Chelsea FC’s Season Of Endless Rock Bottoms Keeps On Going

In the bowels of the Emirates stadium with their team trailing Arsenal FC 3-0 at half-time Chelsea FC fans dusted off a song which now has an air of controversy.

“Ro-man Abramovich, Ro-man Abramovich” the fans chorused in reference to the club’s former owner whose time as proprietor came to an abrupt end when the British government froze his assets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Abramovich exited with having added two trophies to the collection, the World UEFA
EFA
Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, his last season also saw Chelsea narrowly lose the FA and League Cup finals on penalties.

A challenge for the league title had proved a stretch too far, but the club had comfortably finished in the Champions League places and was unlucky to lose to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of that year’s competition.

Despite all the turmoil surrounding the ownership, there was the feeling that as a club Chelsea wasn’t in too bad a position.

In Thomas Tuchel the Blues had one of the most respected coaches in world soccer, who already delivered a Champions League title, and the group of players, especially some of the younger stars, were regarded as amongst the best around.

Indeed, when Todd Boehly’s consortium’s takeover was finally confirmed in May 2022 it said the “plan of action is to invest in the club for the long-term and build on Chelsea’s remarkable history of success.”

What quickly emerged was that didn’t mean keeping things as they were.

First, there was a clear-out of long-time executives, chairman Bruce Buck, sporting director Marina Granovskaia and technical and performance advisor Petr Cech were all axed.

A new structure was established with new hires Paul Winstanley and Laurence Steward as co-sporting directors in addition to technical director Cristopher Vivell and co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields.

Changes were then made in the dugout and, not long into the season, Thomas Tuchel was dispensed with in favor of Brighton and Hove Albion boss Graham Potter.

The appointment was pitched as a long-term play.

“Not only is he extremely talented on the pitch, he has skills and capabilities that extend beyond the pitch which will make Chelsea a more successful club,” Boehly explained at the announcement.

“He has had a major impact at his previous Clubs and we look forward to his positive impact at Chelsea. We look forward to supporting him, his coaching team and the squad in realizing their full potential in the coming months and years.”

The playing staff was also deemed worthy of improvement with the Blues spending a record-breaking $356.95 million on new talent over the first two windows of the Boehly regime.

The trouble has been none of this has improved Chelsea, the overwhelming evidence is the club is in a far worse situation.

Potter, Lampard And A Never-Ending Rock Bottom

Potter’s results struggled to ever justify his replacing a proven elite-level coach.

Boehly decided, despite his “skill and capabilities beyond the pitch”, he must be removed.

But there was no big name lined up to replace him instead former coach, Frank Lampard, took the reigns.

It was a move welcomed by Chelsea fans but derided by pretty much everyone else.

The coach has been lumbered with a squad so large the club reportedly has enough players to conduct two simultaneous 11vs11 first-team practice games and some players changing in the corridors.

But even with that mitigating factor Lampard’s performance has been horrific.

Defeat against Arsenal made six losses in a row in all competitions. It’s not just that Lampard has failed to even draw a game, the sad truth is Chelsea barely looked close to doing so.

Addressing the media in the aftermath of the Arsenal defeat, Lampard struggled to offer a reason for why Chelsea were so dire.

“I don’t want to say the low-on-confidence thing too much because when you’re playing for Chelsea there’s a level of performance. You can still be low on confidence but show a dynamic side to your game,” he told reporters.

“They have good players but you can make them feel hurried – we didn’t. Maybe it doesn’t even matter what the core reason is because the only thing that will get you out of it is working hard.

“At the minute we’re a little bit conditioned in a way that makes us pretty nice to play against. That’s what a Chelsea team hasn’t been in recent years and that’s what needs to change,” he added.

It is a sorry state of affairs for a club that barely a year ago held the title of world champions.

Languishing in 12th position set for a season that will rank amongst the worse in the Premier League era for the club. In recent weeks that journey has felt like a never-ending search for a new rock bottom.

Whose fault is all this? well as Chelsea capitulated at the Emirates, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher placed the blame firmly at the owner’s door.

“It tells you spending all the money you have is nonsense. You need to create a connection. Todd Boehly, the plans and ideas he had, it doesn’t work doing that,” he said.

“They still have quality players on the pitch. To lose six games on the bounce is not acceptable. To think of the success this club has had – since Arsenal last won the title, Chelsea have won 19 trophies.

“Chelsea expect the best, expect standards. This is a million miles away from it.”