90min
Barely a year after Chelsea had won their second Champions League trophy in 2021, the world was shaken by the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and even football wouldn't be left out of the ripple effect of a development of such magnitude. The world reacted to Russia's undemocratic operation, and football lent its voice in kicking against it. Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, came under scrutiny as his ties to the obstinate Vladimir Putin were criticized. In the end, he had to forfeit his 19-year ownership of the club. It's fair to say that the club has since then gone in a different direction.
A New Direction
After months of seeking out the perfect owners, with Chelsea facing several financial restrictions and the threat of going burst at a certain May 31st, Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Capital partners strolled along with the 4.5 billion pounds needed to close the deal. They promised the fans investment in the squad, the club and changes. Three years in, fans can agree that the new owners are delivering on their promises. As fans belted "We've got our Chelsea back" at the Saint Mary's on Wednesday night, there was a sense that the stormy clouds over the club are well and truly over, and there's now a clearer sense of purpose and bright future ahead of the club. The squad is a young, talented and growing one, the manager is brilliant and grounded, and the club has a viable financial policy in place.
The Journey Here Was Not Straightforward
When Boehly and Co arrived, it was clear that they wanted to bring revolution to a successful club. As of 2022, Chelsea had won all trophies on offer, having picked up their first FIFA Club World Cup trophy in December. The expectations of the fans were that the club would continue challenging for top trophies whilst signing the best talents in the market. The Abramovich model under the directorship of Marina Granovskaia had been built on spending big on promising talent and paying huge sums in wages. There had been the concept of "player power" which had seen top football managers sacked in the past at the slightest whiff of unrest and poor form. Clearly, the word "project" could not be remotely used around the Chelsea model as Abramovich was obsessed with winning. However, it soon became clear that such a model was not sustainable with the introduction of Financial Fair Play and other financial controls. A more financially viable system was needed.
Transformation Process
Todd and Co went about setting up a football structure with two sporting directors at the helm. Over in the South Coast, Brighton and Hove Albion had mastered the art of spotting the best raw talents and producing competitive teams in a clear attacking football structure and with a high ceiling of potential. This caught the eye of the new hierarchy, and soon they began spending ridiculous sums on unproven players. Veterans were gradually shipped off. Some out of financial necessity, others out of a sharp contrast in philosophy. The club wanted to take control of contract situations while maintaining a motivated squad.
Managerial Changes
The sacking of Thomas Tuchel, the winner of the Blues' second Champions League trophy and first World Cup, came as a rude shock to many fans as the German was well admired for his personality, tactical acumen and camaraderie, especially during those dark moments where the club faced an uncertain future regarding its future. Granted that the start to the season was not great, the crux of the matter was the divergent views of the coach and the club regarding operations and recruitment. Tuchel was simply not their man.
Graham Potter's Tenure
Graham Potter was brought in from Brighton on a five-year deal to signal the club's intention to nip instability. Potter was more like what the owners wanted, a collaborative part of their new structure and not a controller. He turned out not to be what Chelsea needed. In seven months, he was sacked. There were mitigating factors, but ultimately, Potter could not provide the stability and sense of direction a rudderless club needed at the time. The season fast became a write-off as the Blues languished in mid-table. Frank Lampard's return on an interim basis did not arrest the slide in any way. With a bloated squad and an unbending zest to sign younger players, squad harmony was lost, player power was rising to another level and results kept plummeting to new lows. Stamford Bridge fast became a macabre and fans were left disillusioned with what the club had become.
Pochettino's Era
The owners turned to former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino as the man to give the club that sense of direction that was lacking. His experience of working with young teams and constructing sides that played an exciting style of football with a lot of intensity and energy was a scoring point. Pochettino was brought in on a shorter deal than Potter: two years. Pochettino went about trying to develop the shape of his squad. The club kept spending huge money and picking up players. Behind the scenes, a lot of changes were also ongoing as the club began to revamp the entire football structure and staff, including the medical department, academy and training centre. Injuries were at an all-time high and results were up and down for much of the campaign. Chelsea remained in the mid-table quagmire for the most part of the season as inconsistency ravaged. The Blues got to the League Cup final but lost in extra time to Liverpool's young side, earning them the moniker "billion-pound bottle jobs" from Gary Neville.
