Enough is enough. Change is needed, now!

It's not just the manager that needs changing. Fans have had enough.

After big defeats like the one against Arsenal, sometimes I wait to calm down before writing an article in response, partially out of respect for the directors and owners I know read this site, partly for myself.

I’m really not in that mood right now.

I’ve followed Chelsea 37 years, I’ve seen us get relegated, I’ve seen us fight relegation with some poor sides and poor managers. I’ve never been as angry, apathetic, frustrated and let down as I feel tonight.

I can take Chelsea building a team and not getting top 4, my expectations were 6th/7th and a good cup run, progress. Not high at all. I expected some bad defeats. This season I’ve seen this side fight for the shirt and fight for each other, and come back from behind. I’ve seen us play well against good sides even.

But the away game at Arsenal was an absolute disgrace. Everyone involved - players, coaches, sporting directors, owners - should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. It was an absolute embarrassment to the name of Chelsea Football Club.

Even the poor sides I saw in my youth, fought for the badge, they gave their all, they left nothing in the dressing room, left it all on the pitch, even if they lost, even if they got thrashed. Last night I saw none of that. It was shameful. A bunch of highly paid young players who played like they didn’t care.

They were also poorly coached, with literally no patterns of play, no tactical setup, no organisation, players not knowing their roles or positions, no clear identity.

I find it hard to judge the players ability when they are so obviously poorly coached and have no structure. They’re left to figure it out themselves, it looks like. You can’t see what they’ve worked on in training. It looks like they’re a bunch of kids just playing by themselves and figuring it out as they go along.

There’s some players out there in Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Benoit Badiashile, Nicolas Jackson, Conor Gallagher, all of whom I’ve seen perform well for other clubs, or for Chelsea last year, or international duty this year.

I refuse to believe they are all poor players. Not to mention, the likes of Carney Chukwuemeka (why didn’t he play?), Trevoh Chalobah (being sold…crazy), Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Alfie Gilchrist and, even Axel Disasi, who I believe is a good squad player at least, either injured or not playing. Even Djordie Petrovic I believe is a solid GK - maybe not a long term number one, but good enough to make our squad. There’s Andrey Santos who is killing it on loan in Strasbourg, he’s PL ready and looks accomplished. Omari Hutchinson has had a blinding season for Ipswich and could make our squad at least - I’d say he’s better than Noni Madueke or at least has a higher ceiling.

There’s 18 players I think you can keep for next year. I’d keep Betenelli as an experienced third choice and Chilwell as an experienced backup LB.

That’s 20 players including 2 who will likely be sold, Conor and Trev. Which leaves you with 18 players.

The others need to go. Loan them to play them and get their value up to sell them, so you don’t make a loss, or just sell. In reality, its too many to do in one summer. Chances are we’ll have to wait a year for a proper GK to be signed for example, so we’ll have to make do with what we have for another year.

If you need to bring in more players, maybe be open to using what you have. Romelu Lukaku is a proven PL striker, experienced, a powerhouse who will score goals, and already reduced his salary. Swallow your pride and bring him back for a year at least. Then you can focus money on other areas.

This is all, of course, hypothetical however.

Bottom line, whatever happens, I won’t judge this squad until firstly, we see them all fully fit, and secondly, we see them under a top coach. A modern, winning coach who plays a brand of football suited to this squad, technical football, with a good strong tactical set up and organisation, correct player profiling, a clear identity and right mentality.

In case its not clear, current incumbent, Mauricio Pochettino, is not that.

He needs to go as soon as possible, and this isn’t negotiable. Believe me when I say not many Chelsea fans are going to believe any bullshit about data, about stability, about how we’ve improved, or any other excuse to keep him. There’s zero reason to keep him now, and doing so will harm Chelsea and alienate the fanbase permanently.

Yes, he’s a nice guy, and yes he has a good pedigree, but that’s irrelevant and frankly that should be obvious now. I also don’t care if the players all love him. This isn’t Facebook or Friends Reunited, or buddy club.

To me many of the players are in a comfort zone with him. He didn’t criticise the players after the Arsenal game which just gives them another get out. That’s not how you develop leadership and character. Some of them now know they can be awful and they won’t have to face consequences.

Not to say I want someone who will treat them too harshly or like an Alex Ferguson, the days of the hairdryer are over in football. I just want just someone who will hold them to account more and demand ever higher standards from them, who can push them harder to higher levels. They need to be out of their comfort zones to mature and develop, and become winners.

If Pochettino stays beyond the summer, I’m pretty sure the fans are going to become more toxic and it will start to be directed towards the owners and the sporting directors. I’d been on the fence before tonight, open to giving Pochettino more time. Not now. That result is the final straw. He has to go, out of sheer pride apart from anything else. No Chelsea manager should survive a defeat and performance like that to Arsenal, and to me, most Chelsea fans get that. To be honest, many fans I see on social media are angry he is still in the job, from the Wolves game yet alone the Arsenal one.

