Should Chelsea only hire managers who have already won a trophy?

2. Measure the manager, not the trophy cabinet (Abhishek Pancholi)

This question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Like most things in life, there are a lot of gray areas here.

Unlike the current incumbent, who seems to have been hired based on a Twitter poll, most managerial appointments are painstakingly researched. There are things such as player improvement, academy utilization and tactical flexibility that need to be considered, and not just a philosophy that sounds like it could be fun to watch. And finally, there’s the small matter of trophies won till now. If the candidate has won naught, there must be a good reason for that.

Several mitigating factors can contribute to a manager not having a single trophy to his name. Coaching a barebones, low budget side could be one reason. Being unable to compete in the transfer market due to a restrictive wage structure also counts. Coaching in a one-horse league like the German Bundesliga or Ligue 1 would leave most managers trophyless.

But managing to miss out on every available trophy when your club won the Coppa Italia twice in three seasons before you took over? That’s not fun at all.

Unlike Maurizio Sarri, who benefited immensely from the vitriolic hate for Antonio Conte amongst a dunderheaded section of Twitter, guys like Eddie Howe and Mauricio Pochettino do not need an online movement to be considered for the top jobs.

Also unlike Sarri, both Howe and Pochettino have a record of improving the players at their disposal. They also tend to make use of the academy and prioritize talent over experience. Of course, both are hamstrung by the circumstances at their respective clubs, but that does not imply they cannot ever win anything. Chelsea thought providing Sarri with better players, better infrastructure and his two favorite sons would turn him into a winner, but they were hopelessly wrong. But that has less to do with Sarri’s previous record of winning nothing, and more to do with him being a stubborn, old goat.

If anything, Chelsea proved that being trophyless does not exclude someone from managing a club of their stature. A tactically astute, progressive manager, someone like Howe or Pochettino or Julian Nagelsmann, could do a fine job managing the club even without a bunch of medals hanging from their neck. It’s just a matter of putting your money on the right horse.