Am I the only one who thinks the directors are not only qualified for this role, but have equally proved it? We all remember what it was like supporting a team that looked out of sorts whenever they got around goal. The numbers don't lie. The eyes surely don't lie. The balance sheet that includes north of 250m in sales for underperforming players (who are still underperforming) absolutely doesn't lie. The list of certified hits from our directors is hilariously long. Hell, we have two new signings who've eclipsed our league goal total from a year ago, with half a season to go! Less the fact that Misha, Noni and Gusto absolutely look the part now and going forward. Caicedo's stringing together great performances, we've kept Colwill, the wonderkids in Angelo and Kendry are insane talents, the list of hits goes on and on. We can't blame the owners for injuries, which for me, are the sole reason for our struggles for consistency, not the squad they've put together. If Nkunku doesn't get hurt, is there a campaign of incompetence for not buying a goalscorer? I'm not so sure considering what we saw in preseason and since he's come back.
The only misses were from the very first summer without directors and roughly six weeks to get business done, the board admitted to those mistakes..
I don't think their work can be undone from selling one player eithwr, that's frankly ridiculous. And when a shortlist for one of our most important positions included Olise, Kudus and Cold Palmer, there's absolutely no reason for me to think we need to worry about losing one singular cog in the machine. So yeah, very reactionary, wreaks of impatience and personal bias, and ignores truly vital context.
Back the owners, back the directors, back the manager, back the players and for the love of God, back the CLUB. Many clubs would be biting their hand off to be in our position with ambitious owners unafraid to spend money, with sporting directors targeting the best talents in the world. Look past what's in front of you.
Thanks everyone for the comments, positive and critical. I'm blown away by the support this article has received and the reaction to it, so thank you. I've read all your comments and appreciate you taking the time to write them.
A few points based on the critical comments:
This wasn't meant to be a reactionary article and I certainly didn't intend for it to come across that way, or engage in any scapegoating, I was trying to hold people responsible for their actions and decisions, rather than scapegoat any one individual. There's collective responsibility for the underlying issues in my view but some staff members I believe are doing a poor job.
I'm also aware last season and this are two different squads so judging the collective results is problematic. However, what I was attempting to address was the culture at the club since the sporting directors took post, which feels disconnected to the heart of the club. I also feel this squad is underachieving (only by a little, my expectation was 6th/7th), hence my on pitch criticisms, and it is true we've not really moved in terms of league position this year.
There's no sense of entitlement on my part, I don't have high expectations right now, or impossible ones, nor do I want a change of head coach. Even for this season, I'm happy to finish 7th/8th with the team making progress. I know it will take time, but I just felt there are urgent issues which need to be addressed which have dragged on for a while. I'm sorry if it came across as me being entitled.
I'd also add I've been a consistent supporter of Nicolas Jackson, and have a lot of faith in him to do well for us, and have a lot of confidence in him. We all need to get behind him and support him, in my view.
Thanks again for engaging everyone, I've really enjoyed reading the comments (even the critical ones).
Very very well put! There is positives to what has been done so far but there is so many mistakes also I mean players wise and sporting directors but this comes down to experience you have no experience at the top of the club and no experience on the pitch! Please wake up, I sit in the Matthew Harding upper the most faithful of fans most around me go home and away and we are tired of mediocrity!
The article makes a couple of good points but also misses the point in too many places.
1) You can’t lump in last years shambles with this years team to do so is hypocritical, unethical and out of order.
2) The assumption made that he speaks for the fans also is wrong because in fact he speaks only for the most vocal part of the critical fan base who would moan if we were second in the league anyway.
3) Poche isn’t a yes man and that’s the implication of one of his accusations in fact he is working from a play sheet where the injury list is longer than the first team availability and there’s a fair chance Si Phillips could be starting at left back in the next game if we can register him in time.
4) What he gets right is the fact that Winstanley and co aren’t fit for purpose and selling Gallagher would be a Travesty.
5) He fails to understand that Poche is a top manager and needs supporting, but to be brutally honest what top manager would touch the job now?
So there it is, the letter is reactionary, over the top and he dares to say he has supported the club for 35 years which is a cheek I’ve supported the club since I was 8 years old and I’m 65 next March and I’m ashamed that he calls himself a supporter.
So there you have it ,we win a match which we couldn’t do under Potter or Lampard through to the semi final of the League Cup & not out of qualifying for Europe yet as nothing is won in the first half of the season.
I suggest you all put your dummies back in your mouths where they belong and we support the team not act like headless chickens and please less of the showboating.
