Match Reaction v Vitoria SC (away)

[IBK]

Problem is that this club always wants to do things on the cheap, the shortlist of managers wasn't great, then we narrowed it down to Arteta (what an awful option - a guy who has never managed and wasn't even a particularly good player for us either) and Emery.

Based on that choice Emery was obviously going to be the clear winner, at least he'd won something, on paper it looked like an ok choice given his time at Sevilla, but what we didnt know was just how negative he was and the kind of limited manager he was.

It's fair to say no fans would have chosen him given the choice, it would have been someone like Simeone, Allegri, Ancelotti, someone proven basically, or if you want to take a punt on a less tried and test option, someone like Jardim to see if he can repeat what he did with the young players at Monaco.

In the end we got Emery and everyone was excited to see the back of Wenger and to see if we can finally see some progress, a new style of football and some more logic applied, it seems that we've somehow manager to pick a manager who can't see the obvious issues again and makes many illogical decisions as Wenger did.

I think if we replace him we now need to go for someone proven, no more going for the cheap option. The blame lies squarely at Ivan Gazidis' doors though, who proved to be a disastrous chief executive, he probably realised he'd made a mess picking Emery and made sure he made it out of the door before it all unfolded and he took the brunt of the fans anger.

I disagree with you here. The board have done OK since Wenger left IMO. After so long under Wenger, I think it made sense to appoint an interim manager to ride out the transition, and Emery's credentials looked OK as regards potential top 4 - either via the Europa League or via steadying the ship in the EPL. And it almost worked. Until April/May and the shambolic Europa League final we were looking set to achieve Emery's brief.

The board have hardly cheapskated it since - and gave Emery excellent signings to kick on. For me it is squarely down to the manager's failings and cowardice that we are in our present clusterfuck.

What we need now is not a 'showpiece' manager. we need someone to unify the club and show some clarity and balls. Arteta or even Freddie would do for me.

[Özim]

I disagree with you here. The board have done OK since Wenger left IMO. After so long under Wenger, I think it made sense to appoint an interim manager to ride out the transition, and Emery's credentials looked OK as regards potential top 4 - either via the Europa League or via steadying the ship in the EPL. And it almost worked. Until April/May and the shambolic Europa League final we were looking set to achieve Emery's brief.

The board have hardly cheapskated it since - and gave Emery excellent signings to kick on. For me it is squarely down to the manager's failings and cowardice that we are in our present clusterfuck. I'm not sure why we needed an interim manager, this makes no sense for me, you bring someone in who can build something and develop the team, what's the point in bringing in someone to fill in?

What we need now is not a 'showpiece' manager. we need someone to unify the club and show some clarity and balls. Arteta or even Freddie would do for me.

When looking for a manager our shorlist was shocking to be honest (we've got Gazidis to thank for that, a guy who failed miserably when with us, he did literally nothing right in his time with us).

Emery on paper looked ok, I was happy to have him over Arteta, however dig a bit deeper and his credentials aren't quite as glowing as they seem, fans of Sevilla talk about his negative tactics and how they would never have him back, at PSG he was outdone by Monaco despite having a huge pot of talent and of course there was that calamitous collapse against Barcelona and that's before mentioning the problems he had with Neymar.

With regards to the signings, we've actually spent very little this year, a lot of it was deferred over several years meaning it will really hit us if we don't qualify for the CL and really curtail our ability to spend, I think our net spend this summer was around the 50 or so million quoted before. I agree the manager is at fault, because he got a few decent players in and his tactics, lineups and decisions have been terrible.

But I still think when replacing Wenger we chose the cheap option, had we been willing to pay more, offered a decent transfer budget and more flexibility and perhaps ambition we may have attracted someone better.

I totally disagree, Arteta is totally unproven and if you want to see what happens when you employ someone like Ljungberg, just look at how Solkjaer is getting on at Man U, Freddie is unproven, I'd let him have a go but in all probability he's unlikely to be the answer. We need a top manager, to shake things up, apply tactics that work, pick our best players and motivate them because this is distinctly lacking here.

They've been there done it and know how to be sucessful and what we need is someone with a proven track record, if we're to take a punt I'd rather have Vieira a guy known for his battling qualities who has been doing a decent job in management thus far.

[Letters]

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

I'm not sure if Abramovic cares about football as a sport, my feel is he just enjoyed the reflected glory of the team he owned doing well and had enough money that he could make it happen.
Might be wrong, he did go to games to be fair, but always seemed more of a vanity project than being about love for the game.

[Özim]

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

Abamovich came in had money and was willing to put it in to succeed, but importantly he also clearly loved football, he went to a lot of matches (which surely showed he enjoyed it), I agree that maybe at that time there were plenty of people who were the same at board level, however this has changed, certainly with us, once Dein left it became clear that money was the motivation for our board and not football. Abramovich is still around today, despite a lot of people saying at the time saying Chelsea will be finished when he leaves in a few years, he hasn't, he's continued with them when he could have sold them off if he'd wanted to.

[Özim]

Easier said than done. Klopp is one of the best coaches of the decade and guys like him don't grow on trees. If only Wenger had buggered off earlier.

Pretty much, not many Klopps around the guy worked wonders at Dortmund for most of his time there.

[Özim]

I'm not sure if Abramovic cares about football as a sport, my feel is he just enjoyed the reflected glory of the team he owned doing well and had enough money that he could make it happen.
Might be wrong, he did go to games to be fair, but always seemed more of a vanity project than being about love for the game.

I think he clearly cared about football, why would you go to so many matches otherwise and why would you stick around for 15 years or so?

[Letters]

but importantly he also clearly loved football, he went to a lot of matches (which surely showed he enjoyed it).

"He gave one interview, to the BBC, saying that he had wanted to buy a football club, essentially, because he was bored and wanted a new challenge."

https://www.tifofootball.com/feature...h-buy-chelsea/

I think he loved the adulation he got, not sure he gave a monkeys about the game or which club he bought, Chelsea just became available.
That said, the end result is the same - success for the club. You don't need to have love for the game or the club to achieve that, you just need deep pockets and a desire to succeed no matter the cost.

[Globalgunner]

Abramovich clearly loves football it doesn't matter that he was ready to buy any top team available back then. He loves the sport and he's in it to win.
Besides, he could have bought a rugby club and didn't

[Letters]

It always felt like a bit of a vanity project, Rugby is nowhere near as high profile. As a global sport football is where it's at.
But...whatever, it's a slightly pointless debate. None of us know the fella, and the key thing is he was committed to success and willing to spend as much as it took to make that happen.
Even if he does love the sport he has no particular affiliation with Chelsea, he just saw a club he could buy and pumped in enough money to make them succeed.

[dazthegooner]

If I remember Chelski wasn't even his first choice and as you said they had just beome available.