Whilst we've all seen countless posts recently about how the club needs a clear out at board level or to somehow negotiate for players better, what are some sensible/practical solutions to solving the club's issues off the pitch? 

Personally I feel one of our biggest issues is that the scouting network may have unearthed some good talents in Courtois, Lukaku & De Bruyne a few years ago, they've failed to provide successive managers with alternative transfer targets that are more realistic than big names such as Sandro or Stones. I could be completely wrong though as to how the process works, so lets hear if anyone has some genuinely good, non knee-jerk ideas.

Nothing will be done at the board level nor will the board be more generous in spending on players.  I believe they will further clamp down on transfer spending when the new stadium starts being built.  

Rather than seeking a solution, I hope the Board and Roman takes the proactive step to temper their expectations of the club's achievements on the field.  If they want to spend like Arsenal, then be satisfied with top 4 for instance.  Anything else is a bonus.  

It is really hard to comment as I don't know how the recruitment works. However we are very slow in the market. This summer was no different. I would think we know during the season what kind of players we need for the following season. The minute the window opens you send all the e-mails you need to start the negotiations.

For me I don't have an issue with the board or Emanalo in what has transpired in the window. However there does seem to be a clear disconnect with the expectations and priorities for the board and that for the manager.

They have 'improved' our core of 18 squad members from last season and they look like they have been able to find a lot of very good loans, for those players that Conte obviously didn't think ready for a first team squad role, with 5 premier league starts on the opening day for our loanees, an extremely good showing. They have also managed to get rid of some of the dead wood for decent money, which always helps. And for me this seemed to be the board/transfer teams order of priority, with increasing squad depth lower down on that list.

Whereas Conte's priority and rightly so given his and the boards expectations for the team, would be to 'improve' the core group as well as increasing and improving the the depth of the squad, this is his first priority in any window as he'd obviously like as much time with his squad to get the best out of the season. 

And for me this it is the disconect where the friction and tension comes from. 

 

I also think there is differing ideas as to what constitutes squad depth between the board and Conte, there is obvious pressure whether it from fans, media or hopefully from the very top that Chelsea try and promote youth from within and we seem to try and do this via a mix of loaning players for experience and having a Core of 18-20 or so first team players and 5-7 or so youth players rounding out the squad. 

Conte has also made it abundantly clear he doesn't think our younger players are good enough for a squad role and isn't going to use them as much as they would need for their development. He could have easily given Chalobah more game time last season or even given more assurances for game time this season and a lot of our depth issues would have been solved for this season at least.    

It also obviously doesn't help that we have quite a few of our squad members out injured/suspended, which highlights the fact that we have chosen to priorities the development of our young players by prioritising their need for a loan move ahead of increasing the depth of the squad.

All that said I fully expect Conte will be given more squad depth before the end of the window.

The issue with buying in the right top quality players is that ........We are always being held to ransome as we are competing against Man Ure, Citeh, Madrid etc .....generally that leads to disappointment as they have bigger cheque books than ours......so inevitably that sometimes leads us to panic .....buying 2nd rate players visa a vie Rahman, Salah etc ......."We definately need to Sharpen up our act" ......and stop wasting our time trying to persuade clubs such as Everton to sell us average players such as John Stones etc ....that was a very embarrassing situation.....We should just learn to walk away rather than beg !

we definately need to play more of our own youngsters ....but that takes a lot of bottle ....we need to Man Up 

are we 100% sure that the problem is as prevalent as we think?  Are we 100% sure that it's all plain sailing at other clubs?  Maybe that's what needs to be sussed out first before we start demanding whole scale clear outs

3 hours ago, Maidstone Blue said:

The issue with buying in the right top quality players is that ........We are always being held to ransome as we are competing against Man Ure, Citeh, Madrid etc .....generally that leads to disappointment as they have bigger cheque books than ours......so inevitably that sometimes leads us to panic .....buying 2nd rate players visa a vie Rahman, Salah etc ......."We definately need to Sharpen up our act" ......and stop wasting our time trying to persuade clubs such as Everton to sell us average players such as John Stones etc ....that was a very embarrassing situation.....We should just learn to walk away rather than beg !

we definately need to play more of our own youngsters ....but that takes a lot of bottle ....we need to Man Up 

I agree, but don't you find suspicious that every manager that has managed Chelsea does not play youngster the way we want it? Clearly, there is a lot of pressure from the top asking the manager to win premier league + champions (If possible). Anyone in their right minds would buy top players to achieve that and keep their jobs. Until we hire a manager with balls you won't see any youngster or until the board changes their views towards what is needed in favor to play youngsters. 

