It has been a fair while since I was last paid to put my thoughts on football into prose but heck its my blog so my rules. The sacking of Andres Villas-Boas today by Chelsea was coming but it still doesn’t mean that it was the right thing to do.
For the third manager in a row the players basically got the manager the sack. The nucleus of the side was built by Jose Mourinho in his three year tenure as manager of the club. The squad has never really evolved yet alone gone under any sense of surgery in the past five years and this has been the problem.
A great team in 2007 will not equate to a great team in 2012. Players have come in but have they been bought by the manager or bought for the manager? The signing of Andrei Shevchenko was the beginning of the end of the Mourinho tenure in the top job at Stamford Bridge and the owner Roman Abramovich still hasn’t learnt from that mistake.
AVB might not have been the right person for the job but I see very little different between the AVB of today and the AVB who was appointed in the summer. He wasn’t allowed to bring in his own players to play his style and instead had players bought for him. That doesn’t work. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again. Managers need at least a say and in reality need the final say who comes in pr out of a club. Having another person make these decisions will only lead to issues.
The protégé of Jose Mourinhi might well still become a truly great manager but he was walking into a situation where he was set up to fail last summer. He can walk away with his head held high and a ginormous pay-off safe in the knowledge that he will get other top jobs.
They say that the England job is a poisoned chalice but maybe the Chelsea one is even worse. Who would take the Chelsea job now? Not many as no big name coach or manager will walk into a situation where their is an ageing squad with a large power base knowing that they don;t have final say over the future of the club?
If Abramovich was willing to let his manager have carte blanche over his playing staff then he might be able to tempt the Special One back but that is a huge if. If he won’t relinquish that type of power then he will only get a second-tier manager no matter what he pays. Top managers will get a good salary anywhere but walking into a situation where they are set up to fail, that isn’t for most.
Chelsea either had to give AVB total power or not hire him. They were the only ways in which they could be successful. Sadly for them they erred big time and now a season without Champions League football is a distinct possibility and if that happens will Roman get bored with his toy?
If he does then the future of Chelsea Football Club could be very bleak indeed.
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Restore Old boy Jose back to his favourite home ground and see CFC perform at their best for a lifetime to come. Chikena.
Well, not a surprise, really! However, there is only ONE option now. We must return Jose to his Stamford Bridge throne. The club and the supporters need a massive boost for next season, all thoughts of Benitez, Capello & Guardiola are pure folly and most likely are potential disasters with more embarrassment to follow. Jose was the best manager we ever had, he hit the ground running and accomplished extraordinary results considering. He had the measure of Ferguson & Wenger: the fans want him, it’s time we had our way…