Rafa's Open Letter To Chelsea Fans

[Melanicus 5,208]

Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez has written an open

letter to the club's fans pledging to do all he can to

bring success to the Stamford Bridge side.

Benitez has endured a testing baptism to his time in

the Blues hot-seat&has been jeered by the supporters

unhappy with his appointment in the wake of Roberto

Di Matteo's sacking.

The former Liverpool boss saw his new charges claim

their 1st Premier League win under his tenure at the

4th attempt vs Sunderland on Saturday just days after

their Champions League defence was brought to a

shuddering halt at the group stage.

The Spaniard has highlighted the relentless schedule of

matches since his appointment,with the Sunderland

game their 5th in a fortnight,&was keen to pay tribute

to the Chelsea fans who have been in touch to offer

their support.

Benitez told his personal website:

"From the moment I accepted the offer to join

Chelsea,my team&I have worked towards improving

the results&getting the wins that we all want - no

matter what hours we have to put in&the

effort&sacrifice in order to achieve this.

"As you can imagine from what you may have seen,we

have been immersed in the tasks ahead&since the

change in my work situation it has been a cycle of

training&matches with virtually no time to do anything

else.

"My official presentation as Chelsea manger took place

on Thursday November 21&I came straight from Abu

Dhabi where I was giving a lecture. We literally walked

straight off the plane into running my 1st training

session in Cobham. After 2 sessions we faced my 1st

match in charge vs Man City&then just a further 2

sessions before facing Fulham in a local derby.

"2 massive league commitments in just 3days. We had

a couple of conditioning workouts with referrals&then

another London derby vs West Ham United. We rested

on Sunday&then the same timetable

again,Nordsjaelland&then Sunderland.

"The team's win against the Danish side (6-1) was the

biggest home win of the season for Chelsea but was

not enough for us to progress in the competition. The

results of previous matches of the group stage&the

results that occurred on the night in other games left

us without options. We would have liked to be able to

offer our fans another ending to this story,to offer our

fans another Champions League win but we now look

forward to the Europa League.

"We are now challenged with the Club World

Championship in Japan&it will not be easy - I tell you

this from the experience of 2 previous participations

with differing results. This team is willing to give

everything to try&return with a new title to bring home

to the fans.

"But let's get back to why I am writing this letter&the

basic purpose of trying to give a full account of my new

situation&feelings before I seize this exciting new

challenge of coaching at Chelsea FC. It is on that basis

of the challenge I accepted the offer that was made.

With the same faith,the same honesty,with the same

loyalty&dedication I put into each of my previous

projects.

"That said,thank you all for your support,to those who

have sent messages,emails,letters... To those who have

called,who have tried to contact by any means

possible... To all,I sincerely thank you for your support.

We're going to Japan right now to fight for the FIFA

[Corner 456]

Well, at least he's trying.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I sincerely dont know whether to believe it or not...

For me he is still a FSW. I would never boo him because it hurts the players and cheers the opposition.

Deep down I think he was the best available option. Benitez is doing an OK job so far, some good and bad reviews. However, I am cautions in saying I support him, just yet.

[Corner 456]

I sincerely dont know whether to believe it or not...

For me he is still a FSW. I would never boo him because it hurts the players and cheers the opposition.

Deep down I think he was the best available option. Benitez is doing an OK job so far, some good and bad reviews. However, I am cautions in saying I support him, just yet.

Exactly. I'm so sick of hearing boos from the crowd. A lot of our players probably came to Chelsea because of the support is has and the atmosphere in the Premier League. Does no one stop to think how booing even affects them? I was especially sick of it when we were 3-0 up against Sunderland and it started then.

We don't have to love Benitez, but we should support him and the team for the rest of the season.

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

Support Chelsea and Don't Think About Rafa.

[Yasser 63]

I sincerely dont know whether to believe it or not...

For me he is still a FSW. I would never boo him because it hurts the players and cheers the opposition.

Deep down I think he was the best available option. Benitez is doing an OK job so far, some good and bad reviews. However, I am cautions in saying I support him, just yet.

Exactly!

[Muzchap 8,966]

Yup those people booing really need to take a good long fucking look at themselves...

We've had lots of success recently and this shit is undermining things - like Utd and Blackburn - all that shit with the Glazers did have an impact on Utd (coupled with city's arrival) and it totally destroyed Blackburn.

Thank fuck we're in Japan and Leeds - by the time we are back, hopefully with trophies, then this shit will stop!

Even the RDM 16min stuff needs to stop - look forward not back!!!

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Dont chant his name, dont boo him. Use the passion to support the team.

[Hutcho 8,443]

I honestly think there are only a few fans with real hatred towards rafa, the rest just sing along to it, or don't think about the effect it could have on the team...

The RDM 16th min thing, was respectful and showed our support of him... 5 games in though and still doing it is getting a bit extreme... As Muzchap said it is time to look forward and not backward... He will alwaye be well recieved at the bridge and that will never change, there is no need to try and prove it every game...

