CHELSEA’s longest serving manager under the club’s new owners has left by mutual consent.
The fact that Mauricio Pochettino only lasted 325 days underlines how terrible the club has become.
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You can expect a coach to lose his job after five games WITHOUT a win, but only Chelsea could lose theirs after five consecutive victories.
When fans wrote an open letter to president Todd Boehly and his teammate Behdad Eghbali in March, they expressed fears that their beloved Chelsea were becoming “a laughingstock on and off the pitch”.
It’s way beyond that now, with the departure of the manager who finally seemed to be getting the ear of a team called ‘£1billion bottle jobs’ just over two months ago when they slumped to defeat against Liverpool’s youth team in the Carabao Cup Final.
In eight days’ time, it will be exactly two years since the Clearlake Capital consortium entered Stamford Bridge to rescue the club from potential liquidation.
Pochettino is the third full-time permanent coach who has tried and failed to work with the group of American-led venture capitalists who arrived in London preaching their “long term” motto.
Regardless of whether the decision to leave was Pochettino’s or whether he was “pushed” by his superiors, there is clearly something fundamentally wrong at Chelsea.
Two resignations and a mutual consent in less than 24 months.
First Thomas Tuchel and then Graham Potter.
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Pochettino’s record at Chelsea
MAURICIO POCHETTINO was just starting to turn Chelsea around.
An impressive run of form towards the end of the season saw the Blues leapfrog the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle to finish sixth in the Premier League – and earn a place in the Europa League.
But it wasn’t enough to keep him in his job as it was announced on Tuesday night that the Argentine had left.
Here are all of Pochettino’s Stamford Bridge stats:
Premier League – 6th
FA Cup – Semi-finals (lost to Man City)
Carabao Cup – Runner-up (lost to Liverpool)
Full registration:
Games 51
Win 26
Draws 11
14 defeats
Goals for 103
Goals against 74
Add in a frustrated caretaker boss, Frank Lampard, and a rabbit in the headlights, one-time marvel, Bruno Saltor, and that’s five managers that Clearlake have surpassed in short order.
Including Tom Glick, business president who left after 16 months and technical director Chris Viell who left after seven.
This makes the former owner, the so-called ruthless Russian Roman Abramovich, seem like a dream employer. And he fired a boss shortly after winning The Double.
There were rumors that all was not well in the Chelsea camp.
That a good season finale may not be enough to make up for the surprising ending.
If Chelsea effectively fired the manager who had the unequivocal support of his players and was starting to see a huge improvement in performance and results, that is pure stupidity.
If, after two days of debating the “ifs and buts” of an admittedly turbulent season, Pochettino decided enough was enough, that is far more worrying for Chelsea fans.
They will not cry for your departure. They were worried about their long history with hated rivals Tottenham. He himself insisted that he would not “kiss the badge” to gain their favor.
This may have been part of his downfall. As an experienced coach with a strong personality, perhaps he would also not be willing to kiss anything else to stay on the good side of Eghbali and sporting director Paul Winstanley.
Pochettino wasn’t perfect. There have been terrible results this season. Terrible injuries too and with his reputation for intense training that may have come up in conversation.
Boehly’s record would make even Abramovich blush… we’re back to square one
Here we go again.
Just when some positivity was building around the place and an optimistic look was being cast towards the future, Clearlake Capital went full speed ahead to the drawing board, writes SunSport’s Tom Sheen.
Mauricio Pochettino’s departure will make it six different managers in less than two years when next season rolls around, a record that would make Roman Abramovich blush.
But while the oligarch kept Chelsea’s HR department busy regularly handing out P45s, he also regularly handed out world-class players in the hope of delivering instant titles.
There was no “Vision 2030”, talk of players as financial assets or ridiculous eight-year contracts that potentially harm the club.
Hiring and firing worked under the previous regime because Chelsea had a backbone of world-class talent that they were always looking to improve – not a group of players who seemed light years away from the best teams in the country.
One thing is certain, however. If Clearlake continues down this path, they will need to rebrand to Vision 2060.
Click here to read Tom’s scathing verdict in full…
Chelsea ended the season on Sunday toasting their fifth consecutive Premier League victory. It took until December to reach that number.
By his own admission he feared being sacked after losing 4-2 at home to Wolves in February. There was the 5-0 defeat to Arsenal, a disgraceful 1-0 in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final in the Middlesbrough Championship. A 4-1 rout over Liverpool.
Silence in the boardroom in the most desperate moments, when he needed their support.
And Pochettino issuing veiled threats that “maybe I’m not happy” and then claiming he was quoted out of context.
The Stamford Bridge home team undoubtedly pointed out that the start of the season was far below expectations, given the expensive pool of players at the coach’s disposal.
But when sometimes an entire team was on the treatment table, Chelsea needed an ambulance driver more than a coach to help them during matches.
It is extremely ironic that even Pochtettino got tired of begging for “time” and “trusting the process” at every press conference and ended up enjoying so little of it.
For Chelsea fans happy to see the back of the man who, in their opinion, could not leave Spurs behind, this is an alarming trend.
Three top managers couldn’t work with these guys – so who can?
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Who could be Chelsea’s next manager?
HERE are the seven names in contention to replace Mauricio Pochettino following his shock exit from Chelsea.
Roberto DeZerbi
The Italian left Brighton at the end of the season after a year and a half in charge. He was linked with a number of key roles at the start of the campaign, but a string of difficult results saw him fall out of contention for the likes of Liverpool. De Zerbi’s attacking style would be popular at Stamford Bridge.
Kieran McKenna
The former Manchester United assistant led Ipswich to consecutive promotions from League One to the Premier League. This has caused his stock to skyrocket and he may be tempted to jump ship for a big job.
Enzo Maresca
Maresca was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City and worked wonders at Leicester, righting the ship to send the Foxes back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Appointing a Pep disciple has turned Arsenal into title contenders, so it could work for Chelsea too.
Hansi movie
Flick was one of the most sought-after coaches in football after winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich. But everything went wrong in his next role, becoming the first coach to be fired by Germany. Now he’s ready to return and could be a smart move for the Blues
Sebastian Honesse
Chelsea fans may not have heard of him, but Hoeness is Germany’s next big thing. Hoeness transformed Stuttgart from relegation candidates into the second best team in the Bundesliga, finishing above Bayern Munich. Only the invincible Bayer Leverkusen got in the way of a miracle.
Michel
Michel Sanchez did wonders with little Girona in Spain. The minnows were right in the race for the LaLiga title at Christmas, before seeing Real Madrid rocket away. But they overtook illustrious Catalan neighbors Barcelona into second place and secured a place in the Champions League. Reports in Spain say this has caught the attention of Chelsea.
Jose Mourinho
Still adored by Stamford Bridge fans who never liked former Spurs manager Pochettino, Mourinho would be a popular choice. Winner of three Premier Leagues with the Blues in two topsy-turvy spells, will he be the man to take Chelsea back to the top?
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
