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Welcome to Benge's Premier League Table. Every week James Benge ranks something, anything, in the Premier League, breaking down everything from the nerdiest tactics to the best kits, to the worst haircuts. This week, he's looking at almost 20 years of Chelsea managers

If anyone had fair warning of the turbulence that comes with the Chelsea dugout it was Frank Lampard, sacked earlier this week with Thomas Tuchel stepping into the fray on Tuesday. Over 13 years at Stamford Bridge he saw managers come and go with remarkable regularity, the pace of change only accelerating when Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

The average Chelsea manager now lasts a year in the job with no guarantees that silverware will be enough to keep the owner from pulling the trigger. Over 17 and a half years some of the great managers of recent European history have been handed the most well-remunerated of poisoned chalices. Here we rank them in the hope of offering some lessons for Tuchel if he wants to see out his 18 month contract and perhaps earn another.

14. Andre Villas-Boas (June 2011 – March 2012)

Tuchel would do well to learn some of the lessons that Villas-Boas did not in his brief spell at Stamford Bridge. The Portuguese arrived in the Premier League as something of a coaching wunderkind, albeit without the depth of experience of the current boss, and there are few things that the Premier League are more suspicious of.

For a time 'the high line' became the most polarizing term in sport, Chelsea attempting to press in advanced areas but with a John Terry-led rearguard that could not cover the space in behind. When it did not work, as in a 5-3 defeat to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea seemed an act of high farce and the veterans that ran the dressing room–Terry, Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech–were far from impressed. Lose their support and the owner's will vanish soon after.

13. Luiz Felipe Scolari (July 2008 – February 2009)

Perhaps only by virtue of winning more matches does Scolari stay off the bottom, as his stay at Chelsea a deeply underwhelming one. It's possible that was merely because of the excitement that came with a World Cup winner coaching in the Premier League and bringing with him one of Europe's most enigmatic talents in Deco. Injuries to key players including Michael Essien and Joe Cole did not help, nor did Nicolas Anelka's reluctance to go out to the wing.

More than anything else though, Scolari's problems were related to communication. Not only could he not get through to his players but he could not create a sense of narrative that connected with fans.

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12. Guus Hiddink, part two (December 2015 – May 2016)

Inheriting a club that seemed to be torn apart at the seams after the destructive end of Mourinho's second reign, Hiddink simply cooled things down a bit. The actual performances on the pitch were rather poor, the FA Cup and Champions League were exited with a whimper and the chance to play youngsters largely went unexploited. The deck was cleared for Antonio Conte to come in and revitalize Stamford Bridge but it would be unwise to get carried away with praise for Hiddink's second tenure.

11. Claudio Ranieri (September 2000 – May 2004, Abramovich buys club in July 2003)

Focusing solely on his one season with Abramovich over his shoulder, it is fair to say that Ranieri at least laid foundations from which Mourinho could build. He was beaten to the title by one of the greatest teams in English footballing history, Arsenal's Invincibles, but robbed Arsene Wenger of his Champions League dream. Failing to overcome Monaco in the semi-final doomed him in the owner's eyes.

10. Frank Lampard (July 2019 – January 2021)

History may judge Lampard far kinder if Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James prove to be the core of a Chelsea side that wins silverware on a consistent basis. Equally Lampard deserves credit for shepherding his side to the top four while a transfer ban limited his ability to imprint on his squad. That he is so low down on the list is perhaps more a reflection of how successful those ahead of him have been than him doing a bad job per se.

Ultimately, however, he was handed a collection of young talent that was the envy of managers across Europe in year two and handed Tuchel a pair of budding stars in Kai Havertz and Timo Werner whose confidence looks bereft. Finding a system to fit all his talent in was never going to be easy but he made it look very hard.

9. Rafa Benitez (November 2012 – May 2013, won 2013 Europa League)

His appointment on a temporary basis brought fury unmatched in Abramovich's ownership. Mourinho's great rival from his Liverpool days was unwelcome at Stamford Bridge and even now Chelsea fans will doubtless contend he should be lower. On paper his record appears rather impressive with a European trophy and a third-place finish, though when Benitez was appointed the Blues were in the same spot and four points off the leaders. They would end the season 14 behind with the manager struggling to connect with players who were once his great rivals.

A Europa League is not to be sniffed at, even if it was hardly won against the most competitive of fields; a run of Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan, Basel and Benfica ought to be navigated by any Premier League side.

8. Avram Grant (September 2007 – May 2008)

A curious reign by a manager who was clearly not one of Europe's coaching elite but who pushed an outstanding Manchester United side to the last day in the title race, no small feat considering the struggles for form they were having when he took over, and took Chelsea to the Champions League final for the first time in their history. To what extent he simply stood back and allowed the senior players to manage themselves will always be open to debate but it is hard to argue it was ineffectual, even if it did not deliver silverware.

7. Maurizio Sarri (July 2018 – June 2019, won 2019 Europa League)

Keeping Benitez company in unloved Europa League winners corner is Sarri. His name may be deeply unpopular around Stamford Bridge, synonymous with a brand of football loathed by Chelsea supporters, but it is hard to argue with his record. A side that had slipped outside the top five in the previous season were the best of the chasing pack deep in the rear view windows of Manchester City and Liverpool whilst Arsenal were stylishly dismantled in Baku in the Europa League final.

