Why oh why does Roman Abramovich insist on making managerial changes every season in West London? Despite his extreme financial efforts to turn the club into the champions of Europe, Abramovich has managed to lower Chelsea’s status from perennial EPL powerhouse to a team destined to finish outside the top 4. Abramovich’s recent sacking of Andre Villas Boas is the most recent in a string of perplexing moves the Russian owner has made.
The young Portuguese manager was the first to come into the club and decide it was time to move on from the glory days of Lampard and Drogba, and to breathe life into the club with a new squad of young, rising stars. No doubt, the decision to effectively replace Michael Essien with Raul Meireles is a strange one, but is it unreasonable to replace an aging Didier Drogba with the pacy and versatile Daniel Sturridge? No doubt, Drogba’s penchant for physical play doesn’t exactly match Sturridge’s quick finesse game, but both are effective in their own ways. Also, despite Fernando Torres’ current run of form, he has shown flashes of brilliance in front of Juan Mata. The pairing of Torres and Sturridge up front, along with Mata on the wings is the future of the clubs attack. AVB decided it was time to take a stand against the legends to prep for the future.
AVB also had repeatedly stated that he had a 3 year plan to take Chelsea back to the Champion’s League final, but Roman decided that wouldn’t be sufficient and axed him before his plans could take root. When Lampard, Terry, Cole, Essien and Drogba began to be upset by their lack of playing time, Abramovich took action, not against his players complaining, but against his manager for daring to piss off the club’s legends. Golden ages can’t last forever, they come, and they go. The same is happening with the English National side, but that’s a story for another time.
The moral of this story, and what Roman Abramovich should take from this latest gaffe, is that consistency in the managerial spot will ultimately lead to success for the club. The shortsighted, and at times fickle nature of the owner will only get in the way of long term success. The longest tenured manager during the Abramovich era was “The Special One”, Jose Mourinho. Arguably, this was Chelsea’s most successful period in the club’s history, winning 2 Premier League titles, 2 League cups and the FA Cup.
Not surprisingly, Mourinho heads the club’s manager shortlist. Other candidates include Pep Guardiola and Joachim Loew, but Mourinho is expected to get the nod for the job. Mourinho has already prepared for this possibility by (allegedly) stating that he would have to remain the highest paid manager in the world, and Abramovich would have to break the bank and acquire Cristiano Ronaldo. This seems highly unlikely, but CFC and Mourinho will probably end up together. After all, he’s the best man for the job to win the Champion’s League.
