Chelsea's Roberto Di Matteo Will Be Considered for Manager's Job

Chelsea have confirmed that Champions League and FA Cup-winning interim manager Roberto Di Matteo will be in the running for the manager's job at the club.

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck announced that Di Matteo's success meant he would be seriously considered:

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Robbie has done an amazing job. He has enabled the players to get back the confidence they used to have. He's really got them performing. Roberto is certainly in the mix; he's done a great job and has to have serious consideration.

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Speaking after the match, Di Matteo declined to comment on the situation, but it's clear that he is as much in the dark as the rest of the footballing world.

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My future is not important. Whatever the club decides I will respect. You know that what we discuss with the boss [Abramovich] we don't discuss publicly.

It is irrelevant because, as I have said in the last three months, I have been happy with the arrangement and whatever the future holds I will accept.

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Former Chelsea interim manager Avram Grant, who led the club to the 2008/09 Champions League final in Moscow, where they lost to Manchester United, has said he believes Roberto Di Matteo should get the job.

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He is the man. Roberto Di Matteo is responsible for the biggest achievement in Chelsea's history. What he has done is unbelievable. He has led the team out of a miserable season to win the Champions League and the FA Cup.'

I'm not the guy who makes the decisions at Chelsea but he's the man. Sometimes when a club takes on a coach who is not so famous and the team is not doing so well everybody would say it's his fault.

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The only way Abramovich can justify sacking Di Matteo is if he uses the "style of play" excuse, and that may just be able to float. However, it would be a bit of a disappointment that the fulfillment of Chelsea's long-held dream is accompanied with what would be, in essence, a moral failure.

It would be a shame if the principles of pragmatism that Di Matteo instilled in his players to bring Chelsea FC to its highest ever pinnacle are forgotten by the people who run the club.

The real question, however, is not so much "Will Abramovich hire Di Matteo?" as it is "Do Chelsea fans really want Di Matteo leading their club?"