It’s time to ‘trust the process’ and endorse a new manager once again. Here we go again.
We have been here too many times in recent seasons, but once again we will be urged to ‘give the new manager time’ to implement his own system and bond with the players. It’s exhausting now.
This was one of the reasons I refrained from wanting Graham Potter fired, because I hate everything that comes after. The search for a new manager, not being able to please everyone with whoever takes the reins, a divided fan base once again before the new manager takes over, those who didn’t want said manager already on their backs when they lose a game and schedules getting going, and then the inevitable suffering while waiting for the manager to get his point across.
But until then, we have to see Chelsea with a man in charge who has never been a manager before. Trust the process… I’m tired.
Look, Potter HAD to go, I was forced to admit after the Aston Villa defeat. It’s the right decision, and one I’ve applauded. And while I’m going to be fully involved in the process of finding and hiring a new manager, researching everything about him, and having some hope instilled in me once again, I’m feeling pretty pessimistic about it right now; it’s all a bit messy.
We’ve spent ridiculous amounts of money on the last two windows and it doesn’t look like the rebuild is complete yet. We still have a bloated squad with some disgruntled players who don’t want to be here. What kind of setup is that for a new manager even though it’s an attractive job overall? We have signed players that yes, could well become world class, but right now they are super raw. We have inconsistent players who can’t finish their dinner in attack, and no one can pick Chelsea’s best Xl at the moment.
Where is the address? Sacking Potter feels like we’re taking two steps back again, but yes, steps we HAD to take and were forced to take.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
I dread hearing the first words of our next manager, simply because if we are told one more time that every player has a clean slate under him, I will lose him completely. That would push us back even further. That scares me. We need to gut this team and we need a ruthless manager to do it. We need a brave, bold manager who will come in, make big decisions, trust those decisions, and stick with them.
This is a project; we can’t win the league, qualification for the Champions League is almost impossible, so let’s make some ‘project’ decisions, like investing time in one or two of these best young players we have signed or are already in our academy, and develop players. Players need to play soccer to develop. I’m going to watch the under-21s tonight and I can already tell you that there will be one or two players who should be in our first team at the moment.
I don’t want to see Bruno Salter, and then any new coach, putting their trust and faith in ‘experienced’ players. Potter tried and got fired. That should be a big enough alert for anyone.
We all need to buckle down now, prepare for another up and down manager search with all of us having completely different opinions on who we want and getting angry at certain links and rumors. Then we have to go through all the first press conference, the buzz of the first training session, the hype, the excitement and a whole bunch of mis-sold hopes yet again. I’m not sure I’m ready for this.
But that’s where we are. Maybe it’s just another snag in the grand scheme of the project. Perhaps it will turn out to be a great blessing in disguise and we can sign our next José Mourinho and have our next most successful spell as a club. Maybe my optimism will return once more.
My hope is that the owners are completely passionate, are with us in this, are Chelsea fans and are completely ambitious. They have already proven it. But my biggest hope is in the guys who are leading this now, the soccer guys, the experts brought in by the club for these big specific decisions. Potter was a mistake, but these guys weren’t in the club at the time. I can’t see them making the wrong decision here, and I’m putting my trust in them to get it right.
