Current Brighton boss Gus Poyet has urged Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to hand Roberto Di Matteo the job full time. Caretaker Blues boss Di Matteo remained in the dark about his future on Monday after playing in the British Airways Football Legends Invitational Tournament in Barbados.
Former team-mate Poyet provided an insight into how the Italian - who turns 42 on Tuesday - was feeling.
"He's just trying to get away from the crazy three months that he had."
Yet, delivering the Champions League and FA Cup was not enough to guarantee Di Matteo the Chelsea job full time.
"It would be common sense that he will stay," said Poyet, part of the famous team from the 1990s that have since taken the managerial world by storm.
"I call him 'one of us', one of our generation - with so many managers.
"Mark Hughes, Gianluca Vialli, Ruud Gullit, Robbie Di Matteo, Dennis Wise, Dan Petrescu, myself, Didier Deschamps - there are so many - 'Chappy' (Albert) Ferrer.
"Why not one of us? Why should it be somebody else all the time?
"I'm not saying that we didn't have good managers at Chelsea. I mean, (Jose) Mourinho was different class.
"But give us a chance." "He's very relaxed," Poyet said.
