10 Managers Who Could Replace Rafa Benitez at a Moment's Notice

For the moment at least, Rafa Benitez seems to have safely negotiated the mini-crisis provoked by his controversial comments at Middlesbrough last week. Yes, he was given a hostile reception by the Chelsea fans during the 1-0 home win over West Brom on Saturday, but he didn’t receive as rough a ride as many expected. Three points in the bag, too, cementing the Blues’ position in the Top Four, will have further strengthened his hand.

However, this is Chelsea we are talking about, so it will only take defeat against Steaua Bucharest tonight or Manchester United in the FA Cup this weekend for the critical spotlight to be put on Benitez once more. If, as many Blues fans fervently wish, he does get the sack before his contract runs out at the end of the season, there will be no shortage of candidates to take his place.

In the following slideshow, we look at 10 men who could fill Benitez’s shoes straightaway, in most cases because they are currently without a club.  We start with the least likely potential replacement and end with the figure who is most likely to become Chelsea’s next “interim manager” if Rafa does get the chop in the coming days.

10. Gianluca Vialli

Fifteen years ago, Stamford Bridge used to reverberate to thunderous chants of “Vialli, Vialli!” as the Chelsea faithful paid tribute to the bald-headed Italian who led them to cup glory in three competitions after being appointed player-manager in 1998.

However, Vialli was sacked by then chairman Ken Bates after a dismal start to the 2000/01 season, after which he had a brief spell in charge of Watford before concentrating on a career in the media.

Vialli, who watched Chelsea’s defeat of West Brom on Saturday from a seat in the East Stand, would be a popular choice to replace Benitez with many Blues fans, but his lack of managerial experience in recent years makes him a real outside bet.

9. Bernd Schuster

Bernd Schuster’s stock was high when he led Real Madrid to the Spanish title in 2008, his team playing an attractive brand of football that thrilled both fans and pundits. He left the club following a poor start to the following season and has since only managed Besiktas for a brief, and mostly fractious, spell.

The German would be an interesting choice to replace Benitez. His devotion to all-out attack would, presumably, appeal to Roman Abramovich’s cavalier instincts and could be expected to go down well with the fans. However, there have to be doubts that the Russian would be prepared to entrust the Chelsea dressing-room to a notoriously volatile character who has been involved in numerous confrontational episodes in his time, and has walked out of more press conferences than he has finished.

8. Ruud Gullit

Might Chelsea fans be dusting off their old Ruud Gullit dreadlock wigs before the season is out? Many would certainly welcome back the man who gave the club their first major trophy for 26 years when he lifted the FA Cup at Wembley in 1997, and who also provided them with glittering memories of the “sexy football” played by the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianluca Vialli during his two years in charge of the Blues.

However, Gullit’s star has waned somewhat since those heady days and short-term managerial roles at Newcastle, Feyenoord, LA Galaxy and Terek Grozny tending to end in acrimony and disappointment. Without a club since 2011, he is now best known as an engaging and charismatic pundit on Sky Sports.  

7. Mark Hughes

Former Chelsea striker Mark Hughes would be a safe, if uninspiring, choice to lead the Blues to the end of the season should Roman Abramovich decide to dispense with the services of Rafa Benitez.

The Welshman has vast managerial experience in the Premier League, having previously held the reins at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham and QPR. No doubt Hughes would love to make it a west London hat-trick by adding Chelsea to his CV, but his chances of doing so must be rated as slim at best.

For one thing, Abramovich has yet to appoint a British manager at Chelsea, despite having had many opportunities to buck that trend. For another, the Russian’s wish to see entertaining and exciting fare at the Bridge is unlikely to be satisfied by Hughes, who is associated with a brand of football which might best be described as “pragmatic."   

6. Glenn Hoddle

Chelsea manager for three years in the mid-1990s, Glenn Hoddle led the Blues to the FA Cup Final in his first season in charge at the Bridge and, more significantly in the long term, began the process of turning the club into a major power by signing quality players such as Ruud Gullit, Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu.

Hoddle left west London to become England manager in 1996 but, writing in the Chelsea matchday programme before his last match in charge of the Blues, described his decision to quit the club as “the toughest of my life".

You get the sense that Hoddle would jump at the chance of making a dramatic return to the Bridge, but his chequered managerial record at Southampton, Tottenham and Wolves in more recent years would probably count against him.      

5. Steve McClaren

Dubbed “The Wally with the Brolly” after his England reign ended in disaster with defeat by Croatia at a rain-drenched Wembley in 2007, Steve McClaren’s managerial career has been pretty stormy in the six years since that calamitous evening.

