Antonio Conte is the ideal manager to reverse the trend of “player power”

Diego Costa’s feud with Chelsea’s training staff was as much of a test of Antonio Conte’s management as the loss at Arsenal. Conte’s steadfast refusal to be defeated once again sends a broader message.

Chelsea and West Ham United have spent much of the last two weeks dealing with off-pitch drama from their leading goal-scorers. Diego Costa and Dimitri Payet became the centres of attention for all the wrong reasons. They invited a media frenzy in the midst of a title run and a salvage attempt on a lost season, respectively.

One of Antonio Conte’s most notable accomplishments this season is making Chelsea into a team and a club again. From including the injured Kurt Zouma on the pre-season tour to buying Christmas gifts for the entire staff, Conte has unified his club.

And he will not allow one man – no matter how prolific a goal-scorer – to undo his work.

Antonio Conte – unlike his cross-town counter-part Slaven Bilic – will not permit Diego Costa to open the door to another resurgence of “player power.” Conte is one of the few managers in Europe who has the forcefulness, fortitude and charisma to enforce the necessary chain of command: players, managers, owners.

"Ultimately it is better for you overall as a club to show that you’re not going to be taken advantage of. You’re showing weakness with things like this… This approach is the Sir Alex Ferguson approach. But now we have more of these issues because if you fire the coach every three or four years the players understand they can outlast the coach. – Barrett Rouen, The Blue Lions"

Chelsea and their fans will be loathe to give up a player who can score 20 goals in a season. But the club is stronger over the long term by holding firm against and then letting go a player who can lose control of emotions and storm off from the team that is counting on him.

If Conte indulges Costa he would only be inviting the rest of the squad – and any future Blues – to stamp their foot until they get what they want. He would be opening the door to more players like Costa and Payet.

At the same time he would be sending the wrong message to the next generation of John Terry’s, Frank Lampard’s and Mikel John Obi’s. Players that take pride in their professionalism want to play for a manager and a club who do the same. They are not concerned about their individual standing as much as they are about the club’s. Those are the characters that will ensure Conte’s longevity at Chelsea. They are the same ones who will fill up the trophy case along the way.

“Player power” is a poor consolation for a team whose players are not winning. Antonio Conte’s commitment to winning and vision for Chelsea Football Club is mutually exclusive with player power. Diego Costa is about to prove that point.

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Antonio Conte accomplished a small miracle in keeping Diego Costa’s worst tendencies at bay for much of this season. Perhaps Conte knew that he was working on borrowed time. Any belief he had that Costa had reformed is now shattered. For Chelsea’s sake and his own, he needs to put the pieces aside and move on to the next victory.