This Was No Accident - Just Our Watershed Waiting To Happen

[evissy]

Real Madrid is basically ran the same we are. No knowledge of their system in depth but their style is to buy players and hire new managers. They are the biggest club in the world.

I know it is not much of a philosophy but in all honesty do you guys want us to be like Arsenal is today?

I think if you want us to change to something else it would mean Roman leaves us. My pre-Roman era is about as long as my Roman-era(as a fan) and I prefer this to the earlier every day of the week.

I know things need improving but the way people describe us here is like we are the worst thing in the world.

[ShedEnder91]

Real Madrid is basically ran the same we are. No knowledge of their system in depth but their style is to buy players and hire new managers. They are the biggest club in the world.

I know it is not much of a philosophy but in all honesty do you guys want us to be like Arsenal is today?

I think if you want us to change to something else it would mean Roman leaves us. My pre-Roman era is about as long as my Roman-era(as a fan) and I prefer this to the earlier every day of the week.

I know things need improving but the way people describe us here is like we are the worst thing in the world.

 

Sorry, but that's the same false dichotomy that others have drawn and I just don't agree with it.

 

It's not either we're Real Madrid (1 league win in the last 7 years) or Arsenal (no league win in 11 years). There is a middle-ground and surely that's what we should be aiming for.

 

Saying that it's ok to try to be like Real Madrid because they're the biggest club in the world and ignore their lack of recent success which is in no small part due to their business practices......it's quite some mental gymnastics.

Edited March 14, 2016 by ShedEnder91

[evissy]

Didn't say we don't need to improve. Of course we do. Many posts here are just do doom and gloom. Is Chelsea in crisis? Hell no. 500 professional clubs want what we have. We make mistakes as do Barcelona and Bayern Munchen.

[luckywerthers]

looking at the way the prem has gone this season, you could say that next season, chelsea are just a new manager and a couple of decent signings away from challenging again, and as well as that being positive thinking it's also a fact

[The Brit]

Much to my amazement, watching Romelu Lukaku officially end our trophy hopes for the season was less of a downer than I thought it would be. Of course, smart arse fan [as opposed to real Arse fan] that I am, I always knew another down was on the cards, but the exact extent of the downing remained an unknown quantity right up until the time the actual event occurred. And when it arrived, with the Chels away support belting out their cacophonous ‘Carefree’ defiance providing an [excuse-making] BBC with a backbeat to it all, I realised just how imminent closure is and how much of an impediment further FA Cup participation would be to achieving it. Snedger summed up succinctly on here shortly afterwards:-

 

“Anyway, another sh*t performance which is now a case of as expected and in a way I'm not to disappointed we've been knocked out because the last thing we need at this time is anything that could in any way paper over any of the multitude of cracks.”

 

Quite right too. No papering over cracks, please, and definitely no annual laissez faire (L)Arserus-like, faux rise from a bed of mediocrity and underachievement. No second best, saving grace, end of season mincing-word walk down Wembley Way for us either. No delay or deferment, not now, not when we are this close to an evolution [perhaps even a revolution] within the club. Let’s just get on with it, shall we, and pre-empt those gathering media vultures pecking away at [what they perceive to be] our dying corpse. Let’s face it, FA Cup progress in the wake of four Premiership titles and Champions League success was never going to be anything other than a sop anyway, as Paul Merson pointed out on Sky a few hours earlier, when he openly admitted that, if he had been playing for Arsenal over the last ten years and had won as many as seven FA Cup winners medals, he would have gladly given them all up for just a single Premiership-winning one.

 

And let’s be honest, other than those beating in a few old school stalwarts, our players hearts have never really been in it all season, suggesting that they too have known the score for some considerable time and, as soon as the threat of relegation was averted, were themselves indecently quick to dress-down into Wenger-style comfy clothing, slippers and pipedreams. So, in truth, the clearout cannot come soon enough for me, and an Italian new broom needs to sweep clean through the club from top to bottom at the earliest possible opportunity. Yet, as difficult as this task is going to be, can you imagine how much harder it would have been had Conte needed to vacuum around Guus too, especially if he was clutching a newly-acquired piece silverware? Ironically, this also happens to be the daunting prospect facing Pep Guardiola’s pre-tenure at Man City, except that he can still influence things from within the CL itself, given a favourable conflict of interest quarter-final draw - or perhaps that would be better described as a do-me-a-favour[able] draw.

