The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[loz]

So Jose has gone. The fact that it has happened doesn't actually surprise me at all, the timing of it does as we have a number of big games coming up and a new manager can do nothing about the squad until January. However on the flip side it gives the new manager time with the current squad to assess what he feels he needs and also a bit of stability as if any of the current players do want to leave they are around for at least a few months.

So why long live the King. Well first let me say that this entire post is incorrect if the replacement is Avram grant.

It must AND I MEAN MUST, not be Avram Grant!

You would imagine that whoever replaces Jose is going to be a top drawer manager, clearly different to Jose with different strengths and weaknesses. Just as Jose came along and plugged some of the weaknesses that Claudio had, the new man may just come along and plug some of the weaknesses Jose had.

Personally (and I said this in another post just a couple of days ago) I don't think this is such a bad move for Chelsea (put down the voodoo doll and needles Brit!!). Under Jose I feel our squad has been slowly deteriorating for the past three transfer windows, sometimes in terms of the quality of the player, often in terms of the different options it allowed us to employ and too frequently both of these factors. Personally I could see this gradual deterioration continuing and eventually we would get to a stage where the fans were beginning to question whether Jose should still be in charge. I would rather it ended like this then with his tenure ending with fans calling for him to be replaced.

If Grant is given the job on a full time and permanent basis then we do have a problem. Then we will start to look like Hearts and that will not be a good thing.

[ethicalstrategy]

So Jose has gone. The fact that it has happened doesn't actually surprise me at all, the timing of it does as we have a number of big games coming up and a new manager can do nothing about the squad until January. However on the flip side it gives the new manager time with the current squad to assess what he feels he needs and also a bit of stability as if any of the current players do want to leave they are around for at least a few months.

So why long live the King. Well first let me say that this entire post is incorrect if the replacement is Avram grant.

It must AND I MEAN MUST, not be Avram Grant!

You would imagine that whoever replaces Jose is going to be a top drawer manager, clearly different to Jose with different strengths and weaknesses. Just as Jose came along and plugged some of the weaknesses that Claudio had, the new man may just come along and plug some of the weaknesses Jose had.

Personally (and I said this in another post just a couple of days ago) I don't think this is such a bad move for Chelsea (put down the voodoo doll and needles Brit!!). Under Jose I feel our squad has been slowly deteriorating for the past three transfer windows, sometimes in terms of the quality of the player, often in terms of the different options it allowed us to employ and too frequently both of these factors. Personally I could see this gradual deterioration continuing and eventually we would get to a stage where the fans were beginning to question whether Jose should still be in charge. I would rather it ended like this then with his tenure ending with fans calling for him to be replaced.

If Grant is given the job on a full time and permanent basis then we do have a problem. Then we will start to look like Hearts and that will not be a good thing.

Well Loz, two things.

First, it seems it will be Grant.

Second, you don't think it is such a bad move? You have the best young mamager in the world and then force him out with unrealistic expectations and by interfering in how he does his job. It's a terrible move - just terrible.

I use to defend Abramovich from all the jibes about Chelsea just being a rich man's play thing but it turns out that I was just being naive. Your comparison with Hearts is all too accurate. We will become the laughing stock of European football.

If he wants the European Cup then you either play to win or play to entertain but the latter isn't going to win it for you.

[High Street Ken]

The BBC and TalkSport both claim to be receiving inside info that Grant will be named in a press conference later today.

So we HAVE to give him our support (or go and support our second favourite teams...in my case, Torquay United!)

[Enrico]

In a way, the more I think about it the more I think "good riddance". Slightly overboard perhaps, but part of me thinks Mourinho had a hidden agenda. The sudden and blatant change in our play makes me think he deliberately had the team play a superficial "attacking style" while neglecting some other areas.

Mourinho does many things for himself. He wanted to be able to say, 3, 6 months in, or even at the end of the season, "See, you want attractive football. It cannot win you anything."

Taking into consideration his ego and how he left (obviously out of spite), I wouldn't put it past him.

[Lofty]

There is at least one positive aspect of the timing of Jose's departure. And that's that it was when he left, it was widely expected that a player's exodus would follow. If he had left at Christmas or the end of the season, this might well have happened. Now with four months to go before the next transfer window, whoever takes over will at least have a chance to win over the dressing room.

[Backbiter]

I agree with that, Lofty.

