I'm sure it's just a massive coincidence this utter bo**ocks"leaked" mere days after he changed agent......surely no ones falling for this.

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

Difference is Pep has adapted his tactics recently. How City play now is considerably different to what it was 4/5 years ago, Maresca is still stuck in the mindset of having 1 tactic and if that doesn't work then bad luck.

Hmmm... summer handover... plenty of time to teach grasshopper the new trick ?

Has anyone been following our own Filipe Luis now head coach for Flamengo? they just tied PSG in a farly even match at the intercontinental cup final yesterday (or whatever it's called these days).
Maybe too green for Chelsea still, but after Maresca, maybe Filipe Luis would simply be a similar bet?

I really like his ideas and the way Flamengo plays: high lines and pressure on the ball. The only "top" player they've got is our own Jorginho who's still 33, so IMO still competitive. I actually like Leo Ortiz (CB) a lot -- very skillful but already 29.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by acaeus

2 hours ago, dkw said:

I'm sure it's just a massive coincidence this utter bo**ocks"leaked" mere days after he changed agent......surely no ones falling for this.

Complete bullsh*t

Blueco have put this story out to get the supporters to get behind Coco

From the sun

ENZO MARESCA’S weird week just took another curious turn.

Fresh off the back of cryptically branding the build-up to Saturday’s win over Everton as “the worst 48 hours” of his Chelsea tenure, he has now emerged as a possible successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

And it potentially leaves the Blues higher-ups – whom everyone assumes Maresca was taking aim at with his ambiguous comments – in an unexpected scrap to keep him.

You would not blame Todd Boehly for feeling baffled.

If we are to read between the lines from Maresca’s outburst, which hinted at a lack of support for the job he is doing, it seems Boehly and his Clearlake consortium were still trying to work out if they even wanted the Italian long term.

Yet now there is a threat they could lose Maresca to one of their biggest Premier League rivals.

And to do so would leave many doubting how serious they are at returning the West Londoners to the top of English football.

If City really do end up identifying Maresca as best-placed to follow up the iconic Pep, how genuine could Chelsea’s hierarchy be in that ambition if they let him leave without a fight?

It is shaping up to be the biggest test the owners have faced during their three-and-a-half years calling the shots at Stamford Bridge.

Boehly and Co have never been afraid to make bold decisions since taking centre stage in the Premier League in May 2022, whether it be handing out mammoth contracts, selling off homegrown stars or ruthlessly hiring and firing managers.

Appointing Maresca in 2024 was another ballsy call.

The former midfielder had guided Leicester back to the Premier League the previous campaign but he had never actually managed in England’s top flight.

Yet Maresca has, for the most part, been a hit with the Blues since taking over from Mauricio Pochettino.

Last term in his first campaign, he guided the club to fourth, the Conference League title and then glory in the expanded Fifa Club World Cup in the summer.

Maresca has managed it too despite unconvincing options in attack and in goal, a squad so bloated he had to bomb some out, and a lack of vastly-experienced pros at his disposal.

No doubt he can call on some of the most talented individuals in world football, including Cole Palmer, Estevao and Moises Caicedo.

It has not all been sweetness and light – ill-discipline on the pitch is a regular theme and the team are certainly capable of chucking in a shocker of a result, such as home defeats to Brighton and Sunderland.

Indeed, Maresca failed to win any of three games prior to the Everton win – losing at Leeds and Atalanta, with a draw at Bournemouth sandwiched in between.

It led to his mysterious rant after that 2-0 Toffees win where he claimed it had been “the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because people didn’t support me and the team”, before adding after Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win at Cardiff that he had not spoken with any of his bosses since.

But all in all, there has been obvious progress under the 45-year-old.

Chelsea are fourth in the league, through to the last four of the Carabao Cup and in a decent enough position to make knock-outs of the Champions League, thanks in part to a blistering win over Barcelona.

Guardiola, under whom Maresca worked as an assistant at City for the 2022-23 season before going to Leicester, said just a few weeks ago that “the job he has done at Chelsea does not get enough credit.”

Just how much credit Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and the Blues hierarchy give Maresca will become apparent over the coming months with City looming – as will their ambition for Chelsea.

Things are now starting to make sense.

Maresca's agent is Jorge Mendes now, and he has a very good relationship with City's new DoF Hugo Viana.

City obviously lining up an imbecile to take the bullet of being the first manager to follow pep. Will take the pressure off his actual successor. Smart move.

Read between the lines. The timing is very convenient. Maresca’s future is in doubt for the first time and suddenly he is the top target for City to replace Pep. Someone is definitely leaking.

Even if Maresca isn’t sacked he will definitely walk off for the city job.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by Frankie8Lampard

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Things are now starting to make sense.

Maresca's agent is Jorge Mendes now, and he has a very good relationship with City's new DoF Hugo Viana.

