Chelsea FC’s Leadership Crisis
By Lee Fraser
Arsenal FC’s “Invincibles” team of 2003/04 won the Barclays/Barclaycard Premier League at a canter with Chelsea FC trailing in 2nd a distant 11 points behind.
Within three years they had lost the services of Martin Keown, Ray Parlour, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Sebastian Larsson, Sol Campbell, and Ashley Cole.
Arsenal haven’t won a league title since.
Chelsea FC won the Premier league title in 2009/10.
In the intervening years Chelsea have lost the services of Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Paulo Ferreira and Joe Cole to name but a few.
In the examples above both teams have lost star studded names, legends that will always be remembered by fans worldwide, but more than that, both clubs have lost leaders.
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Leaders aren’t always named as club captains.
Leaders aren’t always the most vocal.
Leaders aren’t always in the limelight.
A true leader is someone that players in the team can look up to.
A true leader will always have time for an arm round the shoulder chat.
A true leader will give a proverbial kick up the backside to a team mate who needs it.
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Over the last decade or so I have garnered great glee from the fact Arsenal didn’t have a leader on the pitch any more, and whenever Wenger started to feel the pressure he didn’t have anyone to help share that load. That, in my opinion, was the reason for their traditional mid-season collapses.
Karma is a b*tch!
An example of a true leader taking charge of situations is John Terry.
When Didier Drogba arrived at Stamford Bridge he was more famous for his diving skills than his goal scoring feats. John Terry took Drogba aside, gave him the proverbial kick up the backside that he needed, and the rest as they say is history.
Again Terry proved himself a classic team leader when he discovered that Chelsea Ladies FC were about to fold. The terrible news caused him to chip in with his own money to finance their future. They have just won the domestic double this season and are in the Champions League 1/4 finals.
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Where are Chelsea FC’s leaders now?
John Terry is still there of course, but instead of him being able to turn to another leader for help when his own form has dropped, he is still expected to help Jose Mourinho and the rest of the team when the whole team is suffering.
Players cannot play forever, no matter how professional they are with their diets and training regimes, and that is something that anyone with half an ounce of common sense knows. So the question has to be asked:
Why haven’t the Chelsea FC board planned and prepared for this?
Cast your minds back to last season’s transfer windows.
On paper it looked very successful, clearing out very expensive “bench warmers” and actually earning a profit on some players. It was good business sense indeed, but look closely and you’ll see a lot of experience and good squad players gone as well.
Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, as well as upcoming younger players who had been with the Blues for a while and were waiting for an opportunity in the shape of Patrick Van Aanholt, Ryan Bertrand and Romelu Lukaku. They all left.
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Imagine if we had kept Frank and Ash, how much would that have helped having their older wiser heads in the dressing room when times got tough. Add to that formula also keeping Didier this season and see how strong the team mentality would have been.
This in my opinion is Chelsea FC’s biggest failing, being too short-sighted to look at least two or three years ahead and see the lack of experience and leaders in the dressing room.
On a side note there are a few fans who are blaming Jose Mourinho for our club’s recent failings. I personally don’t think it is all his fault and he shouldn’t be made a scapegoat for the board’s short-sightedness.
Jose is being blamed for not strengthening and indeed weakening the team.
Let’s get something clear here. He suggests targets to the board to sign. The board then says yes or no and acts accordingly. It’s the same when some fans blame him for letting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Filipe Luis go. Jose suggests things to the board, they have the final say.
Jose didn’t even know Papy Djilobodji’s name so how can he be blamed for that signing!
Chelsea FC are in the midst of a “perfect storm” at the moment, a “perfect” combination of events that have conspired to make this an uncomfortable ride for everyone involved. From fans to the tea ladies, to the players, to the manager, to the board, we are all hurting and wondering when it will end.
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However, as with every storm it will end. We just need to hold tight, not do anything rash and look forward to coming out the other side. When that happens the Blues must rebuild with a longer term vision, not just a short term trophy hunt.