They say managing a football club is the most difficult job in the world, you have to be on alert all the time and every single result can hinder your future. Being a football manager is like walking on a rope at 5000 ft altitude, a wrong step and you’ll fall, and no one will catch you, there’s no sympathy nowadays. Even if the players or the fans feel disappointed at any moment, they will soon forget when the new tactician brings in the positive results they want to see. But nobody said that being the Chelsea football club manager will be your toughest job ever, and sometimes your worst nightmare…
Since Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich took over the club, Chelsea witnessed 10 managerial casualties starting from Claudio Ranieri all the way to current interim manager Guus Hiddink. Everyone of them achieved something with the blues, almost every single season the club oversaw success, but a even a minor slip-up and you’ll be gone before you even know it. You might be sacked on the phone, you might know it from the newspapers or even the next day. Being in the Stamford Bridge hot seat is like holding on to a rope at the top of a cliff and not knowing when it might break or when you will lose your grip on it. Just ask Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese spent two stints at the club and won major silverware guiding the team to the premier league title 3 times. But he walked out of the door this season after a series of poor results that included 9 defeats which equaled the defeats of the past two seasons combined. The Special One felt betrayed by his players who seemed disinterested at the start of the season. They lacked energy, enthusiasm, belief and passion. Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas all looked like shadows of their-selves. The fans surprisingly blamed the players, this trio specifically, and gave Mourinho their full support. But the two-time champions league winner got the axe as expected.
No manager survived more than 3 seasons in a row at the Bridge in the Abramovich era. And that thing must tell us something. Everyone of them came with a big pedigree, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez, Andre Villas-Boas and Luiz Felipe Scolari, they all had a massive CV before taking charge of Chelsea. Scolari was a World Cup winner, Ancelotti a two-time Champions League winner at the time, Andre Villas-Boas Europa league and Portuguese champion, and Mourinho Champions league and Portuguese champion. Roberto Di Matteo was the sole exception but he guided the team to its only Champions League glory. The Cup that the Russian owner craved for since taking over. The only piece of silverware that evaded the team for 12 years. Some might say that the team needs managerial stability in order to succeed, and others point to the fact that the team is winning trophies year in year out so there’s nothing wrong with what’s going on.
But let’s not rush to a conclusion. It’s true that Chelsea reap the rewards of investing millions in the transfer market every season, but for how long will the team still count on its owner’s wealth. Just take a look at what’s going on in Milan. Alessandro Nesta said recently that AC Milan were spoiled with the millions of their owner in the past and now they are paying the price for spending money to succeed and not investing in building a solid structure at the club like a good and healthy academy for example. It’s not any different at Chelsea. Some day the owner might close his hand and tell the board to sort it out. And then we might see Chelsea struggling to manage their business and end up mid-table for a period of time like the Rossoneri. Since Abramovich took over we didn’t see any academy products bar John Terry. They are trying now with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and some of the others, but it might be too late. The blues have over 40 players on loan at different places in Europe. From Charlie Musonda to Nathaniel Chalobah and Andreas Christensen. They have a lot of talented youth team players but these youngsters know that they might never break into the starting 11 at Stamford Bridge because of the newcomers every year.
Guus Hiddink announced earlier that he will not consider being long term at Chelsea, and the speculation as to whom might take over has just begun. Several Names were mentioned, from Antonio Conte to Mark Hughes and Claudio Ranieri. Even Pep Guardiola cannot be written off in spite of him going to Manchester City being a certainty. But whoever signed on the dotted line come the end of the season is going to face a huge task and one he never dreamed of or even imagined. Whoever will be the new gaffer at Chelsea football club may God be with him.
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