Fixing Chelsea - What needs to happen...

It will do less damage now to tweak the project rather than stubbornly continue with failure

The Chelsea project is failing. For me, that is obvious. Perhaps it is premature to say that until we see if we get Champions League football. But from where I am standing right now, when you see how our new head coach has pretty much alienated an entire fan base, an entire fan base who are collectively all pretty much now fully against the owners, the sporting directors, and their project, and you see how the players are not enjoying playing for the club right now and we are hearing noise of unrest, to me that is failure.

When you look at the current league position (at the time of writing Chelsea are 7th), and you see how toxic it is out there amongst the fan base, and you see that we finished last season in 6th position and are now going to REALLY struggle to even get the same points as that, then that IS failure. I’m sorry, but it is.

I’d even argue that if we manage to scrape 5th and get into the Champions League, that we have still seen failure this season due to all the above and that still cannot be classed as progress.

We have spent £1.5bn on new players since the new owners came in yet we are hearing about plans to sign a new goalkeeper, centre back, winger, striker, and even a midfielder this summer; that is failure. Again, how can anyone argue against that? How can we still be needing to recruit in so many positions?

We have played an entire season without a front of shirt sponsor, that is failure.

There are no signs or plans of how we are going to improve our stadium, that is failure.

The multi-club model has basically got stuck with no news of plans of new clubs to be added to it as of now.

Fans are feeling the most discontent that I have ever witnessed. The football being played is just not enjoyable to watch. Most want the manager out. I’d say 98% want the sporting directors out. Many even want the owners out. There has been protests this season. Seasoned fans who were even watching when we in the old second division are genuinely saying that this is the worst time they have experience supporting the club - that is painful to hear but it’s true.

How anyone can read all of the above, many of which are just facts, and say that this project so far has NOT been a failure, is beyond belief. So if the project has been a failure, then there has been ZERO progress, and for a project to work, you have to see progress year on year.

There’s so many more things that have happened that I haven’t even included above that has annoyed the fans too. If you don’t have fans onside, what do you have? That question goes to the manager and the owners.

So what is needed to ‘fix’ Chelsea? Well, the good news is it’s not too late, but the bad news is that they seem determined to carry on in the direction they are going in. But even still, we can live in hope. This is what is needed…

Tweak the project and hire a DOF

Luis Campos could genuinely be available, go and bloody get him!

All the trust and decisions have gone to two sporting directors, who I actually think have spotted some decent talent at the very least, who have ZERO experience of being a main decision maker at a top club like Chelsea. Deep that. Give them suitable roles and let them learn from an experienced director of football above them. There are too many cooks at this club. Have one voice, let him work with the manager to see what he wants, and let HIM make the final sign offs on players sales, arrivals, and contracts.

Let that DOF hire a new manager

Sorry, and I know I’ve said I don’t want to shout for another manager to be sacked and I am still a bit split because I also want to try and wait it out to see if he gets Champions League or not, but I just cannot see a scenario now where Enzo Maresca can stay at our club. The fan base are pretty much 80% against him now on the whole, and stadium fans absolutely hate watching his football. Heck, I don’t like watching his style of football either and some of the players don’t like playing it. So how on earth can he continue as head coach? He simply has to go I am afraid, it’s too far gone now.

People always follow this up with, ‘who will come in then?’ This is why you hire an experienced DOF, let him find and hire a new suitable manager. And this is where you will need to tweak your project and move away from the Pep Guardiola obsession. Football is changing, clubs have found that style of play out - it’s actually become quite easy to play against because it’s so predictable. Also, you can play possession football if that is what you want your philosophy to be, but you can also be flexible and pragmatic as well. I don’t have a problem with possession football. After all, if you have more of the ball than your opponent then effectively you are controlling the game, but you have to do something with it. I can’t stand the robotic and structured football we are forced to watch right now, taking away freedom and mavericks from our team. Let our best players cook, give them freedom to do so. Be more pragmatic in your style of play. I’d much rather a head coach who can play in different ways rather than one who openly admits that he can only play one style of football. What does that tell your players? What confidence does it give them? Opposition managers know exactly what to expect from you every single game. So go find a new coach and move away from rigid and robotic structures that does not allow your best players and creators to be free to do what they do best.

To add to that, make sure your head coach has the right mentality and is smart in interviews. Maresca is weak minded and he’s been very silly to say the least in interviews, and how he is alienating the fan base. Not smart at all. You need that fan connection early, and you need to be honest in interviews. Coaches like Thomas Tuchel have been a perfect example of that. Things got bad under Tuchel come the end, but look at how much Chelsea fans love him now. He had a connection, that is why a connection is SO important.

TWEAK the project (did I say that already?)

It’s not working. I’m sorry but you’re kidding yourself if you think it is. Three years in, we’ve seen it swap and change like there is no tomorrow. Stupid money spent on new players, many of them have been sold already or loaned out and will never play for Chelsea. Yes, we might spin some profit on some of them and that’s great, but you need to build an inclusive project, players need to feel like they are coming in to be part of it. You need that community, that family feel. You need players to feel included and part of the future.

We have so many players on our books yet we still need to sign a new spine to the current team. It’s missing a spine, it’s missing leaders, it’s missing strong mentalities, and it’s missing physicality. The Premier League is the most physical league in the world, you need to be strong in the mind and strong in the body to compete every week. You need leaders on the pitch to motivate, pick you up, and literally drag their team mates to a win or a comeback. Literally every single former Chelsea player, pundits, journalists, and every fan has said we lack leaders - it’s THE clearest and most obvious issue in this squad right now, and we all see it. Address it ASAP.

Sign a new goalkeeper, centre back, a full back, a combative and traditional defensive midfielder, potentially two new wingers, a striker, and only then would I be fully confident in this squad. The foundations are there, we have made some good signings, we do have some good players. But they need to be coached right, and they need help. They need role models around them ON the pitch, and they need more quality around them too. Upgrade the goalkeeper, sign a DOMINANT and experienced centre back, sign a top quality striker, and get wingers in who are actual wingers who get past a man and can score and assist too. And then play them in their right positions rather than shoehorning a right back into an attacking midfielder.

Mindset is key

When hiring anyone, a DOF, manager, players, staff, anyone at all, you need them to come in with the right mindset. We need warriors, we need personnel to come in and remind everyone of the expectations of being at Chelsea. We need former players on the staff or in the board room, minds like John Terry, and we need them to have a voice and teach the standards of being at a club like Chelsea. Never let those standards slip, and right now, they have slipped incredibly and that makes me so sad. Leave the Rugby dudes to Rugby and bring in people who are legends of this club and knows what it means to be here.

Stop the PR

Fans see right through this by the way. It’s so obvious when a PR report goes out via the club, because every journalist reports it in pretty much the same wording. Fans are not stupid, well, not all of us. None of us buy the PR nonsense. It doesn’t help either because none of us believe it. More transparency and more communication with the fans.

A positive note to end

I will say that I’ve heard that the owners have been giving time to fans lately and I think that is a great thing. I don’t doubt the ambition of the owners at all. I do think they can get it right and of course they want to win. I don’t see them as being here just for profits like others do - winning brings profits so it goes hand in hand. It’s a business so of course it has to make money. We can’t have the next biggest thing up front if we aren’t making big profits. I think they have the right intentions. It is the stubbornness with the project and putting trust in inexperience across the board that really grinds my gears. Inexperience in the board room, in the head coach, and in the squad - it’s absolute madness.

We are close. There’s a bit to do, but we are close. It’s such an easy fix starting with an experienced DOF. It’s not too late to get fans on side, and it’s not too late to bring success sooner rather than later.

Simon Phillips