[Kenn]

I don?t think it would make a great difference what the fans want at this moment in terms of who we?d want to take over. The reality of the business is that once the owners and those who run the club make their decision we can either support or, for the sake of the club, reserve judgment (if in truth we instinctively disagree). Roman and his tinkermen constituency have earned the right to act like spoilt little dictators. Football is possibly the only business where their kind can have such luxury. But as fans, we aren?t exactly powerless. No matter who buys or owns Chelsea, lock, stock and the damn smoking barrel, the soul of the club has no price! The real democracy is therefore embedded in that idea ? the idea that a piece of the soul of the club resides within every single fan of the club where Roman?s shekels make no blinking difference. Yes, he?s in charge now making all the decisions, we the fans are the sentinels of the soul of the club waiting at every gate!

But we must be realistic. Our primary role as fans is to ensure that any type of disruption (be it self-induced or imposed from the outside) must not be allowed to compromise our hunt for glory (yes, in a way we?re all glory-hunters!). No matter the rights and wrongs of Jose?s leaving, one clear thing it says is that the club demand and want instant success on all fronts. If we sacked Ranieri after coming second in the league (after years of underachievement) and then now severe ties with Jose after winning the league twice, the Carling Cup twice, the FA Cup and twice almost getting to the final of Champions League ? all in three years, what that tells us is that whoever is taking over now has to do better. The Chelsea job is the most lethal job in world football and anyone is welcome to it as far as they can improve on what Jose has achieved in three years. Okay, Roman has played his dangerous hand and we have ?mourned? the loss of The Special One, but now we have to be as clear-eyed as we were when he took over. We have to give him and those who?ve thought up this coup an opportunity to prove they?re right, which means we have to give them time. They have set such a high standard for themselves and all we can do is hold them to it.

As for Jose, a piece of him, like the piece of every great manager in any club, will always remain with us ? no matter where he goes from hence. But such is the nature of things that we must move on holding fast to our colours and our banner even as our General stands down! Thus, whether they appoint Avram to the job on a temporary or permanent basis, while he?s in charge, he must have our full support. We are not supporting him because we don?t love Jose anymore, we?re supporting him because we love our club and hope that whatever is happening at the boardroom level does not have much negative impact on our fortunes on the field. These times call for fans with spirit and character. We should stand by the team as we face our biggest challenge of the season at Old Trafford. That is the best place to show that the news of the death of the Blue Army has been hugely exaggerated.

So, while some of us protest privately or publicly the loss of Jose, we should be calm and supportive of our great club as we get more news of exactly what went down.

Avram Grant or whoever is in charge, all we ask is that you lead us to glory!

CHEERS!

[lukasz]

It must AND I MEAN MUST, not be Avram Grant!

If Grant is given the job on a full time and permanent basis then we do have a problem. Then we will start to look like Hearts and that will not be a good thing.

I agree. I mean who the f**k is this guy?! As far as I know he's the one whose arrival sparked a row between Mourinho and Abramovich. oh, and before that he managed some teams in Israel...

[Dorset]

The King is Dead?

?long live, well err Avram Gant, apparently. No surprise, then, that the timing of the coup coincided with the absence of Lamps and Didier from a first team devoid of luck and encouragement both in the boardroom and from the Stands. So Jose goes with his unbeaten home record intact and I for one think it would be a fitting tribute for us to lose our next game at the Bridge, not only to close the final chapter of the Mourinho history making book, but also to herald the arrival of the New Age in which Chelsea FC move out of the results business and into the ethereal world of entertainment at all costs.

Naturally, the primary cost over the course of this season will be the shelving of the Holy Grail that is Champions League success and the secondary cost will be loss of Premiership position revenue as we scramble to take fourth place in the league. Never mind if we don?t make it, however, because winning is no longer the aim, even if it is connected to your supposed main goal in life. No, we have moved on to a higher plain now, in fact to the higher ground where Manchester United and Arsenal found themselves a season ago.

It is a land where trophies, readily available in the past, are no longer a given and where the mantra becomes defensive. Phrases such ?Ah yes, but we play the more attractive football, so what do we care? are commonplace, being the only real, albeit plaintive, response to the accusation that you have, in effect, failed in your main endeavour to be the best. We are told that the league table never lies, but up there on the moral high ground it helps to ignore that truism, especially when you are not sitting at the top. Remember, if you are a manager of one of the Big Four clubs, failure to use what in other circumstances might be regarded as an excuse and could lead to the loss of your job, unless your name is Ferguson or Wenger and you have inhabited cosy cartel country for years on end.