2 hours ago, mad_mac said:

are we 100% sure that the problem is as prevalent as we think?  Are we 100% sure that it's all plain sailing at other clubs?  Maybe that's what needs to be sussed out first before we start demanding whole scale clear outs

It certainly looks simpler at the other top clubs. It's probably relatively the same but to me the difference seems to be we have 2 objectives and the other English teams have one to some extent. I exclude Spurs, they've gotten very lucky in their timing in regard to the squad they have and so they don't need to worry about improving their first XI, and Arsenal aren't even on the radar as far as I'm concerned.

City, Liverpool and United are in 'win now' mode. They are not letting 3rd choice players go as we have done with Matic and Chalo for example. City still have Nasri. Neither of those two are playing for them unless some serious attrition happens or a couple of players ahead of them need a rest. United are similar, it's pretty clear a handful of their players will never be 1st choice there but thet aren't in the business of selling them off to clubs they would be. 

It's unique to us, the loan army, to have all our depth consist of young or youngish players because our owner wants us to start returning on investment in youth but he's hired a manager who has one goal, to win. I think Roman is willing to tolerate a season of not contending on three fronts if it means more game time for young players and I find it hard to believe he'd sack Conte if we finished 5th and got to the CL knockouts while Andreas, Musonda, and Boga played significant minutes. I doubt Conte would put up with that though. I thought he sent a pretty clear message by not extending his contract when he got a raise. 

This all seems like common sense but you'd think both parties would be in agreement with each other and have some mutual understanding of what to expect. Doesn't seem that way does it?

I suppose I too would be hesitant to spend 35m on backup players as well if I owned the club knowing we have players who could fill that position in a years time

Edited August 15, 20178 yr by TheChelseaBlues

12 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

It certainly looks simpler at the other top clubs. It's probably relatively the same but to me the difference seems to be we have 2 objectives and the other English teams have one to some extent. I exclude Spurs, they've gotten very lucky in their timing in regard to the squad they have and so they don't need to worry about improving their first XI, and Arsenal aren't even on the radar as far as I'm concerned.

City, Liverpool and United are in 'win now' mode. They are not letting 3rd choice players go as we have done with Matic and Chalo for example. City still have Nasri. Neither of those two are playing for them unless some serious attrition happens or a couple of players ahead of them need a rest. United are similar, it's pretty clear a handful of their players will never be 1st choice there but thet aren't in the business of selling them off to clubs they would be. 

It's unique to us, the loan army, to have all our depth consist of young or youngish players because our owner wants us to start returning on investment in youth but he's hired a manager who has one goal, to win. I think Roman is willing to tolerate a season of not contending on three fronts if it means more game time for young players and I find it hard to believe he'd sack Conte if we finished 5th and got to the CL knockouts while Andreas, Musonda, and Boga played significant minutes. I doubt Conte would put up with that though. I thought he sent a pretty clear message by not extending his contract when he got a raise. 

This all seems like common sense but you'd think both parties would be in agreement with each other and have some mutual understanding of what to expect. Doesn't seem that way does it?

I suppose I too would be hesitant to spend 35m on backup players as well if I owned the club knowing we have players who could fill that position in a years time

I see no evidence that Roman and the Board will tolerate any manager being around after finishing the season empty-handed especially if the club ends up outside of the top 4.  

The club may have long cut back its player transfer spending but it certainly has not curtailed its expectations.  Which bodes ill for Conte and his successors.  Which is the reason why top class managers i.e. ambitious managers would hesitate to join after Conte leaves.  

Hence, there will never be an understanding as the goal is to be champions or thereabouts and go far in the CL while net spending like the Arsenal of old.

Regarding the loan army, it exists solely as an additional income generator and nothing more.  

 

 

I don't really expect clearouts but they need to come under fire for selling before finding replacements much less selling to a rival team.

Temper expectations if you're not going to back the manager to the hilt. I'm fine if they came out and said we're rebuilding/in transition or will cutback on spending due to the stadium being rebuilt but don't be silent then sack the manager when he's not able to pick a decent starting 11 because you sold too much and buy so few. 

1 hour ago, lchk said:

I see no evidence that Roman and the Board will tolerate any manager being around after finishing the season empty-handed especially if the club ends up outside of the top 4.  

The club may have long cut back its player transfer spending but it certainly has not curtailed its expectations.  Which bodes ill for Conte and his successors.  Which is the reason why top class managers i.e. ambitious managers would hesitate to join after Conte leaves.  

Hence, there will never be an understanding as the goal is to be champions or thereabouts and go far in the CL while net spending like the Arsenal of old.

Regarding the loan army, it exists solely as an additional income generator and nothing more.  

 

 

So Roman and the board are completely unreasonable and loaning players like Tammy, Andreas, Moses, Courtois, Musonda and Boga is purely so we can sell them for a profit? Righto

i agree on the fact the youth system is now a cash cow. it annoys the hell out of me because we have seen it for years where their are decent young players like:

bertrand,van an holt,kdb,lukaku,salah,matic,ake even rahman etc.

the youth have always been sold on because "they aint good enough" but thats not the case, its the fact the club can atleast double their profits.

ake has been the closes one to being good enough,he even got recalled for 1st team and look how that panned out.

