Rafael Benitez must leave Chelsea if storm clouds gathering over Stamford Bridge are to be dispersed It would not be the most time-consuming of exercises to select a decent all-star XI of players Benítez has fallen out with. There might even be a necessity to line them up 3-5-2 to accommodate all the centre-halves. He does not mix much with Premier League managers, perhaps suspecting that some form a coterie dancing to the bagpipes of Sir Alex Ferguson, his bête noire. Benítez always gives the impression that he believes he still numbers among the masters of the managerial universe. Despite the problems at Inter. Despite the year in the wilderness, working on his website. Despite his Chelsea travails. Look around, Rafa. Accomplished managers are dotted everywhere from Madrid to Malaga and Manchester, from Swansea to London, Liverpool to Dortmund, even strolling on sabbatical through Central Park. It needs placing on record that Benítez has contributed some positive things at the Bridge, such as backing Victor Moses to be that right-sided attacker, using David Luiz more in midfield and showing belief in the teenaged Nathan Ake. In the busy debit column, Oscar clearly craves more action, Demba Ba has been on the bench too often for fans" liking while the man who helped inspire Fernando Torres at Liverpool cannot work that motivational magic a second time. Yet in Rafa's world others are culpable. Like the board: it should not have called him "interim" despite his agent agreeing to it, despite the "caretaker" tag hardly inhibiting Roberto Di Matteo. Like the supporters: they are responsible for engendering the atmosphere of negativity around the team. Benítez argues that fans have gone too far in their protests against him. Many observers agree. Yet in an era when supporters are often accused of being fickle, Chelsea's dissenters have proved the opposite. The antithesis of "plastic" fans, they have stuck rigidly and vocally to a point of principle. They did not want Benítez. Manchester United fans currently pouring scorn on the Shed and Matthew Harding Upper and Lower should consider how splenetic their reaction would be if the Glazers (in a moment of madness) appointed Benítez as Ferguson's successor. (The fuss about "fans waving their plastic flags" is slightly misguided. Real Madrid often hand out thousands of them for their bigger games and nobody would ever accuse Bernabéu regulars of lacking passion or heritage.) A fractured club, Chelsea need reuniting, beginning with better lines of communication between board and support to prevent such avoidable disasters as Benitez's appointment. Storm clouds can be dispersed. A strong future spine can be created from the likes of Courtois, Cahill, Luiz, Ake, Chalobah, Oscar, Mata, Moses and Lukaku when the Cech-Terry-Cole-Lampard generation moves on. Benítez needs to go first. Otherwise the questions will harden.