Often the biggest issue Chelsea FC face is the principle of long-term planning. The Blues are stuck in a high floor / low ceiling rut, with no path to real greatness.
For those of you who noticed, no, I did not write a Tactics and Transfers last week. There was little point and, as the season winds down the inexcusable cycle of stasis in Chelsea’s behavior is starting up again. Follow that with one of the worst performances in the history of the club against Newcastle and, well, you get it.
Sad as it may be, my generally eternally hopeful desire for change seems to be becoming more and more ridiculous with each passing year and each new manager. All of that coupled with Nike’s announcement of next year’s horrifically awful uniforms that would make Seth Rogen in a speedo seem appealing simply has me in dire straits at the moment. Other clubs had always been the ones on the decline in my mind. But now I worry Chelsea are running themselves into the ground and making a joke of themselves in the process.
Chelsea have managed to become the club they were 15 years ago in the past three years. Of all the things Ken Bates got wrong at Chelsea, one of them was a lack of stability. Chelsea can be thankful they are no longer saddled with the same amount of debt they were in those days, but the mentality of the club hasn’t shifted much.
Normally, a club with more financial stability finds a way to have that sense of calm seep into the rest of the club. Chelsea haven’t.
The constant turmoil is the one thing that truly holds the club back. With the current hire-and-fire routine, Chelsea have a “high floor, low ceiling” situation on their hands.
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Changing the manager and taking such an extreme approach to the decision making often create extreme and swift reactions. It’s why Chelsea are so excellent for single seasons at a time. The players are literally in shock. On the other side, this precludes them from reaching the next level, setting the low ceiling.
Chelsea are only ever as good as each player can be individually – never as they should be together. A manager is supposed to be that glue, that bond that ties everything together and creates the identity that leans in the direction of greatness. Chelsea has not had that since Roman Abramovich took over.
Chelsea need a prolonged bout of extreme planning. They must find out who they are and actually do something about it. The first part should be deciding if Antonio Conte will stay or go. I am very much on the “he stays” train. That said, even if you’re not you can probably at least agree that not knowing what the plans are is even worse for the club and players.
Chelsea need to decide on a plan and commit to it. A decisive and distinct one. Fix the squad attitudinally, character-wise and contractually. Do away with the loan army. Decide what they are going to build and how they will build it so that this doesn’t happen again. The loss of Champions League football distinctly damages the reputation and global standing of a club. Chelsea cannot afford to fall short again.
The frightening thing is how terribly the decision-makers at Stamford Bridge have evolved with the times. When Abramovich first bought Chelsea, the only two real teams competing for the title were Manchester United and Arsenal. It was easy to get into the Champions League.
Now United, City, Liverpool and Tottenham are all more talented sides than Chelsea. The Blues are in about the fifth or sixth best position in the Premier League. Those higher clubs know who their manager is and will stand by him, while also having an executive structure in place to cope should something happen to complicate the issue. Arsenal does not have that, but they do have lot of money and finally (it seems) the stomach to do something with it.
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The disturbing thing isn’t that Chelsea failed this season. It’s that they’ve failed to lay a single useful building block to stop it from happening again.