I love football, it’s been my life. I played it, I’m a manager and there is no other job that can give you the emotions that you can experience and feel by being a manager.

“When you lose you are destroyed . . . and when you win it is one of the best feelings in the world. And it is managing these ups and downs and trying to balance them. If you work in the office you won’t get the adrenaline we get. On a Saturday it pumps into our veins and when it goes away in the evening you can feel it again and you start to calm down and relax. And then you work it all up again for the next game.”

Edited by Huttsey
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mactheknife

mactheknife

Posted
Posted

Firstly, my overriding thought from that Interview is what a great man RDM is and he has every right to be extremely proud of what he achieved. If it were Ray Parlour who had come in and done the same it would have always been dubbed 'Football's greatest fairy tale'. We were branded as Lucky Chelsea because, in my opinion, people didn't want us to win and were jealous of what we achieved. Anyway that is our memory and I am happy RDM has gone out to try and set the record straight.

But there were two overriding lines to come out from that interview. The first was on having to accept not disciplining Torres after his infamous interview. That proves what we all knew that Robbie HAD to make Torres the star and dropping him was untenable, proven post Juve.

Secondly, reading that he had to beat Arsenal away doesn't surprise me. After smashing the gooners and Spurs with vintage attacking displays, he bought himself a lot more time. Though the board were looking for the first excuse to sack him. When they got it, they did and it makes you makes you think how long he shan't be named was lined up.

I wish him all the best in the future. He needs to be wise and pick the right club. His calm and passive demeanour makes him easy pickings for a club with a despotic hierarchy.

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  • 1 month later...


Jonty

Jonty

Posted
Posted

Next Saturday marks the 17th anniversary of this:

 

5532172964_437ba654d4_b.jpg

 

My earliest footballing memory and possibly even my earliest memory in general, sitting in front of the telly as a 5 year old and watching this goal, fantastic.

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  • 3 weeks later...


bluelion111

bluelion111

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Posted

Was a great servant to our club. Should have been given more time. Proud to have him as a friend. Made my Munich day special by giving me a ticket and celebrating with him after. He will be back to watch a game soon. There's only ONE Di Matteo.......

Elaborate please!

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Richard P

Richard P

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Posted

How did you meet him? I dont know but it seems a bit far fetched to me.

through a mutual friend about 12 years ago. Watch him develop as a manager at M k Dons and West Brom. Your perogitive to think it far fetched. Just wanted to post my appreciation of what he has done for this club.
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  • 5 months later...
Jezz

Jezz

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's two years on since that fateful day when Robbie was given his marching orders. You're still a legend and thank you for all the memories Robbie as we look forward to our battle against Schalke next week!

 

Roberto+Di+Matteo+lifts+the+Champions+Le

Edited by Jezz
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Zola

Zola

Posted
Posted

It's two years on since that fateful day when Robbie was given his marching orders. You're still a legend and thank you for all the memories Robbie as we look forward to our battle against Schalke next week!

Roberto+Di+Matteo+lifts+the+Champions+Le

What a legend. Its amazing that it was our former player who delivered our biggest quest.

Now its up to Jose to do the same :)

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dkw

dkw

Posted
Posted

It's peoples perogitive to believe what they want. It doesn't change my situation, just posting that I'm proud to have him as a friend.

He looks like youve kidnapped him...

 

Only kidding  :wink:

 

He seems such a happy bloke all the time, so chilled. 

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