Chelsea: “Who is on deck?” is a very valid and tricky question right now

At Chelsea, it is almost never a bad time to ask “who is on deck?” if the current manager is sacked. It is a valid and tricky question currently.

Maurizio Sarri is in the hot seat and on thin ice. Had he lost to Huddersfield, he almost undoubtedly would have been sacked. He won that one but his side imploded historically against Manchester City right after. It is still unclear whether or not he is currently “safe” but a loss to Malmo (either in the first leg or elimination in the tie) might be enough to kick him off the edge.

So naturally the question of “who is on deck?” comes up and there are no good answers. Of course, there rarely are but there is no world class manager that feels realistic right now and there are no interims that seem ideal.

There are a few names that pop out as potential options and the conversation is at least worth having. Because if Sarri is sacked, who comes in will be very important. And the lack of the options and the quality of the options may buy Sarri time on its own. But at some point, that time can be extinguished and someone will have to come through the door either as an interim or permanently.

Gianfranco Zola would be the most obvious choice as he is one of the assistants but is also unconnected to Sarri’s staff. He has been a manager before at several clubs but he has not really found success at any of them. Furthermore, his appointment feels a bit too close to home. Unlike Roberto Di Matteo under Andre Villas-Boas, Zola feels very much part of the Sarri tapestry. He is almost too close to the current situation to be effective.

If Zola does not survive a Sarri sacking (which would be somewhat surprising), the possibility of Joe Edwards arises. Edwards is the development squad manager and it would not be totally out of the blue for a club to appoint their youth manager as the interim. But unlike in Spain and Germany, youth team managers are just youth team managers. It would be quite a leap to go from managing kids against kids to the professional game.

So at that point the club would need to look outward for options. Guus Hiddink jumps to mind as he is only managing a youth team in China, but the man is basically retired in all but name. John Terry would be a viable option if Chelsea crashes out of the Europa League (Terry does not have the badges needed to manage a team in European competition). Frank Lampard and Jody Morris are highly unlikely to leave Derby County and even more so if they are only the interims at Chelsea.

Perhaps the best play for interim is Steve Holland. Holland was Chelsea’s assistant manager from Roberto Di Matteo to Antonio Conte and he followed Gareth Southgate to the English national team. He would know this squad well and if he’s learned from all the manager’s he has been under he could be ideal to get the squad through the season. It would be doable provided Holland was willing (and the English FA allowed him to do double duty).

After that, Chelsea gets into the realm of managers that they need to appoint permanently. Zinedine Zidane is the biggest name available but there would be questions of whether he would be a good fit (or if he would even come to Chelsea in the first place). Could the club reconcile with Antonio Conte or Jose Mourinho? That would be very unlikely (again, they would need to be made permanent managers and backed heavily in the summer). Not to mention the two would likely split the fanbase even more than they are already.

The looming potential transfer ban only makes things harder. No one without previous involvement with the club will consider coming in with a transfer ban likely. Conte and Mourinho would refuse. It would take a manager willing to trust youth to come in.

Of course, this all becomes moot if Sarri turns things around. But he needs to start that process immediately and without hiccups. The margin for error is all but gone and Chelsea needs to start considering their options and laying the ground work as necessary.