Great love it. I never got to go the annual Christmas/ players owners dinner but I heard our owners were surrounded by body guards and completely unacessable to fans who are the club, I know Roman was pretty quiet 😬but there was no need for him to prove his passion and love for Chelsea you could see it from day 1 - the owners need to open communications with the fans and start telling us what is going on - I don't blame poch he still did know what he was walking into so not completely off the hook, I would like to hear from sporting directors with what's the plan !
From summer 2024 (2 years from the takeover) we will see if Clearlake are working in the right direction or if they remain clueless and "arrogant" as mentioned. 2 years is enough time to build the new fundament and to improve by adding little by little. So far, the odds are not so optimistic and I really hope I'm wrong. You need one and only one owner and one and only one Sporting Director. Then below that you can build easier but the owner-SD trust is the most important one and we don't have it in its pure form the way it's supposed to be like at the other big clubs.
Thanks Scorio, I always appreciate your heart on the sleeve passion. Personally, I hit my nadir under Potter and where we are is a definite improvement on his tenure. So, oddly, I'm a bit more glass half full (ok, quarter full) than where you are, mate.
It offers me a bit of a solace having someone like Score in our corner. However, at the risk of being a total cynic, I am utterly unconvinced that his brilliantly written and impassioned letter will reach the owners and SDs. Or, even if it somehow did reach them, there are near 0 chance that they would acknowledge, let alone rectify their errors.
Like Score, I too believe that our owners meant well and still do. However, I have 0 faith in our SDs. Up to this point, they have not once shown their accountability. They've been hiding behind Poch all this time, while receiving virtually endless backing from our owners. Or WORSE, they are left alone by our owners, unsupervised entirely, free to use OUR CLUB as their guinea pig, while they are trying to change the game.
And based on the news I've been reading on SPTC or from other journalists, the SDs (or the owners) still look to be set on their current path. This can be seen from their seemingly unquenchable thirst for the 16yo Estevao, for whom the club reportedly are ready to pay up to 60m, and the 17yo Claudio Echeverri. I understand that these youngsters can indeed develop into mega superstars in the future. However, these mega superstars projects should not come at the expense of the here and now.
At some point, these SDs need to recognize the potential breach of the Profitability & Sustainability Rules. Why? Consider our youths currently on loan. David Fofana is falling out of favor severely at Union Berlin. Cesare Casedei seems unable to break into Leicester first 11. Diego Moreira don't seem to be doing well at Lyon either (although TBF the whole club is in such disrepair). Lately, the loanee clubs also display certain reluctance to play and develop our players (rightly so, IMO). Take a look at Andrey Santos at Forrest, and Gilmour's time at Norwich.
But what about the loanees that are doing relatively well like Vale at Bristol and Omari at Ipswich and Angelo at Starsbourg? Obviously we'd ideally like to keep the good performers and offload the poor ones. But at current condition, to prevent bloated squads, we're gonna be forced to offload the good ones because there's likely gonna be little to no interest on the poor performers.
I find this article kiddish, reactionary and scapegoating to make us feel better, time of instant gratification that we live in. As a fanbase we were all cheerleading when the new management came in and signed players left, right and center. We were just happy that we have owners who are willing to spend, unlike other owners. The decision, good or bad or whatever was made to go young, don’t think that’s changing anytime soon. It’s a “project” which is applicable to the fanbase as much as to the players, owners, sporting directors. But, can we keep our heads ? Like for everybody here, it’s tough for me as well. But, growing steel is longer process, applicable to the fanbase as much as to the players.
Deb. Thank you for being the voice of reason. I understand sentiments of the article from The Score. However, I think there is a lot of overreaction and a lack of patience. I’ve said this before and I will keep repeating it because I strongly believe it. Personally I’ve been a supportive for 55 years, I was at the game where if we didn’t win, we got relegated to the old third division. This rebuilding job is far better than anyone we’ve seen before in the last 30+ years. We might not like the project but there is a plan. It’s clear for all to see. We now need to let the manager train and grow with the young players, leaders will appear and we will be successful again. We may well finish in the top six or seventh or eighth , and hopefully get to a cup final (or two) for me that would be progression. I read that everyone thinks we all know what’s going on behind-the-scenes. The reality is not the case. There is so much Haray, rumour and suggestions, even with some peoples inside contacts, the painting picture that is inconsistent.
Again, we have to be patient, yesterday, we had the youngest team in the Premier League. The youngest player was man of the match! The oldest player was only 26 and playing his first start! There is some real talent out there, yes, the manager has played players out of position but mostly because he doesn’t have the tools he wants to play the perfect team. We are starting to see improvements on some of the players which is positive. Rome was not built in a day.
