The Problem with Hiring a New Manager... Who Will Take The Job?

Chelsea has become a bit of a poisoned chalice

Despite the last two results, two good 3-1 wins away from home in cup and league, I’d say a fair majority of Chelsea fans still want a change of head coach, either now or at latest, in the summer.

So it’s a valid question to ask, who could or should be the next head coach. But there is what I believe a serious issue Chelsea haven’t had for a while.

Who will WANT the job?

You can argue it’s Chelsea, a big club, with 25 years of huge success in its very recent past. You can argue the club has a lot of huge young talent with great potential, having already reached a cup final. You can argue there will be financial backing for whoever takes the job in terms of transfer budget. You can, finally argue, that the manager who gets it right here will be a legend of the club.

All those arguments are valid.

However there’s a lot of things NOT in our favour.

First we’ve had 3 permanent managers in 2 seasons. Fans wanted Graham Potter out very quickly and wanted Pochettino out in a relatively short period too. There’s been no stabililty at the club for years. What manager is going to come here knowing fans are very difficult to please and that they could lose their job inside a season?

Second, the structure at the club. Julian Nagelsmann turned the job down due to the structure, Mauricio Pochettino is said to be having concerns with the sporting directors, and we all know they aren’t fit for purpose for several obvious reasons. So again, who is going to actively choose to take a job working with them?

Third, they get no power over transfers. In two successive windows this season Mauricio Pochettino’s specific requests in terms of player profiles and experience have been completely ignored, and promises have been broken such as signing a striker to replace Armando Broja. Why would a manager actively put himself in an environment where they will be completely ignored?

Fourth, we’re not in the Champions League and don’t look close. The top coaches want Champions League football, regularly, and on the men’s side we’re not a Champions League club right now, both on and off the pitch.

Fifth, top managers will be of interest to other clubs or might have a better structure at their current club. Why are the likes of Ruben Amorim (my number one choice), Arne Slot or Roberto de Zerbi for example, going to leave solid, strong structural foundation at their respective clubs, for a club as chaotic as we are right now, especially when other club might be interested? “We’re Chelsea” doesn’t mean what it did even 2 years ago.

So you see, its a very difficult situation. Maybe we do need to replace Poch in the summer, but the challenge will be finding a manager better to do the job. A manager worthy of a big club, who is a fit tactically, as a coach, in charisma, in mentality and personality for this club, who will actually take the job. This is probably another reason Poch will keep his job until the summer. At least a mutual parting in the summer isn’t a sacking, and shows the owners can ride out a tough period without biting the bullet.

Readers of this site know the sporting directors roles will be reviewed in the summer, hopefully that’s done efficiently and we can quickly hire an elite sporting director to run the club, build a proper structure and hire the next manager. A change at the very top will help us recruit the right manager, without doubt.

If we really can’t find a “new” manager, our only hope could be persuading a former manager who has an emotional attachment to the club to return. Oddly enough, two of those could be available this summer. Jose Mourinho is unemployed - though currently ruled out by the owners, and not really a footballing fit. Thomas Tuchel could also be out of a job come the summer, and we all know how much he loves the club.

My guess is Tuchel and maybe Mourinho would only become options in a desperation level scenario, I’d still back us to find a top manager before turning to them. After all, Aston Villa persuaded Unai Emery to join them when they were 17th in the table, with no sporting director at the time. Despite all our struggles, we’re nowhere near that level of desperation.

I’m sure we’ll still find a very good manager to lead the club, but the days of us getting the best of the best are gone…for now. Hopefully whoever succeeds Pochettino can win over the fans and deliver significant improvement and success, and re-establish us as a top 4 team which wins cups. Hopefully they can finally deliver a little stability to the club as well, and above all help us become more attractive to the top managers and players again.

I’m not even against Pochettino proving us all wrong, but that will take major and consistent improvement in tactics, performance and results. I also personally think it’s unlikely that he wants to stay beyond the summer.

We say it every year, but this year is another huge one for Chelsea’s future, and the owners really can’t get it wrong again.

The Score