Chelsea want world-class managers willing to work under tin-pot conditions
By George Perry
Chelsea have not hired a (new) proven, widely-regarded “world-class” manager since Carlo Ancelotti. No manager worth that appellation will want to work under the conditions and inevitabilities Chelsea have set for their head coaches.
Imagine writing the job posting for Chelsea FC’s First Team Head Coach on Indeed or LinkedIn. Qualifications: Minimum five years management in a “big five” league and / or top 25 national team. Multiple domestic league titles and cups, Champions League title preferred. Experience working with players nominated for FIFA Player of the Year or Ballon d’Or, as well as developing in-house youth talent. Impeccable media savvy and charisma.
Then you get to the job’s conditions and expectations. Minimal, non-binding input in transfer decisions. Must win at least one trophy in the second year, no credit given for any trophies won in first year. Club management will side with players in disputes. Hostile press.
Chelsea do not recognize the conflict between what they want in a coach and what they are willing to give him. They want to hire coaches who would otherwise work for Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, while treating them like the latest sap waiting to be replaced by Sam Allardyce. Chelsea want a string of Ancelotti’s and Mourinho’s under conditions that would disgust anyone this side of David Moyes.
Chelsea believe they have their pick of the world’s best managers, yet they will not even hire those men as managers. Chelsea installs them as head coaches, to ensure they have no power or influence beyond the pitch. After managing at Bayern or Barcelona, choosing players from around the world and at least laying the groundwork for – if not building – a dynasty, why would someone want to be told to “win with what you have – now!” at Stamford Bridge?
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World-class managers are not relegation-zone escape artists. They do not earn their reputation by quickly installing off-the-shelf methods to stem a decline and win selective points. They are world-class because they have a vision beyond this next run of games and the 40-point threshold.
World-class managers can bind a group of hyper-competitive, oversized ego superstars into a well-functioning, coherent team. They recognize immense potential in anonymous young talent, and shepherd those players along until they break out on the world’s stage. They look at their academy and academies around the world and can describe what a Champions League-winning team will look like in five years. Then they explain how they will ensure that they are that Champions League winning team in five years, building off the victory last year.
These descriptions say as much about the club as they do about the man. Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Marcello Lippi and Sir Alex Ferguson are who they are because Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United are who they are.
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Antonio Conte could some day be among those managers. He is not world-class yet. Despite his domestic achievements in Italy and England he has not won a Champions League as a manager, has not won a domestic cup and has yet to leave a distinctive mark on a team or the sport. He can and will do each of these in time. Conte has all of the talent and all of the drive. But not if Chelsea have their say in it.
Chelsea want to have world-class managers while doing none of the things necessary to cultivate world-class managers. And at this point, they are not even doing the things necessary to attract them. If Luis Enrique or Thomas Tuchel believe they are already world-class, they can find much better jobs than the one at Stamford Bridge. And if they hope to someday be world-class, they may recognize that Chelsea will hinder their progression to those ranks.
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On second thought, maybe you should just leave this section out of the job posting. After all, any interested candidates will surely talk to their friends in the industry to find out the details.