THREE YEARS ON - A Personal Perspective from a Supporter of over 50 years

FAN VIEW By Craige Coren

Hi folks and thank you to Si, for allowing me to share these thoughts.

If this is well received, I have other ideas under a “View of a Supporter” banner.

Please let me say that it is not my intent to cross over into the areas covered by the better and more knowledgeable writers on this forum. As many of you know, I would like to be clear from the outset that, as perhaps one of the more positive parties on this forum (although not alone), I am not blind or stupid enough to not recognise and acknowledge everyone’s perspective and points of view, some of which agree with.

I, like many, 100% accept that mistakes have been made by the ownership since they took over; I also accept there are elements that have been both good and bad with our managers; that we have poor as well as good players; and that some of the decisions of our SD's have been good and some very bad. There is always a balance and often unknown reasons behind these decisions. Let’s all also acknowledge & remember that in Roman’s times we appointed both good (great) managers as well as bad (very) ones (who appointed Benitez please), we purchased some good (great) players, but we also purchased bad (very average) ones – past their best, on big expensive contracts etc. Therefore, no ownership is perfect. The reality today is that we must accept is the football world has moved on since Roman arrived, as has the Premier League & the Champions League.

At times the past two years some aspects have frustrated & annoyed me, like many others. That said as an “old fart” I am perhaps a little more patient than some (my son included). I have always liked to see the bigger picture & the long game (in life as well Chelsea). I know from developing business and teams myself that it takes time, and you sometimes must go back to go forward. CFC was in a mess long before the new ownership took over, we were already going backwards, and a clean break and refresh, I believe, was required. Added to that with the football and financial regulations now in place our model had to change. To support this, we have just finished 15 points behind Liverpool, the smallest gap to the champions since when we won the PL in 2017 (8 years) and won another European Competition. I would add to this, if I recall correctly, that a lot of the supporters at the time, would have been happy for Sir Jim Ratcliffe to take over the club. As they say be “careful what you wish for”.

In the context of these review please let us recall that the new ownership took over 3 years ago in May 2022. At that time, everyone was coming out of the Covid era & the financial affects & CFC had sanctions against the club for several months that stopped any proactive action being taken on and off the pitch. This led to valuable assets (Rudiger & Christensen) leaving for nothing which was also partly down to poor club management prior to the sanctions. We should not have allowed the contracts to run down for the last 12 months. As a result the new ownership had minimal time to plan for the upcoming season, and I know personally that some of Roman’s Team decided to walk rather than stay & help with the handover and help a smoother progression. The rhetoric at the time was that the ownership pushed all of them out when, to my personal knowledge, it in fact it was a mixture of both. This however is not unusual when there is a new ownership of any company, in any business area that takes over a company and it also happened at Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Leeds etc. to name a few in the recent past & look at the current debacle at Manchester United.

Changes of this nature often include the manager / coach being changed as well. Todd Boehly and Clearlake initially decided to stick and not twist but it did not work. Like many of you, I loved Thomas Tuchel. He is, without a doubt his own man and often it’s his way or no way. He is a great manager but not always a team player. At Mainz he pushed his was out; at Dortmund they purchased the players he insisted on, did not win what they expected and fell out with the board; then at PSG he again strong armed the ownership to buying his choice of players and also released players he did not want (including our hero Thiago), some of whom the board thought that should retain. This all left to a very fractious relationship with the ownership and again his departure. I repeat that TT is a very good manager but has clearly got a short lifespan at any one club (aka Jose) and rarely has a good long-term relationship with the ownership or board of those clubs. Therefore, it should not have been a surprise that what evolved led to his departure at CFC. Again, I accept that mistakes have been made with the appointment of the manager(s) since TT left & there has been a level of naivety. That said I don’t recall many of us (me included) being against the Potter appointment and I was (as some of you will recall) positive about the appointment of Pochettino and wanted him to stay. To be honest, I was also lukewarm about the appoint of Enzo Maresca at the time.

However, I repeat that I always look at the bigger picture and as I have said many times PATIENT. Personally, I understand the vision of the ownership and I am still willing to support it. These are serious business people & investors who make & own their decisions, even if they don’t vocalise this to the support base. This has all led to their significant personal business success. This will not be the first time they have invested in a business they did not know significantly and made it a success of it. Whilst I don’t know for sure, I would bet they have surrounded themselves with people that have whatever knowledge they don’t have & need. We might not like some of those choices, but they are the ones that make these decisions & probably believe that they have got it right more often than not in their careers & as investors. I know that in my own personal career that some of the people I brought into my teams did not have the support of all of my fellow directors but as a team leader you live or fail on your own decisions (thankfully I got more right than wrong, but I got some wrong & had to deal with the fall out).