I think relationship or not, unlike us, Jorge Mendes has less control over City, the cynic in me says this is all just a bit of a branding exercise, get his name out there with positive association. Puts pressure on either the SD’s to back off, give him new terms/better support transfer market wise etc.

The flip side…. it’s all true, and our ownership will look like absolute clowns, come the end of it. What an absolute humiliation ritual this could turn out to be.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by Term_X

I think you're all overblowing this.

Maresca is known to the City group. He's gone from a championship winning manager, to winning two trophies at a big club. They'll want to appoint someone next who they know.

Maresca is obviously going to be one of the top 2 or 3 names on their shortlist.

They know he's not secure at Chelsea, and if Pep is not staying beyond this year they will have made soundings. 100%. Last thing they want is him extending his contract at Chelsea by another year or two.

No one's trying to deceive Chelsea fans, or play any clever tricks.

I'm of the view he's not good enough to win us the league. I'm 70-80% sure of that. However I'm 100% sure his replacement definitely won't be good enough. So I have some mixed feelings.

29 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I think you're all overblowing this.

Maresca is known to the City group. He's gone from a championship winning manager, to winning two trophies at a big club. They'll want to appoint someone next who they know.

Maresca is obviously going to be one of the top 2 or 3 names on their shortlist.

They know he's not secure at Chelsea, and if Pep is not staying beyond this year they will have made soundings. 100%. Last thing they want is him extending his contract at Chelsea by another year or two.

No one's trying to deceive Chelsea fans, or play any clever tricks.

I'm of the view he's not good enough to win us the league. I'm 70-80% sure of that. However I'm 100% sure his replacement definitely won't be good enough. So I have some mixed feelings.

It’s clearly been put out there by Marescas side as some sort of power play.

If the relationship between him and his superiors is beyond repair which it’s increasingly looking likely that it is, it’s best to just cut ties now.

11 hours ago, terraloon said:

At the game last night there was frustration but by and large the support for Maresca was positive

The story I was told at the game by a chap you often see at away games and who, has to be fair picked up snippets in the past which turn out to be correct, was that the medical team have alerted the SDs to the fact that several players physically and mentally are already in the “Red Zone” and they , the medical team have had the major say as to which players could and should not be given additional minutes. In other words they made some players like Reece Palmer, like Fofana and yes Fernandez non selectable thankfully Cucerella wasn’t available for other reasons. The SDs held the whip hand which should probably always be the case but it seems that at most other clubs the numbers only inform team selection not dictate availability

The situation has been complicated even further because of the schedule in January when there are 9 games over 31 days and that on top of there are still 3 games in December.On this point it seems that some at the club are staggered that other clubs like say Arsenal who likewise will have a very similar number of games in January haven’t rotated as aggressively and by pushing the can down the road as it were are inevitably going to face significant issues as their players get deeper into those pesky at risk areas

It was claimed that they conversion between the SDs and Meresca got worse , or shall I say got worse when it was made clear that there aren’t planned major additions in the next window although they are looking at a forward.

Is he ITK ? Who knows but to be fair it did make sense

If true this is actually music to my ears. It is not the culture of football managers to listen to medical staff. Most managers refuse to have those conversations with players and simply rely on the player to tell them about availability, which of course, always results in the player declaring their fitness. A situation complicated by someone like Pochettino, whose own son was in charge of such things.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

I think you're all overblowing this.

Maresca is known to the City group. He's gone from a championship winning manager, to winning two trophies at a big club. They'll want to appoint someone next who they know.

Maresca is obviously going to be one of the top 2 or 3 names on their shortlist.

They know he's not secure at Chelsea, and if Pep is not staying beyond this year they will have made soundings. 100%. Last thing they want is him extending his contract at Chelsea by another year or two.

No one's trying to deceive Chelsea fans, or play any clever tricks.

I'm of the view he's not good enough to win us the league. I'm 70-80% sure of that. However I'm 100% sure his replacement definitely won't be good enough. So I have some mixed feelings.

Wholly agree. Hopefully "Championship-winning" experience will be a requirement after City's 115 charges are finalised and they are relegated to non-league

First of all if Pep walks he will be replaced by city legend Vincent kompany. No way city pick a manager who cant break down a back 5. He was good against barca and arsenal because they play a baxk 4 and lost ro Leeds and atalanta who play a back 5. We will obviously lose to napoli in our last match because they play a back 5. I am cool with maresca but he isn't irreplaceable.

Couldn’t care less where he goes just get him gone from my club

Let City have him. Glasner want's to stay in London but unlikely to sign new contract with Palace so just go get him. NOW.

9 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

If true this is actually music to my ears. It is not the culture of football managers to listen to medical staff. Most managers refuse to have those conversations with players and simply rely on the player to tell them about availability, which of course, always results in the player declaring their fitness. A situation complicated by someone like Pochettino, whose own son was in charge of such things.

Thinking about the claim and indeed factoring in your comments makes me think that may be there are indeed legs in the claim.

We know that BlueCo have bought about changes in every department and with those changes it seems that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability in the model that now is in place.