And of course, there’s the sporting directors and football structure. Basically right now, the only hire doing his job is Joe Shields (pictured above). He pushed for Cole Palmer, and thank god he did. Joe Shields is probably the best in he business for what he does, and I know the club realise this too. He recommended Romeo Lavia and Michael Olise as well as Palmer, and I what I’ve seen for both at other clubs, tells me he’s correct.

Paul Winstanley is quite frankly acting like a Brighton scout trying to play at the big boys table, who won the lottery and got to spend a windfall, and he’s failing. Laurence Stewart I have more sympathy with, he was highly recommended and has at least worked at a high level in leadership roles with the Red Bull group, and did a good job with player sales last year.

But this absurd U25 policy and desire to sign every young talent in sight has failed. It needs to be ditched or amended. We need 2-3 leaders, captains, with elite level football experience and mentality, who are proven quality, can deliver immediately and can set the standard both in training, off the pitch and on it. This has been obvious for nearly a year.

It’s also becoming more apparent to me we’re signing a certain number of players recommended by each scout and they’re all competing for whose player is signed or does well. This is disgraceful. There’s no team atmosphere coming across. No sense its all being done for the good of Chelsea, but for the good of individual careers. Matt Law talked about an individualistic, selfish culture at the club in his tweets post game, and he had a point for me.

If I’m wrong about this particular point, fair enough, but this is the perception I and a lot of others have right now.

There’s no real leadership at the club for me. No senior authority figure, or figurehead, someone from elite level football who’s proven themselves at the top level, to give leadership, advice or take big decisions. Someone to set an elite mentality. That is desperately needed.

We also have some people in high positions too proud to admit mistakes, and bad appointments. That needs to end too, because everyone knows already and continuing with an error out of sheer stubbornness is a route to failure and more toxicity.

Not to mention there’s a lack of club knowledge. People at the top who have knowledge of Chelsea, what the club is about, club culture & history, what the fans want, and the demands and expectations of everyone who works at Chelsea, including players, coaching staff, executives, everyone. This, again, is needed urgently. Former players or former managers on the board, or in advisory roles to the directors (ahem, Frank Lampard, ahem).

We just don’t act like a big club. We talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. We don’t act decisively, we aren’t ruthless enough, standards in terms of mentality, expectations, professionalism, performance and behaviour are not set high enough publicly or privately.

Finally of course, we hear nothing from the owners bar some words in Forbes or some business conference. It’s completely unacceptable, to the point it's getting disrespectful by now.

To them, I would say:

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Please tell Chelsea fans your vision, your plan for Chelsea. Tell them what you want to achieve and how you intend to do it. Admit you made mistakes and you’re still learning the game - honestly, this isn’t the fail you think it is, it would actually earn you a lot of respect from fans.

Admit elements of the model you’ve put in place haven’t worked and you need to change it a little - not all of it, you can still buy young talent - but find the elements which don’t work (lack of leaders, lack of captains, lack of proven established players, for example), and change them. This will earn you respect from Chelsea fans, and us knowing the plan and vision means we might be able to have more patience. Oh and try and understand what Chelsea fans demand and expect from our managers, and make better decisions on who you appoint.

Don’t do this via some press release or PR briefing.

Face up to Chelsea fans, talk to the BBC or to Chelsea TV directly, and do it properly, with integrity and respect. Chelsea fans absolutely deserve this level of communication and respect, and an explanation for the shambles we’ve seen at Arsenal and at the club.

We don’t despise you, we just want some accountability and communication, and decisive action to back up your words.

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If we don’t get change in the next few months, next season we might improve a bit, maybe we make some better signings and they help us. But the deep rooted problems will remain and we won’t move forward as fast as we should.

The disruption of changing managers is small compared to what I believe will happen if Pochettino stays and more results and performances like this occur. In the end people might stop coming to games. Maybe you get protests outside the stadium. If nothing happens, it’s going to be far more toxic than it already is - and honestly I’ve never seen it this toxic.

Frankly I’ve heard enough promises from the owners and directors which haven’t yet been kept, and empty words. I want some action, and so do Chelsea fans. We’re not fools, we’re not reactionary, we just love our club and can’t stand what we’re seeing in these games like the one against Arsenal. It’s embarrassing and hugely painful, and puts a smear on the name of our club.

Honestly, the owners, directors, and everyone at Chelsea needs to wake up, recognise reality and start taking decisive action. What’s happening is simply not acceptable at this club, and an increasing number of Chelsea fans have had enough.

With respect, we’re not going to go away. We love our club, and we’re going to keep having our say and voicing our views until action is taken.

Things have to change. Now.

The Score