 

Either way, it is patently obvious that even the best laid plans can go awry when you have continued participation in competitions and [as we don’t anymore] Roman should now take immediate advantage, by  burying all our bad news under an immediate good news announcement - there is a massive job to be done here, a chosen taskmaster to do it, and the sooner he gets on with it the better.     

.

Nicely worded piece, but I'm going to be pedantic...it's the 'premier league' now...premiership was years ago

[ShedEnder91]

Didn't say we don't need to improve. Of course we do. Many posts here are just do doom and gloom. Is Chelsea in crisis? Hell no. 500 professional clubs want what we have. We make mistakes as do Barcelona and Bayern Munchen.

 

You can characterise it as 'doom and gloom' if you want but every single post criticising the way we've been run is also suggesting ways in which we can improve. That's the thing about crises, they also provide room for opportunities.

 

Saying we're not in crisis because Accrington Stanley are in trouble is a poor argument in my opinion. 

 

Bayern and Barca both made mistakes and got into similar positions as us and they made fundamental changes to the way they did business, despite some probably saying it was just a blip. That's what we need to do. You don't need to bury your head in the sand and be relentlessly positive to see the silver linings in the current cloud overshadowing the club.

Edited March 14, 2016 by ShedEnder91

[CFC_RFC_TID!]

This.

It’s not just minor tweaks we are needing, if people honestly think that then they are in for one almighty shock. Our squad is unbalanced, under numbered while the players hunger and desire is clearly in question.

We are a team of individuals, there is no direction in terms of what we are aiming for or what we should be doing in the here and now. There is some baffling decisions that keep reappearing even countless occasions showing its doomed to failure like Matic and Mikel in the heart of our midfield! It is probably in the bottom 5 poorest CM pairing in the league yet Guus persists with it hoping it somehow works.

A new manager has to come in and shift out all the deadwood and selfish lazy characters we have in this group of players while facing the almighty task of rebuilding a new spine and the best part of the first team squad in the space of a few months. Considering the man we are hiring is leading his country to the Euros in the summer leaves me with a fear that the planning is going to be a major issue given the time scale.

Guus has come in and tried, he succeeded in keeping us safe and turning round the form of our 2 most creative and dangerous players. However he failed in taking us further in the CL and FA Cup while not winning enough points to do anything in a very average league. I can’t help but think we should just say our goodbyes today and start the planning for next season…the rest of the season is just a formality now.

If Roman doesn’t spend big and doesn’t allow the new manager full control in bringing in the players and changing the ethos in the squad then it’s going to be a bleak few seasons for us.

This isn’t a mere tweak job we are facing but rather a total rebuild.

completely agree. 

 

There was a fairly good article in the Guardian last week after PSG did us over - this passage in particular got my attention and really highlighted the core problems at our club: 

 

"This is an odd lot of players, with strengths in many areas, shortages in others, a lack of muscle and, above all, an absence of tone-setting, style-setting key players.

If Chelsea have run into a cul-de-sac in the last eight months, a team without any obvious direction or pattern of play, this is both a failure of recruitment and a symptom of years of chop-and-change management. Behind it lies the lingering absurdity of 25 players out on loan, with a combined value of something close to £100m."

 

While I am not complaining about the manner in which we have achieved success over the Roman era, it is simply not possible to go from being a big-spending powerhouse, to FFP compliant uber prudent and innovative German style "trust the youth" entity at the flick of a switch. This f**king weird overnight transition to the club that has an only recently adopted fixation on maintaining a healthy balance sheet is just not realistic. Such a move to become the next Borussia Dortmund where we pluck players from relative obscurity to turn them into £40m plus assets can only work if you have a long term vision and strategy as to how to achieve that vision. That strategy would typically involve playing the f**king boys, not sending them out on loan to sh*te teams around the continent and the championship. The issue with that, of course, is time. The club seems to want that, but is unwilling to accept that it will take a LONG time to utterly reconfigure the entire core and culture of this football club. 