There was a lot of chatter about how in the early days of his tenure that Maresca was a company man and bought into the project where his role clearly was under the management of the SD and not a true partnership with them.

Those changes bought a complete re build of the medical team and I would imagine that they also are reporting to the SD and it is them that in all likelihood make the call around availability based on medical advice.

Meresca is probably pushing back when he gets criticised add to the fact he probably thinks his hand has been strengthened following on from the 24/5 season.

Players , when a team is doing well, will always want to play sometimes they have to be protected from themselves indeed most head coaches/ managers who will make the final call even when concern around the players welfare and the medical advice suggests that the player should be sidelined.

Meresca won’t be in place for next season. I am pretty sure of that the question is who will be the next in line and I like Glasner who clearly has something and it seems buys into the HC role and knows how to develop players

Edited December 19, 2025Dec 19 by terraloon

1 minute ago, terraloon said:

PThinking about the claim and indeed factoring in your comments makes me think that may be there are indeed legs in the claim.

We know that BlueCo have bought about changes in every department and with those changes it seems that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability in the model that now is in place.

There was a lot of chatter about how in the early days of his tenure that Maresca was a company man and bought into the project where his role clearly was under the management of the SD and not a true partnership with them.

Those changes bought a complete re build of the medical team and I would imagine that they also are reporting to the SD and it is them that in all likelihood make the call around availability based on medical advice. I do wonder if Meresca went to the owners trying to get agreement that he gets greater say . If that’s correct then there would only be one winner and that wouldn’t be the HC . If he had won the whole edifice would crumble and the whole structure would have to changed and in that structure many would be questioning their roles and rightly so.

Meresca is probably pushing back when he gets criticised add to the fact he probably thinks his hand has been strengthened following on from the 24/5 season.

Players , when a team is doing well, will always want to play sometimes they have to be protected from themselves indeed most head coaches/ managers who will make the final call even when concern around the players welfare and the medical advice suggests that the player should be sidelined.

Meresca won’t be in place for next season. I am pretty sure of that the question is who will be the next in line and I like Glasner who clearly has something and it seems buys into the HC role and knows how to develop players

29 minutes ago, terraloon said:

We know that BlueCo have bought about changes in every department and with those changes it seems that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability in the model that now is in place.

Who is accountable for the lack of a FOS sponsor deal? I don't think that these owners have made the lines of responsibility or accountability clearer than it was under Roman. If anything, they've brought more chaos and inexperience to the footballing side and a laxer accountability for failings from top to bottom.

But I agree with you that it is very likely that Maresca won't be around next season.

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Let City have him. Glasner want's to stay in London but unlikely to sign new contract with Palace so just go get him. NOW.

Glasner wouldn't wear the Chelsea management hierarchy. He isn't a Yes man. Threatened to quit when Guehi was going to be sold without a suitable replacement incoming. Maresca wanted a replacement for the injured Colwill. He was ignored.

Edited December 19, 2025Dec 19 by dermott

16 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Things are now starting to make sense.

Maresca's agent is Jorge Mendes now, and he has a very good relationship with City's new DoF Hugo Viana.

Ornstein is also usually pretty astute. We'll see.

25 minutes ago, dermott said:

Glasner wouldn't wear the Chelsea management hierarchy. He isn't a Yes man. Threatened to quit when Guehi was going to be sold without a suitable replacement incoming. Maresca wanted a replacement for the injured Colwill. He was ignored.

Deep down, I know that. But it's nearly Christmas - let me Dream!!

#MarescaOutanddontreplacehimwithanotherf**kwit

Edited December 19, 2025Dec 19 by Nibs

Just now, Nibs said:

Deep down, I know that. But it's nearly Christmas - let me Dream!!

#MarescaOutanddontreplacehimwithanotherf**kwit

Bugger off. Suffer with the rest of us.

42 minutes ago, dermott said:

Bugger off. Suffer with the rest of us.

I need a bit of Christmas Cheer - I have the mother in law & father in law arriving today and they are staying with us for over a week FFS!

31 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I need a bit of Christmas Cheer - I have the mother in law & father in law arriving today and they are staying with us for over a week FFS!

Marriage always seems like a good idea at the time.

17 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Read between the lines. The timing is very convenient. Maresca’s future is in doubt for the first time and suddenly he is the top target for City to replace Pep. Someone is definitely leaking.

Even if Maresca isn’t sacked he will definitely walk off for the city job.

Might not be a leak, an executive probably approached him(Maresca) to gauge interest and prepare a shortlist, then a club exec found out and threatened Maresca

3 hours ago, dermott said:

Glasner wouldn't wear the Chelsea management hierarchy. He isn't a Yes man. Threatened to quit when Guehi was going to be sold without a suitable replacement incoming. Maresca wanted a replacement for the injured Colwill. He was ignored.

That's the real problem, when Maresca does go his replacement will be another weak yes man they can control.