Not that all this will become a big risk for Avram because his predecessor?s statistical record, whilst second to none, need not be matched in any shape or form. How hard can it be, moving from pleasant after dinner conversationalist to entertaiment manager at Stamford Bridge Holiday Camp? In normal circumstances this could prove difficult in the hectic arenas of Premiership and Champions League football, but we mustn?t lose sight of the fact that titles, even back to back ones, are now of diminishing importance and almost pale into insignificance when you consider the prospect of a series of heart-warming 4-3 defeats throughout a campaign in which we enthusiastically strive to get into Europe. Note that I don?t even regard such an outcome as an achievement, so Avram and the new regime must be having an effect already!

It must be nice to know that there is no real need to begin your new job by hitting the ground running ?just go out there and look good! To hell with the result on Sunday, Avram, just don?t dig in with that defensive rubbish, especially after our first goal goes in - you never know, if we keep throwing those men forward we might get loads more. Can?t wait ?what say you Mike?

[Phillip]

I always said that Mourinho is the Hubie Brown of the Premier League. For those of you who don't know who Hubie Brown is, he is an NBA manager, who jumps from team to team, has initially great results, and wears out his welcome by year three. Sound familiar?

Nothing against Jose, but it was indeed time for him to move on. To draw at home against a pathetic side like Rosenborg is just unacceptable. I will miss him a bit, but not his antics.

[youlots]

Nice post/epitaph Dorset. So Phillip you told us so did you? Can't seem to remember that. But if you did, my what a striking and apt comparison. I mean Mourinho wore out his welcome at Porto before he joined us didn't he? and at every preceding club before that didn't he? And he's jumped from english team to english team hasn't he? Tosser.

[Pauly]

dorset,

a particularly humorous edition. If you think we were anywhere near a champions league winning side you're sorely mistaken in my view. The only thing holding us together was the mentality Jose has built here, but the fact remains that he has left us with a squad in terrible shape, and that what was happening and destined to happen in the future was a result of his lack of a footballing eye in the transfer market- ok you can argue that drogba and essien are great purchases for the style he plays- but we are left with attacking problems and let me assure you that no side that relies on wright-phillips has anywhere near the quality needed to win the premier or champions league!

I appreciate what Jose has given us, and he has given us something that he is second to NONE at providing- a winning mentality. But I have always felt that, with different characteristics, somebody else could do this job better- there were constant long term and effective mistakes and whoever takes over is left with a really enormous problem to fix the attacking side of the game. Really the only reasonable, championship quality side that can be put out is in the 442 diamond shape, and then we will have Mikel or Joe Cole, who both have their weaknesses in Age and lack of ability to keep the ball respectively, to play the crucual role in this system until January.

I really don't think i can state it any more obviously than:

Duff, Robben, Crespo, Eidur

Malouda, SWP, Essien, Kalou

Compared to the top sides in europe this year, without JM's mentality, this squad is not even nearly what you would guarantee worthy of a semi final place, and that is eventually what would/was cost/ing JM in any case.

He did what i think he has been on course to do since the first season he was here- took a great squad assembled by someone with a great eye, and, despite his organisation on the pitch, has made the squad an absolute disaster in Variety and attacking quality: one that is unable to change it's style and must play with this deep midfield, which coupled with the lack of quality out wide (malouda is not ronaldinho, swp is not messi [because that is what quality we should have]) is the problem..

I respect what you're saying about grant, and also about results, but we've already had this discussion and whilst you see his successes i see the outcome of his errors in where we have had problems- I think that with this amount of money, A Hiddink or somebody else could do a better job. Who with unlimited funds, should have been able to make us dominant and in play, results, future and present. because the way we re set now, the future only held one thing... a downward spiral.

I respect that he didn't have the support of the board and that he was under a stupid amount of uneccessary pressure, but i don't think you can cover up his mistakes and where the side is going because of them. We now need someone witha good eye for players who can rebuild the attacking dimension of the squad, and fix the problems that have inevitably presented themselves. You'll argue that it doesn't need fixing, that results are results and that's it- but if you think we weren't lucky at times last season, or that drogba can repeat that every year- you're relying on a lot of gifts which i think you are less likely to get than a just output of the talent your lineup has.

pauly

[Killbill]

Under Jose I feel our squad has been slowly deteriorating for the past three transfer windows

It?s the fate of every winning football team it seems. I read somewhere a while back that the more successful a football team is the quicker it deteriorates. Barcelona were untouchable for two years and last year they just fell apart, this year they haven?t got off to a flying start, and one could argue that they have the best attackers in the world.

[Pauly]

You would imagine that whoever replaces Jose is going to be a top drawer manager, clearly different to Jose with different strengths and weaknesses. Just as Jose came along and plugged some of the weaknesses that Claudio had, the new man may just come along and plug some of the weaknesses Jose had.