 

Our squad is horrendous at the moment. But beneath that lies a board that seems unwilling to grant a manager the time AND the funds required to keep chelsea competitive; time to transition to this new style of club with relatively capped spending, with funds to top up the playing squad with one or two blue-chip signings each season. This board cannot fathom the concept that by simply being Chelsea, it does not automatically mean we are entitled to trophies every year. The consistent sacking of managers has made us a pariah throughout Europe from a managerial perspective; there's hardly any big names throwing themselves at the job as they KNOW that there will be limited funds, an attitude of short termism, yet an expectation that we will be Barcelona-lite and can just magically parachute some of the 100 loan players into this squad and therefore win the league. 

 

The entire managerial structure needs to be re-visited from top to bottom. Too many legacy dinosaurs on the board with absolutely no idea, NO IDEA what it is that they truly expect from a manager and a playing squad, as I again stress the point that this new found "look at our balance sheet" attitude seems to have overtaken our desire to be successful. There seems to be this f**king bizarre expectation that we can just flick a switch and go from having financial muscle to being an innovative and forward thinking, fluid club without first having to negotiate some rocky roads. Its a gradual process, it requires a clear strategy laying out exactly HOW chelsea will get to the next level and become that German / Spanish style club where huge transfers are a once-a-year occurrence. Instead it just seems like someone woke up one day, said "f**k it lets try it this way instead" and now we find ourselves floating downstream with a f**king dogsh*t squad, no management team, and this weird spectre of Emenalo floating around in the background without f**king any seemingly relevant qualifications whatsoever.

 

We are a joke at the moment and we have brought it on ourselves. We could be in for years of sh*t. make no mistake.  Any new manager should have 100% total complete and utter autonomy and responsibility for the transfer policy. At present, this loan farm we operate seems nothing other than a stick to beat any manager with; I can just see the hierarchy sat round their boardroom table now having one of their endless "emergency meetings", furiously quizzing each other as to why the manager is failing to achieve success when we have £100m of "talent" out on loan. For the record, I dont think many, if any, of the talent we have on loan would improve us, which is another sad indictment of our blinkered approach to football. 

 

f**king shambles. Whoever comes in is on a hiding to nothing IMO. We need a massive, massive clear out, and we also need the board to f**king wake up and realise what is going on. Disgrace. 

Edited March 14, 2016 by CFC_RFC_TID!

[evissy]

Massive clearout to a team that won the title clearly last term and by many experts was going for strength to strength. That team?

Did that whole season happen by chance or we're we just that good? We haven't changed a bit from that. Jose is gone and Eden has played under injury. Guus have steadied the ship to a good level.

Losing to a brilliant brilliant PSG and away to Everton was a consequence to a lot of things but not because we are a shambles as a club.

[CFC_RFC_TID!]

Another, from the Guardian: 

 

Roman Abramovich’s club are at a crossroads. For the first time in 14 seasons under the oligarch’s ownership they will begin a campaign outside Europe’s elite in August when, presumably, Antonio Conte will survey the Premier League landscape from the home dugout at Stamford Bridge. The notion trotted out, usually when considering the potentially unique nature of the title challenges being mustered by Leicester City or Tottenham Hotspur, is that Chelsea will be back stronger than ever next term, eager to put this aberration of a season behind them; that theirs will be a fleeting period out of contention.

 

It is a dangerous assumption to make, even if based on the notion Abramovich tends to throw money at any problem. Perhaps that will be the strategy again, turning a blind eye to the reality this is a club making plans for the outrageously expensive redevelopment of Stamford Bridge. Only last summer the Premier League winners had hoped, albeit belatedly and fleetingly, to lure Paul Pogba from Juventus for a British record £78m. Yet, while money tends to talk in football, there is understandable concern within both squad and hierarchy that a lack of Champions League football will dampen prospective recruits’ enthusiasm for moving to the club.

That would leave Chelsea competing for lower pedigree players in a riskier market, for all that Conte is understood to be pressing the merits of Edinson Cavani, on the fringes at Paris Saint-Germain, and Roma’s Radja Nainggolan. Even at inflated prices, they would not necessarily be purchasing guaranteed quality. Outgoing transfers would normally part-fund an overhaul, with players such as Oscar, Nemanja Matic and Loïc Rémy likely to be available, if only on the quiet. Although there is no real appetite to sell either player, it is not outlandish to contemplate Diego Costa agitating for a return to Spain, or Eden Hazard pining for an opportunity in La Liga, though whether even Real Madrid would go as high as £50m for a player – on £200,000 a week and contracted to 2020 – whose form has spluttered all season is open to debate.