True, his shattered reputation was rebuilt somewhat when he guided FC Twente to the Dutch title in 2010, but unceremonious sackings by Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest followed before he returned to Twente in 2012.

However, the Dutch side gave him the boot after a poor run of results in February 2013, leaving McClaren currently without a club.

The former Middlesbrough boss would love to make a return to the Premier League, but the mere thought of McClaren—with or without his trademark umbrella—sitting in the Stamford Bridge dugout would surely be the stuff of nightmares for most Chelsea fans. 

4. Frank Rijkaard

A former Champions League-winning manager who is associated with free-flowing, attacking football in the fabled Dutch style and speaks fluent English. Surely Chelsea would leap at the chance to install Frank Rijkaard as their next “interim manager” if Rafa Benitez is shown the door?

Well, yes and, er, no. The ex-Barcelona boss is available for hire after being sacked from his position as Saudi Arabia manager earlier this year, but it’s precisely that association with the Catalans that makes Rijkaard an unlikely occupant of the Stamford Bridge hot seat.

Think back to 2005 and that controversial Champions League clash between Chelsea and Barca. Then Blues boss Jose Mourinho accused Rijkaard of attempting to unduly influence referee Anders Frisk, and it all got a little bit unpleasant thereafter.

After the flack Chelsea fans dished out to Benitez for his Liverpool connections, the Blues faithful would be appalled if another equally reviled onetime rival turned up in the home dugout. On that basis, Rijkaard, despite his impressive CV, might not be booking a flight to London any time soon.   

3. Fabio Capello

Rewind to 2009 when Roman Abramovich replaced the hapless Luiz Felipe Scolari as Chelsea boss with Guus Hiddink, the suave Dutchman doing the job on a part-time caretaker basis while he also managed the Russian national team. That change worked out pretty well, with Hiddink leading the Blues to FA Cup glory.

Might the Blues owner be thinking of pulling off a similar coup by giving Rafa Benitez the elbow and installing current Russia manager Fabio Capello in his place? The veteran Italian has denied any such suggestions, but his familiarity with the Premier League following his four-year tenure as England manager would make him a strong candidate to take over from the Spaniard.

As, indeed, would Capello’s reputation as a hard-line disciplinarian who could eliminate any dissent in the notoriously mouthy Chelsea dressing-room with one single icy-cold stare.

2. John Terry

John Terry has made no secret of his desire to manage Chelsea one day, and his opportunity may come sooner than expected if Roman Abramovich decides to pay off Rafa Benitez.

You could argue that Terry has already unofficially managed the team, if not the whole club, in the past, especially during Avram Grant’s tenure at the Bridge. It was noticeable, for example, that, before the start of extra-time in the 2008 Carling Cup Final at Wembley, it was Terry who gave the team talk to his fellow Blues, while Grant shuffled around uncomfortably on the fringes of the group, hands in pockets and with the glum face of a man who has found a pound but lost a tenner.

Could “player-manager” be added to that famous banner at Stamford Bridge which currently reads “JT: Captain, Leader, Legend”? Terry may be a divisive figure in the wider football community, but within the confines of SW6 he is “Mr Chelsea”. So, if he were to get the nod from Abramovich to manage the team, you can bet he would be assured of an ecstatic reception from the Blues faithful.   

1. Avram Grant

Chelsea fans were, to put it mildly, somewhat underwhelmed when Roman Abramovich chose to replace the much-loved Jose Mourinho with former Israel boss Avram Grant in the autumn of 2007. As it turned out, Grant did a decent job, leading the Blues to the finals of the Champions League and the League Cup and to second place in the Premier League.

There were, though, suspicions that the lugubrious Israeli had only got the job in the first place because of his longstanding friendship with the Chelsea owner and, once installed in the Blues’ hot seat, he seemed content to effectively pass control of team affairs to his senior players.

Grant’s critics were provided with more ammunition when he subsequently led Portsmouth and West Ham to relegation from the Premier League in consecutive seasons. However, he restored his reputation somewhat by guiding Partizan Belgrade to the Serbian title in 2012, before resigning soon afterwards.

A guest of Abramovich’s for Chelsea’s recent match against Brentford in the FA Cup, Grant is the bookies’ favourite to take over on a short-term basis at the Bridge if the Russian decides to terminate Rafa Benitez’s contract before the end of the season.

Those Chelsea fans who view Benitez as the Devil Incarnate might welcome the Israeli back, but for many others the reappointment of a serial failure like Grant would represent another bewildering development in a tumultuous season.