Personally (and I said this in another post just a couple of days ago) I don't think this is such a bad move for Chelsea (put down the voodoo doll and needles Brit!!). Under Jose I feel our squad has been slowly deteriorating for the past three transfer windows, sometimes in terms of the quality of the player, often in terms of the different options it allowed us to employ and too frequently both of these factors..

Absolutely agree with all of that. Grant would be scandalous also..

[Liam]

don?t dig in with that defensive rubbish, especially after our first goal goes in - you never know, if we keep throwing those men forward we might get loads more. Can?t wait ?

Wow. After that build-up I can't wait either!

[BLUENUT]

Second, you don't think it is such a bad move? [size=200][b]You have the best young mamager in the world and then force him out with unrealistic expectations and by interfering in how he does his job. It's a terrible move - just terrible. [/b][/size]

I use to defend Abramovich from all the jibes about Chelsea just being a rich man's play thing but it turns out that I was just being naive. Your comparison with Hearts is all too accurate. We will become the laughing stock of European football.

If he wants the European Cup then you either play to win or play to entertain but the latter isn't going to win it for you.

Spot on. Best manager we've ever had!

[Modueke]

I can't be totally sure most of the blame lies with Roman..

[Modueke]

There is at least one positive aspect of the timing of Jose's departure. And that's that it was when he left, it was widely expected that a player's exodus would follow. If he had left at Christmas or the end of the season, this might well have happened. Now with four months to go before the next transfer window, whoever takes over will at least have a chance to win over the dressing room.

Totally agree, and no word of Clarkey going anywhere either, he must've picked up a fair bit working alongside for 3 years.

[Dorset]

Pauly - Three points to make on your response, but before setting them out let me say that my pre-Jose posts will bear out my selection of Hiddink for the managerial vacancy after Claudio left and if he suddenly arrived on our doorstep now it would go some way towards stopping me poking fun at the current situation. I too appreciated the Ranieri eye and was as sorry to see him go as I am about Jose?s departure, but this time it is because he succeeded where Claudio failed and provided us with something we hadn?t had for fifty years. He also rattled the cages at Old Trafford and Highbury to such an extent that the feathers on those two old birds were ruffled like never before.

We gained respect under Mourinho, albeit grudging, whilst he took the brunt of a biased Media?s dislike of us as a club and threw the vitriol back in their faces at every opportunity. I liked him for that, mainly because those same Media men had laughed his predecessor out of office for being exactly the opposite in terms of character. Post Chelsea, Claudio coverage changed from being represented as a clown and into the guise of an honourable gentleman and I fully expect Jose to morph from black signet into white swan before the week is out, as we cop their ?it?s beyond belief? flak for the rest of the week. Mini-rant over, here are my three points:-

1. Any debate on Jose?s ability to spot or bring in quality attacking players had to include his buying of Drogba and his subsequent contribution towards winning a title and, hard though it was, you had to acknowledge the fact. I know he is too agricultural for you and to your jaundiced Italian eye he cannot equate with quality, but that?s all the more reason to acknowledge Jose?s acumen as a Premiership talent spotter and I would contend that Malouda and SWP also fit that bill, the latter having proved it at Man City.

2. You are right - Malouda is not Ronaldinho and SWP is not Messi, but where were the unlimited funds that you are now prepared to shower on Hiddink when they were needed this summer to pick up one or other of these two? Sure as hell Jose couldn?t get his hands on either of them in seasons gone by, whether he wanted to or not and I await the arrival of at least one of them in January now that the farmer buyer has left the club, although quite where this leaves the emerging talent from our academy and reserve teams should we go the Gallactico route is a mystery to me, as I?m sure it?s an irrelevance to you and, maybe, Brian M.

3. I certainly do not want to be seen as covering up Jose?s mistakes. Perish the thought that he should have been allowed to leave the squad in terrible shape without anyone noticing it! However, six trophies in three seasons isn?t too bad - that is if we?re still bothering to count - and, should the new incumbent achieve as much without racking up so many errors, it will have to go down as a greater achievement than anything the Mistake Ridden One could muster. And, lest we or an eternally grateful Mourinho should ever forget, what about the combined genius of Maka-Terry-Gallas and Cech? Remind me, Pauly, wasn?t it you who let us into the secret that it was the other coaches, not Jose, who marshalled them into a reliant force? What a freeloader, eh?

