For the superstitious, the one day to play it safe is Friday the Thirteenth. Chelsea has tried to push their luck on the day and it will come back on them.
Worldwide, Friday the Thirteenth is known as the day of bad luck. Cursed, some might say. It is a day where some of the truest believers in luck opt to stay indoors, under the covers, and wait for the calendar’s coincidence to pass.
Those involved in sports are notoriously superstitious. John Terry famously had “about 50” pre-match rituals he had to go through. Friday the Thirteenth, for superstitious individuals in sports, can be the worst day of the year.
Chelsea, apparently, is not a superstitious club. If anything, they are trying to push their luck as far as it will go on the perceived unluckiest day of the year. That will only come back to bite them.
Luck is mostly made by people themselves. “Good” and “bad” luck is just the fallout from ones actions. But, in the case of Chelsea versus Antonio Conte’s contract, there is only one way that will go. Bad. Very bad.
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Chelsea owes Conte somewhere in the neighborhood of nine million pounds. The only way the Blues do not have to pay that is if Conte takes a new job before the 2019/2020 season or is found to be in breach of contract.
Matt Law of The Telegraph laid the ground work for Conte’s breach and then followed up with Chelsea’s view on it. This is based on new information of events from last summer. But Law could not sit on the leaked English lineup for a day, but sat on this information for a year?
The text message to Diego Costa is often used as the biggest evidence of proof. It carries the notion that Conte cost the club millions in transfer fee because he told Costa he was not part of the plan.
That story sounds scandalous because it is almost always reported in a vacuum. Outside of that vacuum, it is easy to see that the text was nothing but a confirmation of what everyone already wanted.
The summer transfer window before 2017/2018 was at least the third window in a row in which Costa wanted to leave Chelsea. Conte knew this and began to plan around him. The text was not new information for Costa. Negotiations were ongoing. But it took Costa, then a Chelsea player, to reveal the text to the world before the negotiations stalled. Costa, if anything, is the one who cost Chelsea on transfer fees.
Costa’s reveal gave Chelsea a weaker negotiating position, thus making it more likely for the club to sell. Conte’s text was the tool he used, but the text was not the reason Chelsea lost out on money. Costa’s actions and pouting while trying to play the victim did that.
Frankly, Chelsea owe Conte the full pay out he has earned. The only way they do not is if he takes a new job next season. This is a manager who challenged Chelsea to be better. The club’s reaction was to wilt and start blaming Conte.
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Chelsea should not push their luck with this situation. The best thing the club can do is what they should be doing. Trying to fight will only drag the club through the mud and will eventually cost more than just paying Conte. The club is trying to make their own luck. But on Friday the Thirteenth, all they are making is bad luck.