As football fans, especially ones of the league that plays host to Mario Balotelli, we are used to hearing and seeing some pretty surreal things, both on and off the pitch. From Carlos Tevez’ ‘refusal to warm up’ to the latest declaration of love for his girlfriend followed by a visit to a strip club by Balotelli it takes quite a bit these days to raise our eyebrows.

Cue the club that is fast becoming the best circus in town and providing us with drams you couldn’t buy – which given the money they have is saying a lot. Yes you’ve guessed it I am talking about Chelsea. In a couple of weeks filled with everything from the sacking of a manager to accusations of certain players doing their very best to get AVB the boot, one thing shocked me more than anything last night – no not the comeback but the actions of John Terry, who judging by his actions has filled the vacancy left by Di Matteo as coach and is putting in a good claim to become the new manager.

After the injury to Luiz and reshuffle, not only was Di Matteo having a go at getting his point across to the team, but upon deciding he was not doing a satisfactory job, in stepped the injured Mr Chelsea himself. JT decided to not only tell the players exactly where they should be but give the team talk going into extra time too.

Had AVB  been in charge for this, I doubt extra time would have been reached at all, but dare to dream and had this been the case, JT most certainly would not have been afforded the authority to act as he did last night, and especially not in such a public forum.

Perhaps this is where AVB went wrong all along, and his alienation of the ‘Old Guard’ seems not a bigger mistake than ever given they were the ones who pulled Chelsea out of the mess they created during the away game at Napoli.

The one decision in all of the mess at the Bridge that Abramovich seems to have gotten right however is that of the interim manager Di Matteo, who clearly loves the club he has a long history with, and is respected by the players, and judging by the comeback on Wednesday night can do what AVB was not willing to and both play the big names and take on board what they are suggesting.

Now not for a second am I advocating this is what should happen next season – far from it – a strong and well established manager needs to come in and try to tackle the strongest dressing room in terms of player power football have seen in recent times, but until the end of the season in order to keep the players united and give the fans a chance of some success this season, Di Matteo and not someone like Benitez is the type of man and indeed manager who has the best chance of doing this.

Di Matteo was in a better position than anyone to see exactly what caused the downfall of his old boss – who must have spent last night stabbing pins into his newly aquied voodoo dolls of much of the old guard – yet Di Matteo seems shrewd enough not to repeat the mistake and let it happen to him. Who knows, by the end of the season he may well have staked enough of a claim for the job himself, and then the real work begins.

 If you have a spare 5 mins then watch the latest ‘Football Coffee Break’

[ffcvideo file=”tfcb7″ type=”mp4″ image_type=”jpg”]