I am hoping our spell in japan should do us good as there will be less regular fans and hopefully we can get back to concentrating on football with no booing or stupid chants... Which will have a knock on when we return to the league... It probably won't, but that is what i hope.

[gary gordon 1,777]

One of the things that ruined this bloke in England was his constant bitch about Fergie. Unless your Jose and can back your mouth, you should just keep quite. He seems as though he is trying to do that.

[The only place to be 11,313]

What amuses me is the ones who constantly boo him can't think up a half-decent chant to abuse him with.

Even their banners are shit.

Trust me, it's not the Chelsea brain trust booing him.

[henlin007 12]

I have noticed that Rafa has not addressed SAF in person at all. I honestly think he's an objectively intelligent guy. He's learned his lesson with running his mouth, he's been humbled by Inter (as indicated by him accepting the interim job at all), and now he's just doing what he knows best. Being a top tactician--though not quite world-class. That belongs to Jose and, unfortunately, SAF.

[Ollie 4,400]

He can write all the letters he wants, he can get down on his hands and knees and beg but all we want is to win some games starting on Thursday. The start was shit imo, Losing to West Ham and failing to beat Fulham is unforgivable. If he wins us the Club World Cup and the Europa League whilst getting us in the top 4, he may get all of our support ... that's the only thing that will do it.

[Corner 456]

He can write all the letters he wants, he can get down on his hands and knees and beg but all we want is to win some games starting on Thursday. The start was shit imo, Losing to West Ham and failing to beat Fulham is unforgivable. If he wins us the Club World Cup and the Europa League whilst getting us in the top 4, he may get all of our support ... that's the only thing that will do it.

Maybe so, but he is our manager and a lot of people are just going to have to deal with that. While he is our manager, we should support him. It's all good and well saying you'll support him if we win the Europa League, Club World Cup and gets us a top four finish, but what happens in the meantime while we are working our way towards those goals? Should we continue to boo him? Should we completely ignore how that negative attitude affects the players?

The truth of the matter is that he is only an interim manager in the eyes of the board, the fans and it's also his official title. So saying you'll support him after he does x,y and z is no good because he will be gone after that. And we will have no reason to support our ex-interim manager.

And for the fans who think they are 'die-hard' or 'true' Chelsea fans... where were the Di Matteo chants in the 16th minute when he was still our manager this season? They didn't exist. Those 'fans' are only singing that chant as a more 'creative' way of booing Benitez and it's an insult to Di Matteo. It's not true praise or thanks to Di Matteo. They're more concerned about hating Benitez than anything. We were 3-0 up against Sunderland on Saturday and the Rafa jeering and Di Matteo chants started again. It's ridiculous, childish and there's just no point to it at this stage. On top of all that, a lot of fans seem to forget that it was no only Di Matteo who helped us to win the Champions League. Let's not forget about the players who did it for us too. Some of those players now have to play on a pitch to hear boos and whistles and it's shameful.

[Muzchap 8,966]

I have noticed that Rafa has not addressed SAF in person at all. I honestly think he's an objectively intelligent guy. He's learned his lesson with running his mouth, he's been humbled by Inter (as indicated by him accepting the interim job at all), and now he's just doing what he knows best. Being a top tactician--though not quite world-class. That belongs to Jose and, unfortunately, SAF.

Hmm I actually think RB is pretty good tactically...

At Loserpool he spent and sold quite a bit and has never had a blank chequebook like JM or the financial backing of Utd...

SAF was nearly fired - people seem to forget that.

JM was fired because of politics

RB lost out to politics at Loserpool and didn't do great at Inter

Hopefully we will win some trophies and see what the summer brings - whatever happens its not going to be dull

[LayZ 201]

since the change in my work situation

Lol...that's one way of saying "since I got a job after a long time"...

[Tomo 21,751]

being a top tactician--though not quite world-class. That belongs to Jose and, unfortunately, SAF.

Fergie is a great manager and his motivation skills are second to none, but in an intense tactical battle with a fellow WC manager he has been found out on more than one occasion.

Fergie is one of the best managers ever, but his tactics at times can be incredibly naive for someone so experienced. Case in point the CL 2011 final.

[Joe Cool 388]

What amuses me is the ones who constantly boo him can't think up a half-decent chant to abuse him with.

Even their banners are shit.

Trust me, it's not the Chelsea brain trust booing him.

The funniest were those idiots with the Rafa out banners during the man city game with signs that were made on MS Paint.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Fergie is a great manager and his motivation skills are second to none, but in an intense tactical battle with a fellow WC manager he has been found out on more than one occasion.

Fergie is one of the best managers ever, but his tactics at times can be incredibly naive for someone so experienced. Case in point the CL 2011 final.

Fantastic point and one that always sticks out to me. Messi just exploited the space in between defence and midfield which kept making Vidic jump out of position. Happened time and time again but Fergie didn't change anything.

[manpe 10,861]

Is there such a thing like a closed letter? I mean imagine that, "Rafa has written a closed letter to the fans, but since it's closed, you can't read it. KTBFFH".