By April 2024, questions were asked if Pochettino had fared any better with the squad than Potter, who had been sacked a year earlier. The final weeks of the season, starting at Aston Villa away, were perhaps where the tide began to turn. Pochettino stumbled on a structure and the young players began to tick. Therefore, when it was announced that the Argentine had decided to step down after just one season, there was understandable shock. However, most fans would say Pochettino never really got them going. He was neither what the owners truly wanted nor entirely what the club needed. Pochettino was not the charismatic, winning figure that Chelsea has always had on the touchline. Pochettino, in his words, felt the fans wanted "a clown" as a manager, and he was not "a clown." On a more serious note, the manner of some of the defeats, including the loss in the League Cup final after extra time, was jarring to most of the fans. It hinted at mentality, and there were remote calls for the hierarchy to return Thomas Tuchel to the post. Pochettino, as his contract length hinted, was not the long-term solution.
Pochettino's attempt to use Arteta's "trust the process" mantra failed specifically. At the end of the season, with Chelsea making considerable progress in climbing up to sixth and finishing in a European place, Pochettino sought to call for a change of direction from the owners towards a more "balanced" approach whereby more experienced players are signed or retained to help the development of the younger ones to be faster while making the team more competitive. In this, the board made clear that Pochettino was either fully in on their project or totally out. Pochettino decided to leave. Fan groups and trusts around the club had also taken it upon themselves to call the club hierarchy to account regarding the directions, plans and vision for the club, which were largely unclear. The fans began to suggest that the new owners did not care about them but their money and merchandise. A former CEO of the club was reported to have said in a staff meeting that the club fans were customers. Sensing this, the ownership moved to clarify what they wanted to do with the club and the key criteria with which the next head coach would be appointed. It then became clearer that Todd and Co wanted a total cultural shift.
A New Era
Enzo Maresca emerged as the new head coach in the summer and has looked like the balance between what the ownership wants and what the club needs: collaboration and leadership, respectively. Pochettino would not accept the board's suggestion of bringing in a specialist set-piece coach to oversee a team of set-piece coaches in a specialist department. Tuchel would not totally endorse a data-driven approach to signing younger players when he wanted experienced campaigners to contest for big titles. But Maresca assured the club that he was happy with the squad and set up Chelsea had in place. Despite having his own staff, the club has set up their set pieces department, which works alongside the coaching staff and other specialized departments under the directorship of Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart as Co-Sporting directors.
Leadership and Collaboration
The spending spree did not stop with more younger players joining. Even Jadon Sancho was signed from Manchester United on deadline day. Therefore, the challenge of a bloated squad remained. This is where Maresca's biggest impact, in terms of the leadership of this team, has been felt. He has come in with a clear style of play and structure, analyzed the squad, and has made clear who fits the bill and who doesn't. Maresca's job in this structure is to work with the squad, select his players, and win games. That, however, would not be achievable if the basics of squad harmony, philosophy, structure, and clarity are missing. To have them in place, there must be leadership, and whilst Enzo is ready to collaborate with the structure above and around him, he understands the standards and has been able to convince the club that he can be trusted to create the shape and identity needed to take the next step.
Restored Optimism
There's much more common ground and control. The fans have taken to him too. They sang his name in that comprehensive 5-1 drubbing of Southampton on Wednesday, a win that confirmed Chelsea's resurgence as a contender for the top places in the League again. The Blues have lost just twice this season. And while they are still a work in progress, as the Italian has been keen to emphasize, there is a sense of restoration, purpose, and direction. Maresca insists that no target was set other than to develop the squad. That will be a hard sell as the Blues keep rising. Most people did not understand the Boehly and Co way as they signed young players to long-term deals, with some suggesting amortization of player values over a period of years to subvert FFP. Many criticisms were laid at the hierarchy over the running of the club, but now, it appears to be a masterstroke. The Blues have a young, talented, and motivated squad, and the expectation now is that they are looking to dominate in the coming years. We didn't understand this, and now it is clear.
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