One final comment, everyone needs to get off of Jackson’s back. The kid came from Spain, he’s 22 years old, and he’s got eight goals in 20 games. When was the last time that we had a striker that’s on target for 15+ goals in a season of goals scoring over the last 3 to 4 years has been pitiful. Let’s get behind the kid and support him and accept he will make mistakes and miss chances.
only people who have the 'new toy syndrome' were cheerleading left, right and center. Fans who have followed football for a long time know that it was madness and talent hoarding with no clear plan. They spent close to 700m in two windows and built a team with no leadership, physicality, PL readiness and goals. No club in football signs so many project players together. Best teams / squads always have a healthy combination of experience and youth. These guys overspent massively on midfield, bought an avg keeper from previous club, signed raw attackers who had no track record of scoring goals. There were so many red flags all along. People just chose to ignore them. Football leaves you behind very quickly if we continue down this route things will only get worse. Our loyalties lie with the club not with an ownership group, sporting directors, coaches, players.
Spot on. Our standards are high as Chelsea and so they should be. The day we start accepting seeing what we are seeing at the moment is when we really become a mid table club long term. The owners strategy was a huge risk and we all knew it at the time. The strategy clearly hasn’t paid off. They don’t have a clue how to run a successful football club and haven’t even appointed people who do. There are so many issues/concerns that I can’t even begin to list. Shouldn’t be accepted and the letter is spot on👍🏻
I agree with this and imo a lot of what is said and suggested wouldn't make sense to do. Calling for complete change in the middle of a change that was originally called for is a bit silly. Whilst it is pretty shit at the moment we've had permanently at least 10 first team players injured and constantly got half a bench of youth team players. The "plan" hasn't even made it to the pitch properly yet
@Score... i love you for this letter. Exactly what most of the fans feel. Not sure if you are on the board for the Chelsea Supporter's Trust.... if so something similar needs to be sent from them.
@Si - please send this to Daniel Finkelstein or whoever is your best contact. This has to be read by the owners. Its so well written. Hang it in the Louvre!!!
I think this echoes so much of the support (myself included), sensibly and eloquently put, thank you for being all of our (those that truly care) voices.
Am I the only one who thinks the directors are not only qualified for this role, but have equally proved it? We all remember what it was like supporting a team that looked out of sorts whenever they got around goal. The numbers don't lie. The eyes surely don't lie. The balance sheet that includes north of 250m in sales for underperforming players (who are still underperforming) absolutely doesn't lie. The list of certified hits from our directors is hilariously long. Hell, we have two new signings who've eclipsed our league goal total from a year ago, with half a season to go! Less the fact that Misha, Noni and Gusto absolutely look the part now and going forward. Caicedo's stringing together great performances, we've kept Colwill, the wonderkids in Angelo and Kendry are insane talents, the list of hits goes on and on. We can't blame the owners for injuries, which for me, are the sole reason for our struggles for consistency, not the squad they've put together. If Nkunku doesn't get hurt, is there a campaign of incompetence for not buying a goalscorer? I'm not so sure considering what we saw in preseason and since he's come back.
The only misses were from the very first summer without directors and roughly six weeks to get business done, the board admitted to those mistakes..
I don't think their work can be undone from selling one player eithwr, that's frankly ridiculous. And when a shortlist for one of our most important positions included Olise, Kudus and Cold Palmer, there's absolutely no reason for me to think we need to worry about losing one singular cog in the machine. So yeah, very reactionary, wreaks of impatience and personal bias, and ignores truly vital context.
Back the owners, back the directors, back the manager, back the players and for the love of God, back the CLUB. Many clubs would be biting their hand off to be in our position with ambitious owners unafraid to spend money, with sporting directors targeting the best talents in the world. Look past what's in front of you.
Thanks everyone for the comments, positive and critical. I'm blown away by the support this article has received and the reaction to it, so thank you. I've read all your comments and appreciate you taking the time to write them.
A few points based on the critical comments:
This wasn't meant to be a reactionary article and I certainly didn't intend for it to come across that way, or engage in any scapegoating, I was trying to hold people responsible for their actions and decisions, rather than scapegoat any one individual. There's collective responsibility for the underlying issues in my view but some staff members I believe are doing a poor job.
I'm also aware last season and this are two different squads so judging the collective results is problematic. However, what I was attempting to address was the culture at the club since the sporting directors took post, which feels disconnected to the heart of the club. I also feel this squad is underachieving (only by a little, my expectation was 6th/7th), hence my on pitch criticisms, and it is true we've not really moved in terms of league position this year.