 

 

I have given up wondering what can be changed with the club and ive came to the conclusion its now us as fans that need to change, stop hoping for the next JT to come from the youth and deal with the fact its business and everyone of them will be sold even tammy will be.

No one has been let go from our youth system apart from Bertrand that has gone on to be a top player capable of being in a top 4 team or picked for international football.

And Bertrand is just a good player, but nothing special, far, far from world class.

How many of this youth prospects you all talking, has become something special ? Exactly no one.

De Bruyne and Lukaku was not our prospects and they was a Mourinho mistake, as well as board not putting buyout clause or just loaned them for 1 more year. They have long contracts, so we should have the upper hand in this.

But the board was happy to sell them on a profit, no matter just 2-3 years later they was sold for 10x time more then what we take for them ...

 

On 8/13/2017 at 15:45, evissy said:

It is really hard to comment as I don't know how the recruitment works. However we are very slow in the market. This summer was no different. I would think we know during the season what kind of players we need for the following season. The minute the window opens you send all the e-mails you need to start the negotiations.

Name a club that signs players quicker, more consistently than us and has won as much silverware as us in the last 12 years.

37 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

Name a club that signs players quicker, more consistently than us and has won as much silverware as us in the last 12 years.

Its interesting to see how fans view the club. Some like yourself will go on the defensive and point to previous success to justify a bad pre season , whilst others look to the future of what might happen.Our business model flies against everything we have been told is needed for a successful club, stability we have been informed breeds a successful team that wins trophies. the Liverpool model of the 70s and 80s and SAF reign at United show that this does work. Our own success has been built with an extremely good spine of players who have taken us to a level many of us couldn't even dream about,whilst going through many behind the scenes upheavals. Wether this is sustainable for the future only time will tell, the core group have now moved on. Changing both players and managers frequently may not be the key to future success. At some point we will need the stable background others have had, a new spine of players will have to grow and buy into the vision of the club on a longer term basis. Ultimately where we end up in the hierarchy of the league is dependent on investment, failure now to do so could have us talking in 25 yrs time of our history similar to a team in the North. One thing is for certain our current ground is adequate for our core support if we hit a lean time trophy-wise, the owner has a  vision of a new stadium, filling this in the future will be dependent on keeping us competitive at the higher echelons  of the league.

There will always be an ambitious manager / coach out there willing to join Chelsea because Roman makes sure that money talks! 

3 hours ago, Van Butsen said:

Name a club that signs players quicker, more consistently than us and has won as much silverware as us in the last 12 years.

Money bags Man Ure 

On 8/15/2017 at 12:10, TheChelseaBlues said:

So Roman and the board are completely unreasonable and loaning players like Tammy, Andreas, Moses, Courtois, Musonda and Boga is purely so we can sell them for a profit? Righto

Largely yes.  Only Courtois and Moses have been retained so far.  There are still question marks on the status for the rest of the loanees.  Not to mention the ex-loanees that have since departed the club.

Name a club that signs players quicker, more consistently than us and has won as much silverware as us in the last 12 years.

Have no idea however I still think we are slow for whatever reason. City had signed 2 players before the window was open because they really wanted the players and knew what they want. Don't know how that is leagal but they did.

20 hours ago, charierre said:

Its interesting to see how fans view the club. Some like yourself will go on the defensive and point to previous success to justify a bad pre season , whilst others look to the future of what might happen.Our business model flies against everything we have been told is needed for a successful club, stability we have been informed breeds a successful team that wins trophies. the Liverpool model of the 70s and 80s and SAF reign at United show that this does work. Our own success has been built with an extremely good spine of players who have taken us to a level many of us couldn't even dream about,whilst going through many behind the scenes upheavals. Wether this is sustainable for the future only time will tell, the core group have now moved on. Changing both players and managers frequently may not be the key to future success. At some point we will need the stable background others have had, a new spine of players will have to grow and buy into the vision of the club on a longer term basis. Ultimately where we end up in the hierarchy of the league is dependent on investment, failure now to do so could have us talking in 25 yrs time of our history similar to a team in the North. One thing is for certain our current ground is adequate for our core support if we hit a lean time trophy-wise, the owner has a  vision of a new stadium, filling this in the future will be dependent on keeping us competitive at the higher echelons  of the league.

Innovation breeds success.  What brings the next trophy.

18 hours ago, Maidstone Blue said:

Money bags Man Ure 

Haven't been a factor for years

26 minutes ago, evissy said:

21 hours ago, Van Butsen said:

Name a club that signs players quicker, more consistently than us and has won as much silverware as us in the last 12 years.

Have no idea however I still think we are slow for whatever reason. City had signed 2 players before the window was open because they really wanted the players and knew what they want. Don't know how that is leagal but they did.

They did the same thing last year + the world's greatest manager and we ate them.