With the rumoured departure of JT at the end of this season (please don't let this be so), we will truly have a changing of the guard. I dreaded the day we were without Frankie Lamps and JT, but that day looks like it is near. I've had many a debate with friends over the years about the importance of an English spine, and I firmly believe that is needed. It takes a special kind of foreign player to be able to take that role - and you don't find them very often.

 

So, who will step into the shoes of our English leader?

 

In house, I have some hopes for the likes of RLC, Izzy Brown, and to a certain extent Solanke. They are some of the most exciting young English players to come through the Chelsea ranks. But they are also not quite the same leaders JT was at their age. Still, I think they will be very important to our club for the next 10 years.

 

What about from outside the club? John Stones is highly coveted, and I have a feeling we are not going to be able to have the same pull as City, if they really want him. I'd make him our priority signing - he will grow into a very important role for us and it is a position where we need enforcements.

 

Three or four young English players in and around the starting squad will, for me, be very important.

 

Cheers,

 

Butch

Absolutely agree. It's not just having an English backbone, but a homegrown core to the squad and we've been poor in that regard mostly because of the constant upheaval in coaches over the last decade.

 

I had high hopes for Nat Chalobah but he seems to be on his way out and right now the only one you'd put money on establishing himself is Loftus-Cheek. Beyond that I'd hope that Solanke, Abraham, Baker, Aina, Clarke-Salter, DaSilva and Brown be given a chance. Then there's the likes of Christensen, Musonda and Traore to go alongside Courtois and Zouma.  

 

I'd love for the board to be straight with the supporters and say they were going to look to save some money for the stadium and build around these youngsters, a bit like Fergie in 1995. Yes it would be shaky but I think you'd build something very special in that moment.

 

But I think that requires a number of things that the club doesn't currently possess at the moment, namely vision and bravery. I also don't think they share the view that an English backbone is important because, well why would they? Beyond meeting competition criteria I don't think there's that feeling that it's important to this club at the highest levels.

I would love for us to buy John Stones and Ross Barkley. I also believe that Loftus-Cheek really can be an extremely important player for us. He has his first goal for the senior team and he shows drive and hunger, something that has been lacking from the side for quite a while. 

 

I don't know why I like the concept of having an English captain, but I just can't see anyone else understanding what it means to be leading the team out. Chelsea fans have been spoiled with Terry and Wise before him. Both of them are incredible leaders and show such ruthlessness whilst also maintaining solidarity. It's exactly the kind of warrior grit we've come to expect from a Chelsea captain, and I can't see someone like Fabregas or Matic, or even Ivanovic replicating that.

 

RLC has a long way to come, as do Stones and Barkley, but I can definitely see RLC becoming that captain one day. Big strong presence from the middle of the pitch.

Edited February 16, 20169 yr by OblongCubeSphere

I don't think we necessarily need an English backbone but a backbone of players with leadership and strong personalities. I think it's one of the things we have missed most this season even with Terry around. Ideally it would be good to have some youth players or British youngsters but we can't expect even a mega money buy like Stones or even Pogba to just come in and take on Terry's role (in a leadership sense). You just need to look at Arsenal to see how many crap captains they have appointed in the time Terry has been around. We only need to think back to Desailly (and Ballack and Drogba) to remember that a captain/leader doesn't need to be British but needs to be special.

Right now I think the only ones we have are Ivanovic and Costa, maybe Cahill and I would have liked to say Matic but he's disappeared somewhere this season. Costa ain't gonna become captain - Ivanovic is getting on and like others have said is not Terry. William seems to be a grafter but not a captain as far as I can see. I think the best we can hope for is a Terry extension and a good handover to someone next season - maybe one of the youngsters will step up, maybe Zouma, Loftus Cheek or Traore will be the man in 2 years. I think the club will have to buy some backbone next season, no idea who or how but let's see!

A British core is important to me. I just find it harder to emotionally invest in the team when there are hardly any English/British players.

Having leadership qualities is more important for me. If we had 11 foreign players like Drogba on the field i would be very happy.

It would be great to have an English spine, but i think it is important to have a spine that are all leaders and all focused on long term success with us.

We can't build a real successful team around players that are constantly looking for pastures new, and I think that is a problem with the likes of costa and hazard at the moment.

Stability comes from a strong spine, not from from having the same manager for years on end.

Courtois seems fairly settled, and Zouma looked to be stepping up in defence, hopefully this injury only makes him stronger mentally.

I don't see any of our midfielders able to step up and be that leader that is always dragging the forward in the way lamps did for a decade. Fabregas goes missing in the bug games too often, and he has had long spells of not being able to influence games.

Costa looks capable of leading from the front, but he has to be more consistent with his temporal enter and work ethic.

Establishing a spine we can build around for the next 5/6 years is going to be a massive task, whether we can or not will determine the trophy count.

Loftus Cheek for captain !

 

A bold step lol .... :)

 

Worked out well for young Ray Wilkins 30 years ago when we were similarly distracted with building projects ...

Players with a backbone would be a great start, having UK folks would be a nice addition ;)

Well our greatest squad ever had a strong English core but to be honest I dont know if the difference between this squad and that was the English core or that the older squad was of a generation where most of this primadonna sh*t would not stand.

Loftus Cheek for captain !

A bold step lol .... :)

Worked out well for young Ray Wilkins 30 years ago when we were similarly distracted with building projects ...

So rlc f**ks off and signs for man united like Wilkins done lol.

It's a good thing to have, our 04-06 sides had three British regulars (and I don't mean 18th century soldiers!) in the starting lineup so it's not compulsory, albeit they were our most important players in Terry and Lampard's case. We need players with character and leadership qualities as someone said, first and foremost.

That's why Luke Shaw would have been a great buy. 

We already have one vertebra of our next British backbone:

 

http://www.bellanaija.com/2015/01/john-obi-mikel-is-now-a-british-citizen