Chelsea: A tale of 10 managers in 10 years (Part Two)

Chelsea’s had an interesting last 10 years with 10 different managers, here’s a deep dive into the gaffers up to and post-Jose Mourinho.

If there was one person that Roman Abramovich could install as manager that would appease the Chelsea fans after Rafa Benitez, it was Jose Mourinho. His arrival prompted great excitement. However, his first season back in London wasn’t all to the fans’ taste. During his first spell with the club, Mourinho remained unbeaten at home—a record that came to end when Sunderland beat the Blues 2-1 in April 2014.

Worse than that though was his annexing of club favourite Juan Mata. Mata had been Player of the Season for the previous two years. He still is one of football’s good guys and a great player to boot. Mourinho never felt he did enough for the team and over the course of the season his game time lessened. The fact that he ended up at Mourinho’s next club, Manchester United, exacerbated what was already a bad situation. In a year of transition, Chelsea won nothing in Mourinho’s first season back. The following season was different though.

An influx of new signings—including Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa—saw the side more settled and another Premier League title followed a League Cup win over Spurs. From those heady heights, 2015-16 became the season from hell. Mourinho had signed a new contract, after which things quickly turned sour.

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It all began when Eden Hazard went down in the first game of the season against Swansea City. Chelsea was already down to 10 men after Thibaut Courtois had been sent off. Eva Carneiro raced onto the pitch to treat Hazard, Mourinho felt that unnecessary knowing he’d need to leave the field before he could return to action. Mourinho’s public berating of his club doctor had repercussions that would run and run.

Further animosities spread between players and management and for lack of a better phrase, Mourinho lost the dressing room. The supporters in the main supported Mourinho over the players, however, it was decided that The Special One would leave the club by mutual consent in December 2015. The team was languishing in 16th place in the Premier League at the time. Subsequent years have sadly seen Mourinho lose the respect he’d gained during his time with the Blues following some outlandish comments. Regardless, he remains the club’s greatest ever manager.

After all that, club coach Steve Holland was given one game in charge, against Sunderland. Chelsea won 3-1, but the supporters in the stadium once again let their feelings be known as to how they believed some players had behaved. Holland stood down with a 100 percent win ratio and Abramovich once again called on Guus Hiddink to become interim manager. Hiddink earned a great deal of respect from players and fans alike during his previous time with the club in 2009. As so often is the case, results improved as the mood within the camp lightened.

It was never going to be a successful season in terms of silverware, but the Dutchman’s ability to stabilise the club would be very important for the next incumbent of the Stamford Bridge hot seat. Antonio Conte was announced as manager before Hiddink had left in April 2016 having told the Italian FA he’d be stepping down as manager of the national side following Euro 2016. His arrival in SW6 was awaited with much anticipation.

It was worth the wait. Although Conte didn’t altogether get off to a flying start, he certainly used his wealth of managerial experience to ensure ultimate success. After some good results, a 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool (of course) and a 3-0 away loss to Arsenal saw a change of defensive formation to three at the back—the transformation was revolutionary. The Blues went on a run of 13 consecutive league wins that would extend into 2017.

Conte took Mourinho’s team of under-achievers and turned them into Premier League champions inside 12 months. Michy Batshuayi sealed the title with the only goal of the game at West Brom with two games of the season remaining. Conte’s intense passion and close connection with the supporters made him a very popular manager. However, as is often the case with Chelsea, things were about to turn sticky and it all kicked off on an Italian beach.

In what became known as textgate, it was mooted that Conte had sent a text to Costa saying he was longer in his plans for the following season. This led to the Brazilian born Spanish international effectively ‘downing tools’ in an effort to force his way out of the club. Once again, disagreements between manager and the hierarchy came into play with Conte believing his transfer targets weren’t met and the season was doomed before it began.

Despite all the animosity though, Conte’s still left Chelsea with silverware. Whilst the saga surrounding Costa relentlessly carries on, the Blues managed to reach the FA Cup final and successfully beat Manchester United. An indication of how some players felt about Conte came when a picture of the squad celebrating the victory appeared on Willian’s Instagram account; Conte was overlaid with three trophies, like he wasn’t there. Failure to qualify for the Champions League and those internal transfer wranglings saw Conte relieved of his duties just prior to the start of the 2017/18 season. His departure was inevitable given the instability that the second season brought about. It was sad though because his connection with the fans was so great. The same could not be said about the man that followed.

Maurizio Sarri arrived with a reputation that sections of Chelsea’s fanbase cannot let go. His perceived style of football was a sight to behold. We, as fans, had a lot to look forward to. They were as wrong then as they are now though. Sarri’s methodology was both methodical and tedious. He split the fanbase like no other manager, his legacy lives on in the world of social media as we enter a new decade.

Like Rafa Benitez though, Sarri left with the satisfaction of Europa League glory, his first ever career trophy. On the way to that though were some awful team performances. His ostracising of club captain Gary Cahill was as unpleasant as Mourinho’s treatment of Mata. After that Europa League win, Sarri chose to return to Italy and take the vacant Juventus job. Despite winning the Italian league for his first time, he lasted a single season there too. His football was apparently not good enough for La Vecchia Signora.

After Sarri, the clamour for a Chelsea legend to be installed grew in momentum. It took awhile to iron out the details, but eventually, Frank Lamaprd was announced. For most it was a great day; with Chelsea having been given a transfer ban, Lampard was the ideal candidate to take the team forward. Youth integration was never the strong point of any Chelsea manager, until the legend arrived.

That first season saw playing minutes for players from the academy rise to levels never seen before. It was to the team’s credit that they achieved fourth place in the league and place in the Champions League for the current season. Results this term have been mixed, but a run of 17 unbeaten games is excellent in the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.

Next. Chelsea: A tale of 10 managers in 10 years (Part One). dark

Moving into another decade, it will be great to see a young, former player lead his club into a future that hopefully becomes less constrained by this confounded virus. Happy New Year from all at The Pride of London.

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