Setting aside the first 12 months, which I acknowledge was a mess (partly due to Covid & the sanctions), there is no doubt that we were affected by the ownership change & a lack of structure & experience within the club that developed. Since then, we have seen a lot of players come in and out of the club. In my mind this may continue for another couple of years as the ownership and those around them continue to develop & improve the squad & the clubs infrastructure. We already have exciting additions for next year that have either been pre-purchased and/or loaned out, but these are often forgotten. I also often hear that we have spent £1.5BN in that period (including on the chat here). The reality is that CFC have spent a net amount closer to £750M over the past 5 years and £625M over the past 3 years since the ownership took over (c/o Football 365). Added to this we have players on secure long-term contracts (no players are walking for nothing or leaving unless we want to sell them). Added to this the ownership brought down the wage bill & what we pay individual players considerably. The performance related structure makes sense, and I think is used at other clubs across Europe & is becoming the norm if it hasn’t already. The club is now being run on good financial terms & basis for the first time for probably 30+ years. Uncle Ken (Bates) nearly let us go bust and Roman’s world is not sustainable with today’s rules (much to the frustration of Newcastle). It is also important to remember that our academy has been part of our financial strategy for a long time. In England we have generated the most funds from out academy since 2014 and in Europe only Benfica, Ajax, Lyon the great Real Madrid have raised more. CFC have generated £350M up to the end of 2022/23 and more since (c/o Football Observatory). If it is good enough for Real Madrid (& Man City) and helps us developed a stronger squad over the next few years, is good enough to me. I will accept however, like many, that the way some players have been treated & handled could have been better. I guess this is just the harder nosed business approach of this ownership (and coaches) than we have seen before.

At this stage you night ask what my point is. I have sought to set the scene & background from my perspective and viewpoint. It’s important when we consider the past and then look at this season & beyond.

Please all remember that the season is over 38 league games (plus three cup competitions this year) and not pre-Xmas and post-Xmas, or 6 games here or 10 games there. As they say, “the league table never lies”. We achieved this season’s prime aim, a return to Champions League and win the Conference League. Does it matter it matter that the league happened on the last day of the season – I would say no, except for the tension it creates for all of us. It didn’t matter in 2003-04 when Jesper Gronkjaer scored that magical goal that saved us financially, gave us a CL place and led to Roman’s purchase of the club.

This season has been wild season when compared with other seasons in the PL:

• Liverpool – 84 points v Manchester City’s 91 last season (with less goals for and more goals against as well).

• Arsenal – they came second again but with a reduction of 15 points (let’s not also forget that they have also been seeking a #9 for 2 years & perhaps would have won the league this year with one)

• Manchester City – 21 points less than last year and they only achieved CL in the last weekend.

• Manchester United & Tottenham, part of the so-called big six, lost 18 and 22 games, respectively.

• Tottenham finished fourth bottom with only 38 points, lost 22 games (a record for a team staying up) & were four points adrift from the team above.

• The competitiveness of PL has been shown by the fact that clubs in 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th all individually reach their own record number of points in the PL.

• Looking at Chelsea, have we progressed? I think the answer is yes, but it is only and must only be a stepping stone.

• Chelsea goals conceded was only bettered by two clubs in the league.

• This was 20 better than last year.

• Only the top two lost less games than CFC.

• In the end we improved our position by 2 places and 6 points.

• Goal difference was +21 compared with +14 last season.

• Yes, we had a poor run post Xmas – February (perhaps March) but over the last 6 games only Man City bettered us (by 1 point). Much like last year if I recall.

• Over the last 10 games only Man City (+4) and Ason Villa (+1) were better than us.

• Even over the last 16 games we were the 5th best with Liverpool #1 but only by 5 points.

• We did this with it being youngest team in the PL across the season ever – 24 years 36 days (c/o We Ain’t Got No History)

All I am saying is we need to sometime stay calm and look at the bigger picture. Yes, we were poor at times, very poor. I was as frustrated as all of you & at times found it hard to watch – but I did . This season should be seen as another stepping stone & we should acknowledge that year on year since the new ownership arrived, we have improved. There is still plenty to do and I will take year on year improvement. We are stagnating like Arsenal or going backwards like Manchester United or Tottemham.

We can now progress with the next stage of the squad building but I for one want the ownership to stick to their principles and continue on a similar path. That’s not to say that they cannot and should not adapt those principles as required, but I support the overall strategy. Before anyone shouts at me, I am also for more experience if it fits into our overall principles and model. I would also like to see “one” head of football in an ideal world if the right person can be obtained.

The good news is that with CL and other sources of money, not available this year, we will have a lot more funds as a result, a higher turnover and less PSR issues.

I don’t think for one minute that the maximum is achievable this year but somewhere between £120M & £170M is and that could be a game changer for the club in many ways. This ignores additional income that will come from general sponsorship by way of (1) bonuses, (2) upgrades and (3) new avenues, including dare I say it sponsorship perhaps via Jordan (please).

We will all have different favourite players that we would like the club to buy. The reality is that most of us, me included, really don’t know as much as the professionals. The professionals in the club have greater knowledge as that is it “just that” their profession in some form & they take a lot more time in reviewing options (months and years in most instances) & do not make judgements based upon the positive reels most of us get to see.

In conclusion I repeat that as I did from the outset that I am perhaps one of the more positive parties on this forum but again I am not blind or stupid. I accept that mistakes have been made by all parties involved, including some of our fellow supporters for not being patient. On the back of another European victory and being back in the Champions League the bottom line is we are again on the up. Better placed then we were 25+ years ago prior to Glenn Hoddle arriving, with some great memories in the bank. I please ask (urge), a little more patience & let us all get behind ownership, sporting directors, manager and players & support a little stability. In conclusion I thank whoever led us each to individually CFC and that we are not all Tottenham (even with their win) and Manchester United supporters.

Craige Coren