Pity Roberto Di Matteo. Having earned his confirmation five months ago, when he took Chelsea to victory in the Champions League, he learnt yesterday that long-termism has no place in Roman Abramovich's world view. He was out on his ear after a diminished team looked doomed to an early Champions League exit this season, the eighth manager to be found wanting in as many years.

Which piques the imagination as to further applications of the technique. With George Entwistle lasting just 54 days as Director-General of the BBC, could permanent revolution in top jobs be the next new thing? What if Mervyn King had been replaced a couple of weeks into the financial crisis, and should his successor, perhaps, be given six months to sink or swim? Or Mr Entwistle's successor, or the head of the Civil Service, indeed, almost any top job that is not elected. On reflection, it's probably best that Roman Abramovich's UK ambitions have been confined to football.