Pochettino Gone: What's the plan and why do they want a young manager?

Some reflections on Poch's departure and whats next

So, the circus continues. Mauricio Pochettino is no longer Chelsea manager. I’ve been up and down on him all season. Defended him for a while, then wanted him gone, then felt for many reasons we should keep him. But now he’s gone, and the new manager search has begun.

I could talk a lot about why Poch left, but that’s for others in other articles. I actually don’t feel much emotion about him going. I’m sad, but not angry. Which really sums up that I had no emotional attachment to him. It actually surprised me how little I felt about him going. Now, I prefer to think about the future.

Many names have been touted about - I’m not believing anything until Simon, Fabrizio Romano and/or David Ornstein say it - but its the profile of manager they want and the type of names linked which is very intriguing to me.

According to Fabrizio and others, Chelsea want a young, dynamic manager. Ornstein said they want a manager from the “newer breed of exciting managers that play a good style of football with an identity that fits into their structure and connects with the fanbase”. Fabrizio also said “Chelsea's idea is to appoint a young, talented manager to create their own 'Xabi Alonso project'.

This helps explain the links to the likes of Sebsatian HoeneB of Stuttgart (my own choice of the candidates), Keiran McKenna of Ipswich Town, Vincent Kompany of Burnley and Thomas Frank of Brentford (though he isn’t necessarily young).

This is interesting to me and tells a lot about the clubs vision.

I believe this is a reference to appointing a talented young head coach yet to reach their peak, who can grow and achieve his potential at Chelsea, improve and develop all our young talent, and win all his trophies here. Just like Alonso has done so far at Bayer Leverkusen. Also similar to what Arsenal did when they appointed an inexperienced Mikel Arteta (with no managerial experience) back in 2019.

It’s also well reported, the owners also want a coach who fits their concept of what a head coach should be. Largely focussed on coaching and developing the first team squad, getting results on the pitch, with only minor input on squad building and recruitment. This is the same model now in place at Liverpool, with reports suggesting one appeal of Arne Slot to Liverpool was his willingness to have little input into transfers.

Finally, they want to play a modern style of football. Though given the style of football played by the managers listed above - I believe this is less the Pep ball or De Zerbi style of football than the Klopp / Nagelsmann style, which I believe is the correct approach, as that kind of football suits Chelsea more than Pep / De Zerbi ball.

Of course, it goes without saying this approach is risky. There’s no guarantee these young coaches can cope with the step up to a big club, especially one like Chelsea. Fans have less patience and high expectations, both on and off the pitch, of their managers and their players.

There’s obviously a risk this ends up like Graham Potter. But the difference now, is we don’t have a bloated squad full of big egos, we have a young, talented and hungry squad who want to learn, improve, win and where player power is a thing of the past.

I’d also argue young coach usually works better with a young squad, and on top of this, in my view, all the names above are much stronger characters than Graham Potter. He was clearly, too nice, too quiet, too passive, too much of a walkover and he also had to deal with massive egos who’d won more than him.

Kieran McKenna, for example, has got the maximum out of a limited squad on a small budget at Ipswich two years in a row, seems very ambitious and he’s had a huge impact on Omari Hutchinson this year, who has improved significantly under his coaching. He’s also been Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Manchester United, so already knows the demands and pressures of working at big club.

Meanwhile Sebastian HoeneB has improved all his players at Stuttgart, both in terms of performance and mentality, to the point where they’ve gone from relegation play offs last season, to 2nd in the Bundesliga this year, above even Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich, who they beat recently. This is despite losing many key players last summer.

Chelsea’s owners and directors seem to have looked at Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, and feel this is the way to go with the next manager and for the long term at Chelsea.

It obviously looks, so far, their promise of stability is hollow, but I believe with the right coach who fits their structure and delivers results, they will be patient. It must be noted, they refused to sack Pochettino during the season, despite him being 11th in the table for a long time and huge pressure from the fanbase to get rid. They didn’t make a reactionary, emotional decision when it was easy, but a considered, evidence based decision at the end of the season. I don’t agree with the decision itself, but that’s their choice, and I’m just glad it wasn’t just reactionary mid-season.

To be clear, I respect the ambition of the owners. They’ve invested a lot of money in some top players, many of whom are doing well. Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo, Malo Gusto, Benoit Badiashile, Djordan Petrovic, Romeo Lavia, Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku are all excellent signings, not to mention the investments in Andrey Santos, Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian. Even Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk have shown promise this season just gone, and Marc Cucurella began to show his worth in the last couple of months.

There have been excellent foundations laid by Mauricio Pochettino in the last year, both in terms of player development as well as team spirit and mentality, and for that we should all be grateful. That will be his legacy at Chelsea.

Despite appearances, I know the club wants to have a manager who can stay for 5 years or more. They want to build a team which goes on to win major titles - Premier League, Champions League, and domestic cups - and sustains this every season, with a team and manager and structure who grow and achieve together.

Easy in theory, not so easy in practice.

Their method seems clear. We’ve seen with the sporting directors and scout hires, the owners invest in people with potential who they believe will be successful and grow into major roles at the club. They believe this with players and now they are doing so with the head coach. They don’t want a manager who will control everything, they’re building a more continental structure which we’ve seen replicated at Liverpool with Arne Slot.

For people who have no idea what the project is, that, which I just described, is the project, and its a long term project, not a 2-3 year one. Success was not meant to be quick, but sustainable once achieved.

I get the anger at the owners, I get the confusion and the fear felt by fans. It’s totally understandable that fans who love Chelsea are concerned, and those concerns are valid.

I think its important the owners to speak directly to the fans this summer to explain their decisions, acknowledge the mistakes and concerns of fans, and demonstrate their ambition. It doesn’t take much, and will be welcomed by fans. Not in a letter or at a conference, but “face to face” on video, talking about Chelsea, not in PR language, but with honesty. Fans will respect this.

I personally still believe and understand what the ownership are trying to achieve. They have made many mistakes, and screw ups, they’ve made a mess of it at times, and it looks chaotic from the outside, but I don’t believe it is behind the scenes. The sporting directors, like or loathe them, are meant to provide that continuity and stability on the football side. I still believe we need a football number one with major authority to make the big decisions and oversee squad building, it's been obvious for 18 months or more this is something which would help us.

Right now, I’m going to give my full loyalty to our next head coach, and above all, really back these players. To me, the players have absolutely earned our support this year. They’ve fought hard, they’ve grown together, they have a great spirit and mentality, and shown they care about the shirt. They have great potential. I want them to have the best chance to succeed, so I’m going to back them and whoever is coaching them.

Chelsea will still be an attractive job, because of the amount of talent in the squad, the talent still to come in, and the fact we have European football next season.

Despite how things appear, I do believe there is a positive future for Chelsea. I just hope we choose the right man this time to oversee it, and don’t need to be here again, with another head coach change on the horizon, for a long long time.

The Score