Even if funds are provided or generated to offer leeway, however, is there much evidence to suggest Chelsea would spend the money effectively to transform this team into contenders? If the “palpable discord” of the latter days of José Mourinho’s tenure drew the focus in December, then the deficiencies of the club’s scattergun recruitment policy, overseen by the technical director Michael Emenalo, must come under scrutiny now. In the summer of 2014, when Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes had facilitated Costa’s arrival from Atlético Madrid and negotiations with Darren Dein over Cesc Fàbregas had been so swiftly concluded, Chelsea’s transfer policy had been their strength. Now it feels confused, a muddle played out while players such as mich, Romelu Lukaku and Ryan Bertrand excel elsewhere.

Of the nine senior players signed in the past three windows, four were in the squad who lost to PSG, the home side’s lineup forced to include a young left winger, Kenedy, as an emergency full-back to counter Ángel Di María and Lucas Moura. Mendes and Mourinho were culpable for Radamel Falcao’s unproductive but always risky loan move. More prominent of late has been the influence of Kia Joorabchian, in securing a hefty fee for Ramires from Jiangsu Suning – he had previously helped secure Willian and Oscar – but also in the signing of Matt Miazga from New York Red Bulls and, more mystifyingly, Alexandre Pato from Corinthians.

At a time when Chelsea are pinned to mid-table, where was the logic in recruiting a 26-year-old Brazilian who was always going to require six weeks of intensive “pre-season” fitness work even to make the bench? Moreover, what kind of message does that send out to Dominic Solanke, Isaiah Brown, Patrick Bamford, Victor Moses or any of the other forwards in exile, or even Tammy Abraham among the in-house junior ranks? That betrayed a lack of long-termism which hardly bodes well.

 Chelsea's Champions League exit against PSG feels like an ending

Barney Ronay at Stamford Bridge

 

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This is a squad bloated with fringe players. There may be sound thinking to loaning out youngsters with bright futures so they gain first-team opportunities outside a poorly regarded under-21 development league, but Chelsea have not just brought in youth. Papy Djilobodji is 27 and was apparently purchased as a back-up but, by the time he was needed with John Terry and Kurt Zouma injured, he had been loaned out to Werder Bremen. Michael Hector is 23 and by no means a regular in Reading’s Championship squad. He anticipates linking up with Chelsea for their pre-season tour but is Conte really going to be leaning on him or Miazga at centre-half next term with Terry departed and Zouma still in rehab?

Perhaps, at relatively small fees, such purchases were considered no-risk. Fees of £4m or £2.7m could be considered small change in the money-flushed world of a club regularly competing in the Champions League. Yet, when around 60 “senior” players report back to Cobham in the summer, the squad through which Conte will sift will appear crammed with faded champions, underachievers, stopgaps, prospects and even journeymen. Pinpointing a clear strategy aimed at restoring the team to the pinnacle may be easier said than done.

“We have disappointed ourselves so this is a moment when everybody has to be really motivated,” said Ivanovic while victorious PSG players drifted past him towards the exit. “This motivation cannot be just for the next couple of months. It has to be for a long, long, long period.”

The fear is Chelsea’s route back will be that tortuous. It would certainly be easier for them to spiral further out of contention than clamber swiftly back to the top.

[Ernie_blue]

Biggest thing the new manager needs is time and to manage the club fully to how he wants too. The problem is we all know he will be sacked if the club spends millions and there underachieving by Christmas.

The one thing i would do is keep Terry. Based on quality he is still Chelsea's best CB, is there anyone better in the prem and he is perfect for others to learn from. Don't need to state the effect he has on the dressing room.

If you keeping Ivanovic which is a joke you have got to keep Terry.

[CFC_RFC_TID!]

Massive clearout to a team that won the title clearly last term and by many experts was going for strength to strength. That team?

Did that whole season happen by chance or we're we just that good? We haven't changed a bit from that. Jose is gone and Eden has played under injury. Guus have steadied the ship to a good level.

