Chelsea: Petr Cech uniquely suited to be “custodian of sporting performance”

Word leaked late on Tuesday that Petr Cech will become Chelsea’s sporting director after he retires from Arsenal this summer. Cech’s unique history makes him an inspired choice.

After nearly two years (561 days – we’re going to miss this little gag) without a technical director, Chelsea finally blinked. Someday we’ll find out who they were staring down in their steadfast refusal to replace Michael Emenalo.

Petr Cech is apparently lined up to become the sporting director sometime in the next few months. The title is different, which may reflect how the role has evolved in the Premier League since Emenalo became Chelsea’s technical director in 2011. Or it may simply be a way of signaling a different vision and era for Chelsea, one that shows many signs of bringing the spine of the golden generation into the club’s staff.

Training Ground Guru has had a series of articles about the role of sporting director (and its various pseudonyms). Dan Parnell of Manchester Metropolitan University acknowledged there is no consensus definition or standard job description, as each club builds the role around their existing people and processes and then tries to integrate the sporting director while simultaneously setting it up as the integrator itself.

However, before listing some key responsibilities of the job and attributes any sporting director must have, he does provide one unifying descriptor: The Sporting Director is the custodian of the club’s sporting performance.

As the custodian of sporting performance, Petr Cech will be responsible for the club’s scouting network; will oversee the entire development pipeline from the foundation through the academy and reserves to the first team; supervise sports science and sports medicine; manage players in and out of the club; and develop a football philosophy that can be applied at all levels and that transcends the movement of players and coaches.

Many players with Cech’s experience, including many of his long-time Chelsea teammates, have the professional basis for many of those responsibilities. However, two aspects of Petr Cech’s life and career make him uniquely suited for this role.

Petr Cech nearly died on a football pitch. Anyone who doesn’t know why he wears that padded cap probably doesn’t know enough about football to read sites like this one.

Head injuries, particularly concussions, will be a priority issue areas for football sports medicine in the coming years. It’s to the game’s absolute discredit that they are so far behind American football in addressing head trauma. But there we had the Jan Vertonghen incident in the Champions League.

Petr Cech brings the voice of personal experience on this subject. He should be high on the list of any working group the club, the league or anyone else in sport brings together.

As the governing bodies move to implement more policies and changes to protect players, Cech can speak to what players want and demand, and the impact of the status quo and potential changes on players. He can then effectively communicate these changes to the players, who will trust him as their delegate on the matter. Chelsea’s sports medicine staff will have no room for laxity on this subject if they are reporting to Petr Cech.

Beyond the administrative and strategic side of sports medicine, Cech brings an empathy to young players who may find themselves in similar situations. After Ryan Mason suffered a life-threatening head injury following a head-to-head collision with Gary Cahill, Cech visited Mason in the hospital and the two talked over Cech’s experience. Sadly, Mason was not able to return to play. But Cech was a valuable voice as Mason tried to make a comeback and ultimately made his final decision, and surely stays in touch with him still.

Even for less critical injuries, Cech can communicate with players who are finding their careers on hold or possibly derailed. Cech is exactly the sort of person who would regularly drop in on Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, swapping stories, giving them encouragement and keeping them connected to their careers and their club.

The other aspect is how Cech’s intellect, interests and curiosity have inspired him to learn just about all the languages spoken in his locker rooms. While at Chelsea, Cech was reported to be fluent in seven languages. His simple explanation was that he wanted to be able to chat easily with all his teammates, and make sure everyone felt welcome and at home.

This gives Chelsea an immediate advantage in scouting and recruiting, especially among young players. If Cech visits a promising youth at home with his family, they will already be impressed to have someone with Cech’s and Chelsea’s credentials in their house. But when he can speak to them in their native language, he will leave the impression of a club where the young man will feel at home and where the staff are always going the extra mile.

Similarly, with the ever-rotating staff among the various departments under the sporting director’s custodianship, the ability to communicate with all (or at least most) of them on a personal level will be invaluable at reducing turnover and increasing morale. Think of how much it meant to the club, and what it said to the fans, when Antonio Conte bought every staffer a Christmas gift in 2016. Cech can have a similar impact.

Petr Cech will still have plenty to learn on the job, particularly in the financial and business aspects. But those are areas where Chelsea are already reasonably competent. Those duties are already being attended to, and whoever is doing those jobs now can guide Cech along.

But where Chelsea are most deficient, Cech fills some major gaps on day one. If this is the first hire of the golden generation’s return home, the Blues are off to a promising start.