Well done Clearlake, you're so bad we don't even feel anymore

I'm becoming numb and I'm not alone

A tweet from our very own Simon Phillips yesterday really resonated with me. It was simply that whilst I used to get angry and upset at Chelsea being poor and losing, now I feel nothing. I’m numb.

Simon wrote:

‘I think what’s worse than how Chelsea have been in the last few seasons is that I am now completely numb to any defeats. It used to ruin my week but now it’s the norm. What kind of ‘project’ is that? One that alienates an entire fan base? Spineless club from top to bottom.’

I care a lot about my club and hate seeing it this way, but the emotion is almost so strong now its overwhelming. So my body is processing it by numbing it, because the anger and the pain is too strong.

Chelsea fans have been through a lot since the sanctions hit back in March 2022. We’ve had dogs abuse from journalists wanting us to go out of business or get relegated, scaremongering stories, accusations that the war in Ukraine was somehow our fault, people celebrating our potential doom. And now two years where, apart from a good period in 2024, we’ve been a shadow of our former selves. The anger, the numbness, is not just about recent form.

Its from the shambolic 2022/23 season where we had four managers, from the first half of the season under Mauricio Pochettino last year, from being mid table till March 2024, and now two months of relegation form under Enzo Maresca. Its essentially the same shit, different season.

Chelsea is about more than winning. Its a pride, a character, a spirit, us against the world, never giving up, against all odds. That’s gone now. Its just not there in this group or in the people running the club. This descent started the moment we started trying to become Barcelona or Man City lite back in 2018, and has accelerated strongly in the last 3 years.

We neither play, act, move or conduct ourselves like a big club anymore. I don’t doubt we have talented players, we saw between March and December last year how good these players can be. But they lack leadership, experience and a winning mentality, and that’s not entirely their fault, it's the people above them to blame.

The Sporting Directors are to blame, for their shocking recruitment, awful negotiating skills and team building, and Behdad Eghbali/Clearlake for their ridiculous policy of signing only young players, completely ignoring good experience, leadership, proven elite players down the spine with a winning mentality.

Finally, there’s the obsession with project managers who’ve barely won a thing, because they’ll be yes men who toe the company line. Top clubs hire elite coaches and at least listen to their views and back them, even if the Sporting Directors make the final decisions. Our owners seem to fear strength, leadership and elite level football people, they’re so enamoured with their vision (which is failing), they won’t listen to anyone else.

I’ve had enough, honestly. I believe in the concept of signing the best young talent and building a team which grows together, but I’ve always said you need good experience. Leaders, winners, strong characters, elite players in key positions. This is just KNOWN in football.

Thse people really need to shut rhe hell up and start listening to the fans. Because its not just the usual reactionary suspects saying this. Its the most patient, smart, rational fans saying it too. In fact pundits are now saying it.

The funniest thing I saw was a comment that other big clubs are afraid of our project and our ambition. Honestly, if they believe the other clubs actually believe that, they’re kidding themselves. Other big clubs will give that impression to Clearlake and the SDs because they're inexperienced in elite football, and egotistical/dumb enough to believe it.

No one in football seriously thinks our project is gonna work, and they’re all laughing at us now.

We’ve wasted the better part of £1.4 billion to go from 3rd in the PL and CL quarter finalists who nearly knocked out Real Madrid, to 6th in the PL, happy to be out of the FA Cup, 2 wins in 10, being thrashed by Brighton twice in a week, and having the second most mistakes leading to goals in the PL this season

Just a word to you Behdad, Sporting Directors. Respectfully, you don’t know more about football than everyone else and you’ve fucked up this club. Your secret method has never worked in football, ever.

We’ve been around Chelsea and football generally for a LONG time, we’ve seen multiple winning sides, for us and other clubs, and trust me, no club has ever done this and you’re not gonna be the first. Also we’re not customers, here to service your wallets, we’re supporters. Chelsea is a football club not an investment portfolio.

Its quite the achievement to take some of the most passionate loyal fans I know and make them numb to Chelsea, not wanting to watch games anymore, feeling their club is gone, and feeling no hope for the future of the club. Breathtakingly bad.

It's an absolute disgrace. It's a disgrace to our club, the badge and our rich history. It's disrespectful to loyal fans. And we have a right to a reaction and our views matter. It breaks my heart to see so many good, loyal fans I care about like this.

We’re at a point now where the best thing to do might be to start over with the core players we have now. Look at the talent and potential we have, keep the core and the best players, and build around that. We DO have a lot of talent, but we have to find a clear direction and tweak the strategy.

And we need a Sporting Director to ensure we’re taken seriously again as a big club and get us moving in the right direction, build a proper squad.

I am also increasingly of the view we need an experienced elite level manager to help nurture and develop the young talent and set a winning mentality and culture at the club again.

But it doesn’t matter what I think, these arrogant executives will ignore the fans and patronise and insult our intelligence again with more briefings. We’re done with them, we’re tired of the crap coming out from the club. They need to give it a rest.

Chelsea fans need a reason to believe again, because many of us have been worn down to breaking point. To the point we don’t even feel the pain of defeat.

And that is the most damning indictment of this ownership and Sporting Directors. Some fans are too hurt to even feel. Hope they’re proud of themselves (they probably are).

The Score