Chelsea Needs To Rediscover It's Soul

Chelsea is a proud and historic club. Lets find who we are again.

A lot has been spoken about in the last week or so about the soul of Chelsea Football Club. Many have posted a video of Frank Lampard and his young team at Christmas 2019 celebrating a win at Spurs (ironically, managed by Jose Mourinho at the time).

I’ve seen this video many times and it gives me chills every time I see it.

Soul is something its difficult to articulate. Its’ not just an emotion, or a feeling. Its’ something almost spiritual, supernatural. Its energy, connection, heart.

When I see that video, when I look a photos of Frank Lampard celebrating the winning goal, like the one above, I feel something no amount of wins or goals can give me.

I feel alive. I feel Chelsea.

Soul is something way beyond trophies or winning games. It’s the energy of a football club. Its’ the truth of a football club. Pride.

Character.

Fight.

Heart.

Chelsea have been missing this for a while. It may go back to when John Terry left. The only season since I’ve felt the soul of Chelsea, was the first Frank Lampard season, when this Spurs game took place.

I’ll be honest, no success we have means anything if we’re not Chelsea anymore. To even remotely get back to where we were, we need to remember who we are, and find our soul again.

Even more important to me than winning the league again, is finding our soul, and just enjoying football again. Being competitive and a tough side to beat, a proud side which fights every game for the badge. That’s proper Chels.

Moments like when Jose Mourinho came to Chelsea fans at the Emirates and did his “chins up” after losing the title despite fighting for it hard all season. That’s soul. That’s passion. That’s Chelsea.

In practice, how do we find our soul again?

Well the thing is its always there. We just need to find it.

So, get people in positions of influence at the club who love the club, and feel the club. Who understand what Chelsea means. And allow them to communicate this, and find ways to implement it. Take the players on the stadium and museum tour and have someone like John Terry or Gianfranco Zola, a proper legend, tell them exactly what Chelsea is and what it means. Tell them the story of how we almost went bust and Chelsea Pitch Owners kept us alive.

I know it sounds all so elementary, but get a real legend communicating this, someone who gets it, who loves it - JT is the best man to do it, honestly - and it all counts.

Hold more events for past legends and invite the current squad, or some of them.

Get a club legend on the board. Didier Drogba or Frank Lampard, Karen Carney on the womens’ side. Get people like Pat Nevin back at the club. Get ex players involved in club media and around the club.

Then, get John Terry on the first team coaching staff. He a proven and excellent assistant coach at PL level, and could easily work with Poch’s coaching team and remain if managers change. When Jose Mourinho took over in 2004, he appointed Steve Clarke as an assistant because he wanted someone who understood “club culture”, and JT could easily play that role.

Finally, the owners need to talk to the fans. Honestly, and directly. Acknowledge their mistakes. Commit to taking action to changing. Listen to the fans. Be accountable to the fans. And listen to those fans who’ve been elected honorary board members. Listen to people like Daniel Finkelstein and Barbara Charone who are real Chelsea fans and are already on the board.

The situation is not irredeemable.

Chelsea need to discover our soul again. Only then can we really be what we used to be.

The Score