Azonto Epistle Special: A Plea For Mercy (In Defense Of Rafa )

The race for the top 4 position has heated up as we get to the tail end of the season and our knowledge about the inevitable exit of Rafa has been well confirmed thanks to the infamous rant by our INTERIM Manager. The media has made enough jolly and money out of it and since it is Chelsea, the usual exaggeration of the press conference has been done perfectly by our friends from the media. How they happily wrote that Rafa has blasted the Board of Chelsea and launched a scathing attack on the fans. I have got the opportunity to watch the tape repeatedly and hardly did I see the “scathing attack” on the fans nor the “blast” of the board and Abramovic. Rather it was a genuine attempt by the manager to address a critical issue which his quest to ignore it and focus on his job has not been able to solve it. It might not be in a good taste but sometimes the truth doesn’t always taste good; does it? Unless we don’t want to face facts, we have struggled to put up a consistent performance in front of our home fans and you will wonder why we manage to win at Britannia and Goodison and crumble at the Bridge against QPR, Swansea and Southampton. The Atmosphere at the Bridge is certainly not the best and this is eating into the players. We are human beings and we are filled with emotions Hence, the insult and boos are bound to have effect on the boys. My plea to the fans is that, for the sake of the stability and progress of the club, we should channel all our energy into supporting the players to nick the top 4 position for the next manager probably Mourinho to build upon it with ease.

Whiles we are busy thinking of who our next manager will be and insulting the manager in front of the players which will definitely undermine him and his authority, the North Londoners are seriously putting their house in order to occupy the Champions League spots. We have failed countless times to capitalize on the slip ups of our rivals making our position in the the top 4 look shaky. Unless we sit down and analyze the situation and halt our trend of inconsistency, we will not make make the top four, and that is a fact. We are quick to blame the manager when we lose as if he is responsible for every detail that lead to the players under performing. Have we asked ourselves as fans if we have also been responsible enough in our duty to support the team fully? There have been times when we are leading and still the fans will have a go at the man in the dugout whom the players take instructions from. We fail to realize it demoralizes the team and if we finally fail to hold on to our lead then we get the chance to heap insult on the manager. So I was the happiest man to hear from Rafa reminding the fans that he will leave and if the actions and in actions of the fans contribute to make us qualify for the champions League, we will stay in the Europa League. The section of the fans who could not take this simple truth and are terming it as attack are suppose to back up their idea about what insult really is. Insult is calling a 52 year old successful football manager “Fat Spanish Waiter”. It is using all abusive words on a professional who is doing his work and thinking he hasn’t got the right to reply.

I am happy that the board has acted maturely by not fulfilling the expectations of the media and some fans who act on impulse and wanted a change of manager because of this so-called rant by Rafa. It is one thing calling for the sack of a manager because of incompetence and another because of other reasons. These days, these fans have contrived to come to a conclusion that Rafa Out chant is as a result of nonperformance. How could this be true since we started singing Rafa Out, the very day he was appointed? Also it is good he pointed out that how long he has been in the business and certainly hardly can you call a 52 year old man who has spent half of his years as a manager, winning 9 major trophies in different countries including Champions League and using Valencia to break the Spanish duopoly Not once but twice. The issue is that Rafa is not a novice in the game because he seems to have a strong confidence in whatever decision he takes including his famous rotation policy in football.

Surprisingly many people have unfairly assessed Rafa and used sheer statistics to show that he is the second worst manager in recent times only to AVB and go on to say he is the worst Interim manager Chelsea has had under Roman. However these people have conveniently ignored the fact that Guus Hiddink and Aram Grant came to meet a very strong Chelsea squad which had stayed together for a very long time with the likes of the Legendary Didier Drogba in his peak as well as Michael Essien, Ballack, Malouda, Lampard and Anelka all in top form for the club. The current team Benitez inherited is a young team with little time playing together. Hazard, Oscar, Azpilicueta, Marin are players who are having their debut season for the club and in the EPL. Have sat dow to ask ourself why we were humiliated by Atletico and got knocked out of the Champions League at the group stages? This could not have happened to a defending Champion of the ECL. but the reality is that most of the players now playing for us did not form part of the Champions League winning team.

We must all realize that the team is going through a period of massive transition which includes our style of play and even the average age of our current team. Despite the top talents we acquired during the transfer window, they do not automatically translate into instant success. We must be patient and go through this period and lower our expectations because that is how football is about. Those who cannot comprehend the fact that we now have to battle it out with Spurs for a top four position have not come to realize that football is about planning, management and cycles. Alex Ferguson and Manchester have gone through less stressful transition because they have a stabled manager who can plan ahead of time. We are paying for all these instant and short term success approach we adopted in winning ten trophies in 8 seasons. So lets realize we have had our time and if we are patient we will have a long term success due to the quality of players we have purchased. But before that we need to get behind the team and fight one course. We don’t need to fight the one who is to lead us forward.

Yes! We all feel due to the comments Rafa made against our club when he was the manager of our rival club he ought not to have been appointed but come on! He is now on our side and he can do the same for us ( unashamedly) because he is a professional. He only worked for Liverpool on contract. The harm has already been caused and we have made our point clear to everybody including Rafa himself that he is not needed which he has come to admit that he will leave the club. What we need to do now is get behind the team and push for success. We will all share the joy if we succeed as well as the blame if we fail. The choice is in our hands. KTBFFH!

Seth Adusei