Yet it should be noted the lows of his reign were deep and dismal: drubbings at the hands of Bournemouth and Manchester City, the enmity from the Shed End and the act of insubordination that saw Kepa Arrizabalaga refuse to come off in the EFL Cup final. The relationship between coach, club, fans and media never remotely clicked, a divide typified by the decision to place N'Golo Kante in a shuttling role so as to fit in right-hand man Jorginho, and Sarri was no less keen to leave for Juventus than Chelsea were to be shot of him.

6. Jose Mourinho, part two (June 2013 – December 2015, won 2015 League Cup and Premier League)

What counts for more, the trophies or the "palpable discord" he left in his wake? The Chelsea of the 2014-15 season were an outstanding winning machine, playing exceptional football in the first half to the season to build a lead that they defended with belligerence over the run-in. They were worthy champions albeit in a season where no club offered real resistance.

Assessing Mourinho's tenure is about balancing that high with the lows of the months that came after. Chelsea probably would not have been relegated if they had stuck with their manager but it was a question that was seriously being debated just before Christmas. He had alienated his best players, in particular Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, and spoke of "betrayal" after his final game in charge. Technical director Michael Emenalo famously described the divisions at a club as "palpable".

On this occasion the argument could be made that the short-term glory did not outweigh the long-term costs.

5. Guus Hiddink, part one (February 2009 – May 2009, won 2009 FA Cup)

Objectively not as successful as Mourinho's second tenure but he gets credit for making Chelsea a nice place to be. Those spring months of 2009 were great fun for Chelsea, who romped their way to 16 wins and just one defeat in 22 games, picking up the FA Cup along the way. Had Hiddink got his hands on the Chelsea side earlier they might even have come closer to the league title as they dropped just five points between his temporary appointment and the end of the season.

In Europe it took one of the most bizarre games in the Champions League's history for Barcelona to eliminate the Blues at the last gasp while the FA Cup was won with a 2-1 victory over Everton at Wembley. No wonder fans wanted Hiddink to stay on for longer.

4. Roberto Di Matteo (March 2012 – November 2012, won 2012 Champions League)

Even Di Matteo himself might acknowledge that he is not a manager on the level of those who surround them on this ranking and that his players were an almost self-managing machine on their path to victory in the Allianz Arena. It was a Champions League won in freak fashion with titanic defensive displays against sides that 99 times out of 100 would probably have got the better of Chelsea. But that doesn't really matter because on this occasion it was the Blues who achieved the great desire of Abramovich's tenure.

It was not enough, it probably never was going to be. But Di Matteo was the man in the dugout when Chelsea won the greatest prize in club football and for that he deserves significant credit.

3. Antonio Conte (July 2016 – July 2018, won 2017 Premier League and 2018 FA Cup)

Much like Mourinho this reign ended in rancor but the achievement of his debut season is at risk of going underappreciated less than four years on. Against titans of management with expensively-assembled squads, Conte triumphed in the coaching stakes. Not having European fixtures naturally helped but what he achieved in his first season was quite remarkable: free-flowing attacking football and a cultural shift in the English game. For a time everyone felt compelled to embrace a three-man defense, such was the success the Italian had managed. When Chelsea's front three and wing-backs combined there were few more exhilarating sights in football.

He fumed about not getting the players he wanted in year two, as is his way. He might have had a point though. Imagine what this manager could have achieved with Romelu Lukaku and Virgil van Dijk (or just watch him at Inter Milan to see what he can accomplish with the former but not the latter).

2. Carlo Ancelotti (June 2009 – May 2011, won 2010 Premier League and FA Cup)

The one sacking that Abramovich is said to regret most of all and no wonder. Nobody came closer to giving the owner the stunning football that he demanded, winning the title in his first season by racking up over 100 goals. Never was Didier Drogba better than in the barnstorming 2009-10 season and the same could be said of Frank Lampard. Chelsea's arriviste energy means they will probably never be anyone's second team but under Ancelotti it was impossible not to admire the way they played.

What cost the 61-year-old was Europe, where he won just one knockout tie in two years. To an extent it was his misfortune to meet Inter Milan and Manchester United on the continent early in each season, not least because this was a manager who would prove before and after Chelsea that he knows just what is needed to win the Champions League.

1. Jose Mourinho, part one (June 2004 – September 2007, won 2005 and 2006 Premier League, 2005 and 2007 League Cup and 2007 FA Cup)

It could only be a special one that topped this list. Rarely in Premier League has there been such a perfect confluence of the right man at the right time at the right club. Chelsea needed someone to bring the swagger of a big team to them, Mourinho needed a project that matched his self-belief. His first season was a masterclass in management, just one defeat in the Premier League and the most contentious of exits from Europe at Liverpool's hands.

There was pragmatism aplenty in Mourinho's sides but it would not be the default plan. Chelsea did not concede 15 goals because they were defensive but because they had the best midfielders in the world in Claude Makelele, Lampard and eventually Essien shielding the best back four in the world with Petr Cech as an outstanding last line of defense.

When Mourinho arrived it was fair to see Chelsea as upstarts, a billionaire's plaything who might not be able to overhaul Arsenal and Manchester United just because of their deep pockets. By the time he left in dramatic fashion in 2007 they were European elite.