Losing to a brilliant brilliant PSG and away to Everton was a consequence to a lot of things but not because we are a shambles as a club.

you're right

 

we're in great condition. forget i mentioned it. we will win the league next season. easy. 

[ShedEnder91]

Massive clearout to a team that won the title clearly last term and by many experts was going for strength to strength. That team?

Did that whole season happen by chance or we're we just that good? We haven't changed a bit from that. Jose is gone and Eden has played under injury. Guus have steadied the ship to a good level.

Losing to a brilliant brilliant PSG and away to Everton was a consequence to a lot of things but not because we are a shambles as a club.

 

So what was losing to Everton a consequence of? What was the downturn in our performance this season a result of.

 

May I be so bold as to guess? Is it Jose? Is that the answer?

[evissy]

So what was losing to Everton a consequence of? What was the downturn in our performance this season a result of.

May I be so bold as to guess? Is it Jose? Is that the answer?

Jose is one. He dug his own grave and got sacked.

[ShedEnder91]

Jose is one. He dug his own grave and got sacked.

 

And the others? 

[CFC_RFC_TID!]

So what was losing to Everton a consequence of? What was the downturn in our performance this season a result of.

 

May I be so bold as to guess? Is it Jose? Is that the answer?

Im confused on this one too. Seems to have an attitude of "We won the league last year, so we will be fine".

 

Liverpool dominated the league in the 70s and 80s. And look at them now. 

 

Past achievements count for nothing. We are an absolute shambles, and this is now being highlighted regularly in the press. The analysis on soccer saturday was actually quite telling as the entire panel seemingly agreed that our transfer policy and overall structure as a club is hugely problematic. 

 

Some people cant see this though. Again, like i said before, its just total blind optimism, or arrogance. 

[ShedEnder91]

Im confused on this one too. Seems to have an attitude of "We won the league last year, so we will be fine".

 

Liverpool dominated the league in the 70s and 80s. And look at them now. 

 

Past achievements count for nothing. We are an absolute shambles, and this is now being highlighted regularly in the press. The analysis on soccer saturday was actually quite telling as the entire panel seemingly agreed that our transfer policy and overall structure as a club is hugely problematic. 

 

Some people cant see this though. Again, like i said before, its just total blind optimism, or arrogance. 

 

From what I can glean it's a case of because we won the league last season, 2 or 3 new signings and a new coach mean we can win it next season. I'll be kind and say that's optimistic.

 

Of course it ignores what happened in the meantime and the fact that we've lost JT, Drogba and Cech from that squad without replacing their leadership on and off the pitch. It also neglects to mention that we've thrown away the style of football we were working towards under Jose (whether you liked it or not) for Guus just letting people go out there and play how they wish.

 

But we're Chelsea so of course we should be winning the league. Apparently.

[Chelsbear]

I think in the past it worked or at least kept us in touch with the rest because our owner was happy to pump in hundreds of millions of pounds to rectify any mistakes and/or poor planning.

We simply won’t see that kind of investment anymore because of our seemingly lone march towards FFP and of course our new stadium in early planning. Now taking into account we are going to lose out on a potential £30 plus odd million CL revenue and all it brings which makes it difficult to attract the elite players plus the risk of falling behind sleeping giants like United next season it’s a worry.

After Romans last splurge in 2 summers ago we probably need double that investment to sort out our fortunes this time around. Then you have to wonder who will want to jump ship now the reality has hit that there will be no CL football, even more investment needed.

We were lucky in that in the past we had a core of players who were world class and kept our side at that level (Cech, Terry, Lampard, Cole, Drogba). All we have now is individuals who seemingly don’t have the mentality to power through this woeful season. Our best player and highest asset has been playing like Aaron Lennon for the best part of a year now and arguable our most consistent ever player is going to be let go in the summer.

It sounds bleak because it is bleak. We need heavy investment, luck and even then it’s anyone’s guess where we go from there.

[evissy]

I just don't see it being that bleak. My worry is we will lose players like Eden because we can't offer him CL football. We need to make it our priority to hold on to gems like him.

With the core of players we have we can win most games. Some areas need strengthening naturally.

Next seasons priority is to secure CL football.

