Contribution article from The Score!
Here we are again, for the umpteenth time this season, talking about Mason Mount. I’m genuinely bored of this discourse at this point, as I’m sure you are.
My anger is less at whoever is to blame - honestly, I don’t give a stuff anymore - and more about the damage it’s doing to Chelsea Football Club.
Not the owners.
Not the board.
Not any players.
But to Chelsea. The 118 year old club we all love and support.
We’re trying to make a fresh start with a young team under a new manager, Mauricio Pochettino, and we’ve had a superb month getting rid of a lot of players, for which the directors deserve a lot of credit, whatever we think of them.
Yet all I hear every day is Mason did this, the club did that, Man Utd bid this….honestly it's boring as hell and it's becoming a circus which is overshadowing the club and if it continues into pre-season it will be a complete disruption and distraction.
I love Mason Mount, nothing would please me more than for him to sign a new deal and stay. But either way this needs to be resolved fast.
To be honest, it’s getting to the point Mason needs to be sold, as it seems one way or another there’s no way back, and him being here, even if he signs a new deal, will be a constant story, constant distraction that the club simply don’t need anymore.
He might be an excellent footballer but he’s also not irreplaceable, and this whole saga is just overshadowing what's actually been a good summer overall, with Pochettino’s arrival and the much needed mass exodus taking place.
I mean in the last week I’ve actually muted the term ‘Mason Mount’ permanently on twitter. It’s become a war zone (yet again), not even due to the events themselves, but the constant back and forth on the platform from people on different sides of the argument. Many of these are well informed, some simply reading things from different people and getting no clue as to what’s going on around the midfielder.
If any of them are reading, I’m pretty confident I speak for a LOT of fans, when I say, I don’t care who was to blame, who did what, and why and to whom. I’m not interested. This quest for ‘the truth’ is damaging to the club and to most of the people at the club doing good work right now - including the ones who may have messed up with Mason.
A cynic might even wonder if people are happy to do damage to the club for the sake of being right, and getting likes, clicks and hits. I’m not saying this is happening, but sometimes it comes across that way, whether intended or not. I know it is, because many, many people are telling me it is.
It's getting like a school playground fight with conspiracies and allegations on all sides, and literally no one is coming out of this looking good. The directors, Mason, his team, the owners, this isn’t a good look for any of them.
Most Chelsea fans I know and talk to don’t care ‘whodunnit’ in the Mount saga, they are literally bored and tired of this pathetic circus. It’s exhausting, boring and distracting from what we need to be doing as a club, and some people should know better.
Also, might I say, it comes across - whether true or not is another matter - that some people who’ve criticised people putting individuals ahead of the club, seem to be doing this themselves with Mason.
No one is beyond criticism, regardless of if they're our favourite or not. We don’t support individuals, we don’t blindly, unquestionably take the side of any individuals, whether its players, managers, the board, the owners or directors. We take the side of what's best for the football club.
What’s in the best interests of Chelsea FC? Not the board, or the owners, of Chelsea FC. That’s who we support, right?
I would argue, the best interests of Chelsea is to put an end to the constant discourse and blame game, an end to the ‘I’m right, you’re not’ childish trash talk.
The best thing for Chelsea is a quick and final resolution to this issue - either a new deal signed or Mason sold - and then once resolved, no more conversation about Mason or this whole saga.
I don’t want to see people briefing and leaking and going on and on and on about Mason once this is resolved. That’s NOT in the best interests of the club as a whole, it's pointless and unnecessary, and selfish.
People who do that, to me, aren’t people who love Chelsea, and I’ll be muting and blocking people who do, because all it does is divide the fanbase and damage the club. It achieves the sum total of nothing.
We need to move on as a fanbase and a club. And in my view, once it's resolved, EVERYONE who genuinely loves Chelsea needs to do this, with no exceptions or excuses.
We support Chelsea. Chelsea and our new manager Mauricio Pochettino needs our support. We need to start over, focussed on the future together, not divided over the past.
Surely anyone who loves Chelsea can see it. It’s time to move on.
The Score
Love Mase, want him to stay but I see him with rose coloured glasses cos he's one of our own, but there are others out there just as good if not better. If he's not going to renew then sell him and quickly.
Very good article