There's no sense of entitlement on my part, I don't have high expectations right now, or impossible ones, nor do I want a change of head coach. Even for this season, I'm happy to finish 7th/8th with the team making progress. I know it will take time, but I just felt there are urgent issues which need to be addressed which have dragged on for a while. I'm sorry if it came across as me being entitled.
I'd also add I've been a consistent supporter of Nicolas Jackson, and have a lot of faith in him to do well for us, and have a lot of confidence in him. We all need to get behind him and support him, in my view.
Thanks again for engaging everyone, I've really enjoyed reading the comments (even the critical ones).
Very very well put! There is positives to what has been done so far but there is so many mistakes also I mean players wise and sporting directors but this comes down to experience you have no experience at the top of the club and no experience on the pitch! Please wake up, I sit in the Matthew Harding upper the most faithful of fans most around me go home and away and we are tired of mediocrity!
The article makes a couple of good points but also misses the point in too many places.
1) You can’t lump in last years shambles with this years team to do so is hypocritical, unethical and out of order.
2) The assumption made that he speaks for the fans also is wrong because in fact he speaks only for the most vocal part of the critical fan base who would moan if we were second in the league anyway.
3) Poche isn’t a yes man and that’s the implication of one of his accusations in fact he is working from a play sheet where the injury list is longer than the first team availability and there’s a fair chance Si Phillips could be starting at left back in the next game if we can register him in time.
4) What he gets right is the fact that Winstanley and co aren’t fit for purpose and selling Gallagher would be a Travesty.
5) He fails to understand that Poche is a top manager and needs supporting, but to be brutally honest what top manager would touch the job now?
So there it is, the letter is reactionary, over the top and he dares to say he has supported the club for 35 years which is a cheek I’ve supported the club since I was 8 years old and I’m 65 next March and I’m ashamed that he calls himself a supporter.
So there you have it ,we win a match which we couldn’t do under Potter or Lampard through to the semi final of the League Cup & not out of qualifying for Europe yet as nothing is won in the first half of the season.
I suggest you all put your dummies back in your mouths where they belong and we support the team not act like headless chickens and please less of the showboating.
Great love it. I never got to go the annual Christmas/ players owners dinner but I heard our owners were surrounded by body guards and completely unacessable to fans who are the club, I know Roman was pretty quiet 😬but there was no need for him to prove his passion and love for Chelsea you could see it from day 1 - the owners need to open communications with the fans and start telling us what is going on - I don't blame poch he still did know what he was walking into so not completely off the hook, I would like to hear from sporting directors with what's the plan !
From summer 2024 (2 years from the takeover) we will see if Clearlake are working in the right direction or if they remain clueless and "arrogant" as mentioned. 2 years is enough time to build the new fundament and to improve by adding little by little. So far, the odds are not so optimistic and I really hope I'm wrong. You need one and only one owner and one and only one Sporting Director. Then below that you can build easier but the owner-SD trust is the most important one and we don't have it in its pure form the way it's supposed to be like at the other big clubs.
Thanks Scorio, I always appreciate your heart on the sleeve passion. Personally, I hit my nadir under Potter and where we are is a definite improvement on his tenure. So, oddly, I'm a bit more glass half full (ok, quarter full) than where you are, mate.
We know The Score !!!! 💙
Couldn't have said it better.... Hope it achieves a decent response.
Nailed it, mate! You perfectly articulated how everyone is feeling
It offers me a bit of a solace having someone like Score in our corner. However, at the risk of being a total cynic, I am utterly unconvinced that his brilliantly written and impassioned letter will reach the owners and SDs. Or, even if it somehow did reach them, there are near 0 chance that they would acknowledge, let alone rectify their errors.
Like Score, I too believe that our owners meant well and still do. However, I have 0 faith in our SDs. Up to this point, they have not once shown their accountability. They've been hiding behind Poch all this time, while receiving virtually endless backing from our owners. Or WORSE, they are left alone by our owners, unsupervised entirely, free to use OUR CLUB as their guinea pig, while they are trying to change the game.
And based on the news I've been reading on SPTC or from other journalists, the SDs (or the owners) still look to be set on their current path. This can be seen from their seemingly unquenchable thirst for the 16yo Estevao, for whom the club reportedly are ready to pay up to 60m, and the 17yo Claudio Echeverri. I understand that these youngsters can indeed develop into mega superstars in the future. However, these mega superstars projects should not come at the expense of the here and now.
At some point, these SDs need to recognize the potential breach of the Profitability & Sustainability Rules. Why? Consider our youths currently on loan. David Fofana is falling out of favor severely at Union Berlin. Cesare Casedei seems unable to break into Leicester first 11. Diego Moreira don't seem to be doing well at Lyon either (although TBF the whole club is in such disrepair). Lately, the loanee clubs also display certain reluctance to play and develop our players (rightly so, IMO). Take a look at Andrey Santos at Forrest, and Gilmour's time at Norwich.