[Jamjar1986]

Yep im on the side of the ppl saying we dont need a huge overhaul, on form most of our players get into most xi's, thos season has just been a total wtf which nobody can explain, our biggest job should be to keep our big players, tibo cesc costa willian and eden

[ShedEnder91]

I just don't see it being that bleak. My worry is we will lose players like Eden because we can't offer him CL football. We need to make it our priority to hold on to gems like him.

With the core of players we have we can win most games. Some areas need strengthening naturally.

Next seasons priority is to secure CL football.

 

Who do you see as being part of this core of players? Chelsbear names the ones we used to rely on above (Cech, Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba) but who is that now? In my opinion the only ones we have who have qualities close to those players are Courtois (potentially), Zouma (injured for at least 5 months) and Costa. Maybe Azpi if I'm being especially kind.

 

Yep im on the side of the ppl saying we dont need a huge overhaul, on form most of our players get into most xi's, thos season has just been a total wtf which nobody can explain, our biggest job should be to keep our big players, tibo cesc costa willian and eden

 

Actually a lot of people have tried to find the reasons, from guys here right through to pundits and ex-players. 

[Jamjar1986]

Who do you see as being part of this core of players? Chelsbear names the ones we used to rely on above (Cech, Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba) but who is that now? In my opinion the only ones we have who have qualities close to those players are Courtois (potentially), Zouma (injured for at least 5 months) and Costa. Maybe Azpi if I'm being especially kind.

Actually a lot of people have tried to find the reasons, from guys here right through to pundits and ex-players.

It is one of the biggest mysteries in football, as is leicester, there is no reasonable explanation for our predicament and it is effin guttin tbh,

[bola]

Not sure about a massive job. If our lads could play like we did early last season we'd be challenging on all fronts. It is not like they can't.

 

instead of us overestimating our quality, I think some people here criminally underestimating what the team are capable of..  maybe those people desperately want to find excuse for jose's failure, to somehow justify his shortcoming by putting the blame elsewhere but the man..

 

Our struggle this season has much to do with the circus happening around the club, mentally we're affected..

 

Next season, it will be different, we'd definitely be hungry and if the new manager can unite the camp and make it a happy one, we'll be all right..  Yes, this is still chelsea after all.. 

[Carefree94]

Why keep Eden at the club? He's proved that he doesn't have the bottle when the going gets tough. For me he exemplifies what is wrong with our team and with our club's strategy. Don't get me wrong, he's a fantastic player and who knows maybe he'll go onto great things and we'll be kicking ourselves for selling him. However, for me players come and go. The fact that he's publicly admitted that he's open to moving away from the club DURING the season is ridiculous. Not only is he saying that he's given up on the season but that he has little respect for the club and the fans. That kind of attitude is poisonous. I think its rife throughout our squad. Too many players not willing to step up. I think Robben is a good comparison to make. I look at him now and I don't really care that we sold him despite the fact that he's gone on to have a good career and is arguably one of the best players in the world. We've done the better him since he left. I think we as fans are selling ourselves short if we condone that kind of behaviour. 

 

 

The recruitment of these types of players is a consequence of our club's sacking of managers. There is no chance for a manager to really set the tone at the club and develop a culture unique to Chelsea. That's why we have players who think they don't think they have to put their heart and soul into playing for us. I'm frankly not surprised that this collapse has happened. I thought the decline would have happened earlier. Even Mourinho couldn't deal with this mess.

 

What made the likes of Drogba, Terry, Lamps and Ash legends was partly their performance but also their commitment to the club. I know that money definitely plays a part in it but they were all capable of rallying the team when things got difficult. I don't think a massive clear out is a great idea because FFP means we can no longer just buy a squad like we did in 04. Ideally what should happen is that we would start to actually include a couple younger players in the team and buy two strong CMs and a CB and a LB. Whoever sold Bertrand needs to be sacked. We've actually fuc*ed ourselves over hugely at the back. 

[Carefree94]

I would love it we actually properly commit to an ideological change where we actually play the youngsters, keep a manager for the long term and create a 'Chelsea Way.' We've been incredibly lucky to all have been a part of the success these past 12-15 years. However, the game has changed and money is no longer going to set us apart as much. I think the club has the opportunity to create something special with the new stadium, brilliant academy, best fans in the world etc.