When will we admit our current approach is failing and acknowledge that EVERYONE ELSE might be right?

Looking at Chelsea shortcomings again!

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've written here, and to be honest, I'm feeling exhausted and disinterested in this season, just as I have for the past two under this ownership. For the third consecutive season, we require a significant squad overhaul in the summer. For the third consecutive season, we're questioning summer signings, January transfer window decisions, the manager's suitability, the club's overall incompetence and wondering how do we get our Chelsea back.

This is the first of a three-part series analyzing the state of Chelsea. The following parts will cover:

1. Why can't those running the club see what everyone else does?

2. A review of transfer business over the past five windows.

3. My proposed steps to make Chelsea great again. (I felt very Trump esc when I typed this)

Before I begin, I want to clarify that I'm not entirely opposed to a youth-first policy. I actually appreciate the concept and understand its benefits. However, it becomes frustrating when we overpay for players like Moises Caicedo from Brighton or potentially Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth, both of whom joined their respective clubs for peanuts. Many of our youth purchases haven't lived up to expectations, aren't good enough for the first team, and seem to exist primarily to be sold for profit, which hinders the development of our own Cobham graduates who actually understand the meaning of playing for Chelsea. This isn't the main focus of this article, but I'll delve deeper into it in the next instalment.

The core issue, which the entire Chelsea fan base is clamouring for, is a complete lack of balance. The club has completely disregarded the present and the importance of experienced players in the pursuit of a rigid model and wage structure. We've been repeatedly briefed via Fabrizio Romano and Matt Law that exceptions would be made for certain players, yet we consistently revert to the same ridged approach. We seem obsessed with potential, opportunities, agent favours, and rebuild projects.

Let's look at two examples from the summer transfer window:

Michael Olise vs. Pedro Neto: Micheal Olise, a proven premier league talent who fits the age bracket, was ripping up the premier league at the end of last season, now sitting in the top 90^th percentile for all attacking stats, whilst out performing our other wingers in defensive stats such as tackles, blocks, clearances and aerial duels. He has 11 goals and 12 assists in all competitions while playing Champion’s League, Neto, Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho and Mykhailo Mudryk have 17 goals and 20 assist combined whilst playing in the Conference League. People will try and say that the Bundesliga isn’t as high of quality league as the Premier league but for context, 5 goals and 10 assists from our wingers have come in the Conference League which is a standard that I think our U21’s could play. I want to say I do rate Neto and think he could be good, but he isn’t on the same level as Olise.

Neto Cost Chelsea £51m and Olise cost Bayern £50m, so they cost the exact same but what was the difference? The wages!!!!!!!!! I have used Capology who are usually pretty spot on, and I have used it for both players for fairness! Olise is on £216k per week, Pedro Neto is £160k per week. Are you telling me that Micheal Olise is not worth £56k more per week? I know first hand that Micheal Olise at the start of the window and right up until the last minute had the preference and the priority of joining Chelsea, he wouldn’t of needed to move house, his brother is at the club and he was at the club when he was younger. Joe shields had him wanting Chelsea until negotiations were handed over to our SD’s, we then messed him around, we didn’t speak to him for days on end and we didn’t make him feel wanted. Bayern were then given their opportunity and they took it, made him feel wanted and convinced him to join, it was ours to lose and we fumbled it. This meant we then went and signed Neto instead who is a worse option and got into the agent favour issue with Joao Felix.

Victor Osimhen vs. Joao Felix: Instead of fixing a massive issue in our squad in the summer in a true number 9 who adds a physical presence, we signed Felix because we wanted to help out our good friend Jorge Mendes (who 6 months later pushed for Felix to go on loan). We wasted £50m and £70k-a-week on a player that the manager clearly didn’t want, on a position that we already had significant cover, that has cause unrest with Christopher Nkunku who was fantastic in that role all preseason and a player who then has left on loan 6 months later! Don’t worry everyone, Milan are now paying those wages and we got an important loan fee for him, remember that when he is playing Champions League for Milan next season and we are in the Conference League!

We did this instead of signing Osimhen or at the very least didn’t have the money to do the Osimhen deal because of this deal. Napoli wanted £80m for Osimhen, only 30m more than we paid for Felix. And Osimhen wanted his £200k per week that he currently earnt or at the very least a wage structure that was very close. We paid Felix £70k per week to play in the Conference League. What a fantastic decision this truly was!!! We are now in February, our only senior striker hasn’t scored in 8 games and is now injured for 8 weeks while the person you signed instead of Osimhen is now playing for Milan! Whilst the player that would of made the difference in getting CL and could have helped Nicolas Jackson in terms of learning and also ease the burden has 17 goals and 5 assists in Turkey. Again, Osimhen wanted to join Chelsea and only Chelsea until it wasn’t an option, but we messed about in negotiations because of the wage structure!!

To use an analogy, you wouldn't buy the best young plant, water it, and then neglect to provide support for its growth, leaving it in a dark room without sunlight. Paul Winstanley, Lawrence Stewart, and Behdad Eghbali, you need to provide support for these young players – give them the tools and environment they need to thrive. We have acquired some very good talent and have some exceptional prospects, but we must help them develop, take some of the burden off them, and do better now! Paul, Lawernce, and Bedhad go get a stick to support your plants and put them on the windowsill!

This isn't just the opinion of the SPTC community; it's a shared sentiment across the fan base:

• Ex-Chelsea legends: Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, and Mikel Obi (all of whom are invested in the club's success).

• Pundits: Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher (who, despite their competitive nature, likely prefer to see Chelsea perform well).

• SPTC writers: Many of whom are qualified scouts.

• Tactical analysts on Twitter: Some of whom invested in Chelsea's success.

• Season ticket holders: The lifeblood of the club.

• Casual fans: Who simply want to see their team win.

• Even my own mother: A lifelong Chelsea fan who, despite limited football knowledge, can see the glaring issues with the current approach.

My Mum, who is a massive Chelsea fan, season ticket holder and watches the Women week in week out can see what is wrong with Chelsea. Bless her, she loves Chelsea but her football IQ is terrible. She will scream when the ball is played to someone under some pressure but isn’t in true danger, she has no understanding of tactics or formations, she doesn’t know a lot of the positions and who plays where, and wouldn’t have a scooby about any players that we should sign that will fix our issues. But, she truly cares about whether we win or lose! EVEN SHE can see what we are doing wrong, since the turn of the year alone, I have heard her say;

• Sanchez is terrible why does he even have a contract at Chelsea? He is rubbish with the ball at his feet, always gives it away, makes the defence nervous, and always has a brain fart moment.

• Why are we always so easy to attack against?

• Gusto looks terrible in the midfield, why cant he play high and wide like he did last year?

• Why can no one score apart from Palmer?

• She constantly shouts why are we crossing the ball all the time to Enzo and Cucarella who are tiny!

*If even my mother, with limited football knowledge, can recognise these issues, it begs the question: Why can't the so-called "experts" and "best in field" sporting directors at the club see the same things?

Paul, Lawrence, and Behdad, it's time to wake up and stop being so stubborn!

#KTBFFH

Danny Windsor

*Word from Si:

I think we can all agree that we now need to start the REAL campaign and protests; to hire Danny’s Mum as our new Director of Football. Who’s with me!?