Football is for course a ruthless industry where opinions about players, teams and managers, can change massively within the space of a week.
One of the great examples in modern times was the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea manager.
When he took over from the ridiculously poor Andre Villas Boas in early 2012 Chelsea were playing worse than at any time we could remember. Certainly, they hadn’t been this bad since before before Glenn Hoddle’s tenure.
Few even gave Chelsea any hope of winning their FA Cup replay against Birmingham, so bad was their form.
But, in one of the truly great football stories, Di Matteo brushed them off and ultimately took Chelsea to the impossible Champions League victory which Roman Abramovich had always dreamed of.
Barely four months later Di Matteo was gone. The man himself must hold some grudge after playing and managing Chelsea with such honours. To be discarded like this much have smarted.
In a poetic twist of fate Di Matteo has been appointed as the new coach of Schalke. This gives him just about enough time to assess his pack and wreak havoc on Chelsea as his new team hosts The Blues in The Champions League on November 25th.
Schalke still have a good chance of progressing to the knockout stages but desperately need the points against The Blues to put them in control. With Di Matteo at the helm it should be a classic encounter.
Chelsea fans: Was Roberto treated badly or was it time for him to go?
