Chelsea fans increasingly see transfer ban as a necessary reset on club policy

Twitter polls are highly unscientific, but they can give a useful snapshot into how fans are thinking. A large proportion of respondents think a transfer ban is a necessary corrective, forcing Chelsea to do what they would not do on their own.

If you came here looking for rigorously conducted surveys followed up with meticulous analysis, wow, you’re in the wrong place. You might want to see a neurologist to find out how you went from intending to type “five thirty eight dot com” to actually typing “the pride of london dot com.” But before you do that, let’s take a look at the zeitgeist around Chelsea’s transfer ban.

Travis ran a poll yesterday asking fans what they think would be the best possible outcome of Chelsea’s transfer ban appeal, which FIFA heard today. He didn’t ask them to weigh in on likelihood, only desirability. Over two-thirds of respondents chose the transfer ban over exoneration on all charges and a complete “no ban” situation.

Just under half said the best option would be a delay in the transfer ban. This was the outcome handed down to Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in years past. FIFA’s rejection of Chelsea’s initial appeal was quite startling, as a delay pending full appeal had come to be the norm.

Such a delay would give Chelsea the next two windows to prepare for a ban covering the subsequent two windows.

However, 20% felt the best scenario would be the ban with immediate effect. Of the three options, this is the one we thought would be the throwaway option, included because polls with three choices look better than polls with two.

Looking through the replies to the poll, other conversations on Twitter and sifting the few nuggets of insight in the hatemail our readers leave in the comments below, the most common argument in favour of a ban was Chelsea’s youth.

Regardless of where fans stand on any individual manager’s commitment to youth promotion, fans agree that – over time – Chelsea have inflicted insult after insult upon their youth players. Fan dissatisfaction hits the protracted loan spells, the lack of a path to the first team, the now-common occurrence of players having larger impact on their national teams than Chelsea’s first team and the increasing trend of young players bailing out of the club before signing a five-year contract which guarantees five years of loan.

Compounding all these issues, and most relevant to the transfer ban, is the club’s habit of buying mid-grade players from around Europe at the expense of bringing a youth player into the first team.

Fans do not want to see another Davide Zappacosta replace Davide Zappacosta at Reece James’ expense. No one wants to see Gonzalo Higuain in front of Tammy Abraham in the depth chart next season any more than they want to see Gonzalo Higuain in front of them at the buffet. They don’t want to go through with Mason Mount next year what they are experiencing with Callum Hudson-Odoi or Ethan Ampadu this year.

Chelsea, though, have too much institutional inertia and too little footballing acumen atop their management structure to start doing the right thing on their own, certainly not in time to benefit players like James, Abraham or Callum Hudson-Odoi. The best hope for Chelsea to undergo a necessary, radical change is an externality. Without a strategic vision, without a technical director, without an owner in the country, without a coach / manager with a clue, Chelsea fans are turning to FIFA to turn the club around.

That’s a pretty damning indictment for a club already facing a length rap sheet. One of the world’s most corrupt institutions has become the last hope among fans of one of the world’s most incompetent footballing operations. Whenever you need Gianni Infantino to save you from your next mistake, a transfer ban is the minimum necessary stimulus.

Chelsea’s best years were built on a playing philosophy of whatever it takes to win. The fans are taking that to the club now: by any means necessary, the youth and transfer madness has to end.