Tactics and Transfers: Chelsea cannot fire Conte and be financially prudent
If the wind is truly blowing in the direction they say it is, the best thing Chelsea can do is keep Antonio Conte and let him get on with it.
Chelsea’s chase of financial stability should (would, in a logical world) begin with retaining the best coach they have had in perhaps the club’s history. If recent reports about Chelsea chasing financial prudence are true then some of the newer support will be surprised. It is nothing Chelsea cannot handle and it will certainly make competing in England and Europe more difficult. And it will be more difficult.
Difficult ,though, is not impossible. One of the biggest mistakes the Blues could make in their planning for this period would be to fire Antonio Conte.
With Chelsea spending money on the new stadium, they are going to have to be smarter with their money: spend less, and be smarter with what they do spend. They will need to be doubly effective.
Whether the stadium is necessary is not really up for debate. Chelsea are behind the curve with their competitors on the stadium upgrade wave. It is entirely necessary for Chelsea to increase their gate receipts and matchday revenue alongside the Manchester United’s, Arsenal’s and Manchester City’s of the world.
Even Tottenham will soon have more matchday revenue than Chelsea with the opening of their sparkling new stadium. The tables in that rivalry are already turning. It is frightening to think of how the rivalry will go without Tottenham consistently handicapped by their financial situation.
The Blues can no longer sustain the consistent 50% waste factor they have overseen in the past decade or so. This is especially true in the era of Financial Fair Play. No matter how much of a veiled establishment-placating move FFP is, those are the new rules and Chelsea must live with them.
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It is easy to be successful and waste £200 million a season. If you hit on £100 million of it, you will still be successful most likely. However, with £50-75 million per season, none can go to waste.
Players must be scouted, evaluated, and coached successfully. Wasting a full £10 million of budget simply to fire a manager with a notably successful record in genuine player improvement would be a mistake. Victor Moses, David Luiz (before his training ground strop), Andreas Christensen, Cesar Azpilicueta, and Marcos Alonso have all become better players under his tutelage.
Conte is one of the few managers in the world who can claim to have had genuine domestic success against both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, and has spoken about how self-improvement is a pillar of his coaching philosophy.
For Chelsea to make their money go the furthest, they need to get the most out of their players. That requires a coach who improves them. Conte is a manager who does that and can help Chelsea make the most of their money in doing so. Every single move must be calculated and near-perfect. I have long said Chelsea would be better off buying one player a year at £75 million than several for 20-30. The throw-pasta-at-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks method simply will not work anymore.
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The method from now on needs to be a group of well-disciplined, drilled and unified players who are decorated with the odd star. Antonio Conte is the perfect manager to accomplish that goal. Letting him simply get on with his job rather than the usual Chelsea-undermining-and-self-destructive behavior would be the best possible solution for the club.