THE TRIUMPH AND BETRAYAL OF ROBERTO DI MATTEO, CHELSEA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL BOSS EVER

He lasted just 262 days – 262 days that transformed the fortunes of Chelsea Football Club and finally laid to rest Roman Abramovich’s holy grail. Yes, by winning the Champions League, Roberto Di Matteo made everything Roman had done – and all the millions he had invested worthwhile. But six months later the Russian owner of Chelsea rewarded him for his brilliance…with the sack.

Roberto Di Matteo : robbed of his job.

Di Matteo was the manager who took the club to its greatest ever triumph – one which marked him out as the club's most successful manager ever - that balmy night in Munich which now seems an age ago.


Even then, as Roberto celebrated, you could clearly see from the body language that Roman didn't really want to acknowledge his part in the triumph. He never really rated him; he only saw him as a stop-gap and was really forced into giving him a full-time shot at the job until he could get his own full-time next man in (ie Guardiola).


But what Di Matteo achieved that night in Munich was extraordinary - almost miraculous, as he urged on his men to a triumph they really had no right to expect. They were playing the hosts and favourites and emerged with the cup with the big ears against all odds (including beating Barca on the way).


Fast forward six months (to now) and Di Matteo has tried to implement Roman's desire for Chelsea to play a la Barca - with three little guys in Mata, Oscar and Hazard - and passing from the back (which meant keeping David Luiz at centre-back instead of the more reliable Ivanovic).


He has had three months (from August and the start of the new season) to implement a brand new, revolutionary change in playing approach and, as the players inevitably needed time to gell and get used to each other and the new system, he found it difficult to achieve overnight. His reward was to bestabbed in the back. Betrayed for not beating or drawing with Juve away - and let's not forget this is the team who could well go on to win the Champions League. OK, there have also been a couple of dodgy results in the league too, but as Istress again, he was trying to overhaul a way of thinking; from the time of Drogba and Co, when brute force won the day, to a more sophisticated style of play. There were always going to be lean spells as the change took shape.


In essence, he was expected to work another miracle from August to November (changing the mentality and style of play) after already working one in Munich in May. His sacking was the end game – a shocking way to treat someone who had done so much for a football club close to his heart.


RDM deserved better – and Chelsea fans certainly deserve better than the interim, defensively minded joker who will surely now take their team back to the dark ages…even if it is only for six months.


Forget the dreams of being the new Barca for the next few months – Rafa Benitez will underpin his team with a dour defensive edge. Ironic that when Roman wanted to move forwards with entertaining football, he ended up with a man whose philosophy is to bring about the exact opposite.


I wouldn’t be surprised if RDM is laughing in his beer at that irony tonight and probably saying, ‘They deserve each other!’


FRANK WORRALL @weeklysport

THE BRITISH OLYMPIC GAMES - a commentary by FRANK WORRALL

THE OLYMPICS

- DO WE DESERVE TO HOLD THEM?

I’M looking forward to the Olympics in London this summer as much as anyone. But I can’t help but wonder if we really deserve to be holding them given the attitude of some people here.

Of course, sports lovers nationwide are anticipating the sporting feast with relish.
But not so the service industry workers who will (hopefully) transport us to the Olympic venues and provide safety cover for us at the Olympic Park in East London.

I only ask if we do deserve it after learning the following:

1. The London Fire Brigade has written to all firemen who retired in the last two years asking them if they are available to work inside the Olympic Park because of fears there will not be enough serving officers to do the job.

They have had to act because serving firefighters have been banned from working overtime by their unions.

2. Tube workers have threatened strike action after rejecting a £500 bonus to work during the Olympics. The RMT union have demanded more money for staff who have to work during the games – even though the tube drivers are already on around £48,000 a year, with rises guaranteed over the next three years to take them well over the £50k a year mark.

Now is it me, or isn’t this double strike threat out of order at a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet in the worst recession in living memory?

And shouldn’t the staff involved be thinking about how they have a once-in-lifetime opportunity to show the nation - and the world - how proud they are of their jobs, and how efficient they are?

Rather than seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cash in on a major event in their region?

It does make me think - especially when my nephew and his girlfriend are excitedly making plans to travel down to London for the summer to work in part-time jobs at the Olympics.

Because they can’t get work in their native Manchester...and they are so proud to be part of the Olympics experience that will probably never happen again in their young lifetimes (they are only in their early 20s).

Maybe they could talk to the London workers - who by comparison seem to be acting like spoilt brats - and get them to think again...