But what about the loanees that are doing relatively well like Vale at Bristol and Omari at Ipswich and Angelo at Starsbourg? Obviously we'd ideally like to keep the good performers and offload the poor ones. But at current condition, to prevent bloated squads, we're gonna be forced to offload the good ones because there's likely gonna be little to no interest on the poor performers.
If nothing else, I’m sure that Daniel Finkelstein will see this, and the thread that follows.
I sincerely hope so sir
Well said 👍🏻
I find this article kiddish, reactionary and scapegoating to make us feel better, time of instant gratification that we live in. As a fanbase we were all cheerleading when the new management came in and signed players left, right and center. We were just happy that we have owners who are willing to spend, unlike other owners. The decision, good or bad or whatever was made to go young, don’t think that’s changing anytime soon. It’s a “project” which is applicable to the fanbase as much as to the players, owners, sporting directors. But, can we keep our heads ? Like for everybody here, it’s tough for me as well. But, growing steel is longer process, applicable to the fanbase as much as to the players.
Deb. Thank you for being the voice of reason. I understand sentiments of the article from The Score. However, I think there is a lot of overreaction and a lack of patience. I’ve said this before and I will keep repeating it because I strongly believe it. Personally I’ve been a supportive for 55 years, I was at the game where if we didn’t win, we got relegated to the old third division. This rebuilding job is far better than anyone we’ve seen before in the last 30+ years. We might not like the project but there is a plan. It’s clear for all to see. We now need to let the manager train and grow with the young players, leaders will appear and we will be successful again. We may well finish in the top six or seventh or eighth , and hopefully get to a cup final (or two) for me that would be progression. I read that everyone thinks we all know what’s going on behind-the-scenes. The reality is not the case. There is so much Haray, rumour and suggestions, even with some peoples inside contacts, the painting picture that is inconsistent.
Again, we have to be patient, yesterday, we had the youngest team in the Premier League. The youngest player was man of the match! The oldest player was only 26 and playing his first start! There is some real talent out there, yes, the manager has played players out of position but mostly because he doesn’t have the tools he wants to play the perfect team. We are starting to see improvements on some of the players which is positive. Rome was not built in a day.
One final comment, everyone needs to get off of Jackson’s back. The kid came from Spain, he’s 22 years old, and he’s got eight goals in 20 games. When was the last time that we had a striker that’s on target for 15+ goals in a season of goals scoring over the last 3 to 4 years has been pitiful. Let’s get behind the kid and support him and accept he will make mistakes and miss chances.
only people who have the 'new toy syndrome' were cheerleading left, right and center. Fans who have followed football for a long time know that it was madness and talent hoarding with no clear plan. They spent close to 700m in two windows and built a team with no leadership, physicality, PL readiness and goals. No club in football signs so many project players together. Best teams / squads always have a healthy combination of experience and youth. These guys overspent massively on midfield, bought an avg keeper from previous club, signed raw attackers who had no track record of scoring goals. There were so many red flags all along. People just chose to ignore them. Football leaves you behind very quickly if we continue down this route things will only get worse. Our loyalties lie with the club not with an ownership group, sporting directors, coaches, players.
Spot on. Our standards are high as Chelsea and so they should be. The day we start accepting seeing what we are seeing at the moment is when we really become a mid table club long term. The owners strategy was a huge risk and we all knew it at the time. The strategy clearly hasn’t paid off. They don’t have a clue how to run a successful football club and haven’t even appointed people who do. There are so many issues/concerns that I can’t even begin to list. Shouldn’t be accepted and the letter is spot on👍🏻
I agree with this and imo a lot of what is said and suggested wouldn't make sense to do. Calling for complete change in the middle of a change that was originally called for is a bit silly. Whilst it is pretty shit at the moment we've had permanently at least 10 first team players injured and constantly got half a bench of youth team players. The "plan" hasn't even made it to the pitch properly yet
@Score... i love you for this letter. Exactly what most of the fans feel. Not sure if you are on the board for the Chelsea Supporter's Trust.... if so something similar needs to be sent from them.
@Si - please send this to Daniel Finkelstein or whoever is your best contact. This has to be read by the owners. Its so well written. Hang it in the Louvre!!!
They will all see it.
I think this echoes so much of the support (myself included), sensibly and eloquently put, thank you for being all of our (those that truly care) voices.
Very well written Score. Agree wholeheartedly with most of what's been said.