Chelsea resigned to lean years, budgets, and managers

Chelsea have tried to avert disaster but their avoidance haa only made it more likely. The club is accepting its fate of lean years, budgets, and managers.

Roman Abramovich’s ownership of Chelsea can be broken into several eras or trends. The “win now” phase with Jose Mourinho MK I. The “Barca in Blue” and hunt for the Champions League phase. The “Dynasty” phase that was supposed to be ushered in by Jose Mourinho and more recently Antonio Conte.

All of these phases led into one another. And once more, a new era is being started on the back of the last. It is an era that is born of mistakes, complacency, and pure laziness. It will be a series of lean years as the club copes with the failure to establish a dynasty. And the only good thing about it is that the club are at least self aware enough that it is about to begin.

But first, how did this happen? A dynasty can only exist with the support of all the staff involved. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger did not stay at their clubs so long because they were unsupported. Every year, they had the backing of their owners and staff to succeed. Chelsea simply did not provide that for Mourinho or Conte.

Both Mourinho and Conte won the Premier League. And the moment to become strong is when already on top. But the club looked at the squad and decided they already had all the pieces they needed. The slump in the season following the title was a shock after Mourinho. But it was expected after Conte. This story has already been told and the board decided they knew better.

Now, that has left the squad in a weakened state. Rather than spending up front and becoming stronger up front, the club has now been put in a position where they cannot spend in the same way. That makes strengthening harder, and more expensive, than it ever would have been right after the title.

The stadium redevelopment is still in the pipeline. Abramovich will front the bill for it, but that means the club will have to deal with transfers on their own for several years. And the club has already burned a large chunk of that on several players that are good at best. Instead of buying a few excellent players, the money was spread out over many terrible to good players. Mourinho and Conte were both told to deal with it and struggled.

And things will not get better before they get worse. Reports are stating that whoever is manager next year will have to work with a restricted budget. And that does not stop with player transfers. It also goes into the managerial search.

Chelsea do not appear to have the stomach for a big managerial pay out. The Blues are stuck hoping that the managerial shifts see Conte employed quickly (if they split with him, which would cause him to lose his buyout). The Blues are also hoping it lowers prices for managers. And if not, supposedly Chelsea will look at cheaper alternatives.

Over recent weeks, the likes of Eddie Howe, David Wagner, Julian Nagelsmann and many others have been connected with Chelsea. None of them are bad managers but they would be massive risks. And if they are the best managers the board believes Chelsea can acquire, then fans will have to prepare for lean years.

Until the new stadium is complete, Chelsea may have to get used to this reality. One where they cannot afford the stars of the game anymore. One where they cannot attract the top managers of the world. That in turn will see Chelsea struggle, year after year, to break into the top four.

This is a situation that many of Chelsea’s rivals have found themselves in. At various points, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal were all on top of the world. But, much as it is doing at Chelsea, complacency halted their progress and started their slide backwards. Liverpool and Spurs only started trending upward again after a great deal of patience and vision. Arsenal improved after their stadium was complete but they stood by an outdated manager too long. Now it is Chelsea’s turn.

The one benefit the Blues have is that they at least seem aware that their star is fading. That is something that Liverpool, Spurs, and Arsenal never had. And knowing that the fall is coming can help the club brace themselves for it.

But it will take a great deal more guile than the club has shown in recent seasons. The club needs to find the right manager to stick with for several years regardless of where they are in the table. Whether that is still Conte or a fresh face is yet to be seen. The right technical director needs to be in place to steer the club through a market in which they are no longer competitive. And the Blues will have to find a way to stretch their resources out as much as possible to survive.

Next: Chelsea: Top-four finish still possible if everything goes in their favour

Only through careful planning and execution can Chelsea meter their fall and start their upturn more quickly. It took Chelsea’s rivals years to start any type of upturn but they were all caught unaware. Perhaps Chelsea are already preparing for this eventuality. Recent rumors point to it, but only time will tell how long it takes Chelsea to return to the pinnacle of football.

Home/Chelsea FC News