[Pauly]

Pauly - Three points to make on your response, but before setting them out let me say that my pre-Jose posts will bear out my selection of Hiddink for the managerial vacancy after Claudio left and if he suddenly arrived on our doorstep now it would go some way towards stopping me poking fun at the current situation. I too appreciated the Ranieri eye and was as sorry to see him go as I am about Jose?s departure, but this time it is because he succeeded where Claudio failed and provided us with something we hadn?t had for fifty years. He also rattled the cages at Old Trafford and Highbury to such an extent that the feathers on those two old birds were ruffled like never before.

Well said, I agree.

1. Any debate on Jose?s ability to spot or bring in quality attacking players had to include his buying of Drogba and his subsequent contribution towards winning a title and, hard though it was, you had to acknowledge the fact. I know he is too agricultural for you and to your jaundiced Italian eye he cannot equate with quality, but that?s all the more reason to acknowledge Jose?s acumen as a Premiership talent spotter and I would contend that Malouda and SWP also fit that bill, the latter having proved it at Man City.

2. You are right - Malouda is not Ronaldinho and SWP is not Messi, but where were the unlimited funds that you are now prepared to shower on Hiddink when they were needed this summer to pick up one or other of these two? Sure as hell Jose couldn?t get his hands on either of them in seasons gone by, whether he wanted to or not and I await the arrival of at least one of them in January now that the farmer buyer has left the club, although quite where this leaves the emerging talent from our academy and reserve teams should we go the Gallactico route is a mystery to me, as I?m sure it?s an irrelevance to you and, maybe, Brian M.

Drogba has improved greatly and i've praised him for that many times, he is certainly not the same player that Jose bought. Perhaps you can suggest he saw a rough diamond and sharpened it or something similar but at 26 years of age I don't think many would have expected the improvement, although in the most fundamental parts of the game, that DD has shown. Perhaps he saw that transformation one year in- perhaps he was lucky... perhaps he has a f***ing brilliant coaching staff, because based on his other signings, his preference for the player DD was in the first place, his mentality, even the position he played as a player- i think it's wishful thinking to suggest he did it!

Also i'm not sure what you're suggesting about money for SWP/Malouda this year? That would suggest that a good talent picker has a right to pick, fail miserably to get the right quality, then pick again? as with del horno and all the others...

3. I certainly do not want to be seen as covering up Jose?s mistakes. Perish the thought that he should have been allowed to leave the squad in terrible shape without anyone noticing it! However, six trophies in three seasons isn?t too bad - that is if we?re still bothering to count - and, should the new incumbent achieve as much without racking up so many errors, it will have to go down as a greater achievement than anything the Mistake Ridden One could muster. And, lest we or an eternally grateful Mourinho should ever forget, what about the combined genius of Maka-Terry-Gallas and Cech? Remind me, Pauly, wasn?t it you who let us into the secret that it was the other coaches, not Jose, who marshalled them into a reliant force? What a freeloader, eh?

For me it is perfectly tenable that a manager does not take all of the success for the success he achieves, especially in the case of the squad already being built. I think the opinion that JM took claudio's squad to glory certainly is indubitable, and as i've been saying for 2 or 3 years, that based on the imbalance he creates between attack and defense in his transfer policy and team setup, the more the squad became his, the worse it would get. So therefore, one can both make mistakes and achieve success.

[barak81]

Just to add a bit of oil to are own personal bom fire here dont forget that All of Jose's staff will go with him, that probably a decent number of the coaching staff on there way, training is going to be a lonely place

[Pauly]

ha ha- i hope we get arnesen's mates as coaches and not avram grants!!!!

[loz]

Just to add a bit of oil to are own personal bom fire here dont forget that All of Jose's staff will go with him, that probably a decent number of the coaching staff on there way, training is going to be a lonely place

They have already gone. Baltemar Brito, Rui Faria, Andre Villas and Silvino Louro have all left with Jose.

[BLUENUT]

Just to add a bit of oil to are own personal bom fire here dont forget that All of Jose's staff will go with him, that probably a decent number of the coaching staff on there way, training is going to be a lonely place

They have already gone. Baltemar Brito, Rui Faria, Andre Villas and Silvino Louro have all left with Jose.

Training must be lifeless this morning!!!!!!! If we feel sh*t, just imagine the players at the moment!

There was a great team spirit with all those guys and the players!

[Phillip]

The true test will be to see how we fare at the end of the season. If we somehow win the Premier League, I am sure we will all not be unhappy about this outcome, but if we fall to 3rd or 4th, and lost out in the FA Cup and the Champions' League, then we will all be grumbling about this. I have my hopes that we will do well even without the Special One.