Big-spender Chelsea all at sea, Boehly in choppy waters

The year was 2021. Chelsea Football Club had gone through a managerial overhaul mid-season. Frank Lampard had failed to deliver despite being heavily backed in the summer transfer window.

When Thomas Tuchel took over the reins from Lampard, he would have been forgiven for prioritising damage control for the season. That is what most expected him to do. But the German managed to galvanise the Blues, and they went on to win the Champions League.

Cut to 2023- the Roman Abramovich era has come to an end. Through twists and turns that would rival an edge-of-the-seat action thriller, Chelsea got a new owner in Todd Boehly through a consortium led by him (comprising of Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss).

Internal disputes led to Tuchel being sacked six games into the new season. Former Brighton and Hove Albion manager Graham Potter was hired and then fired within seven months, after a shambolic run of results. At present, Lampard is back at the club as interim manager, with the club in 11th position in the Premier League table.  

“Didn’t have a shared vision”- The dispute

The hiring and firing policy isn’t something new at Chelsea. Abramovich’s 19-year reign at Chelsea saw the club grow into one of the biggest entities in world football. Despite all the success the Blues enjoyed, the Russian was notorious for his impatience with managers. Chelsea saw 13 managers during his spell, which is a lot, even by the standards of the fast-paced footballing approach we see in present times.

But, when Boehly started his Chelsea reign with the sacking of the well-liked Tuchel, eyes were rolled at him, and the majority of fans and pundits reprobated the American’s way of proceeding.

The very fact that the decision was not taken due to purely footballing reasons but personal grudges, muddied Boehly’s case. The questions that were asked were – Why sack a manager who has taken the team to six finals? Why not give him time when you have backed him in the summer window?  

Chelsea’s German coach Thomas Tuchel (R) celebrates with staff members after winning the UEFA Champions League final football match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at the Dragao stadium in Porto on May 29, 2021.
| Photo Credit: AFP/DAVID RAMOS

Tuchel maintained an impressive 60 per cent win record, during his time at Chelsea, where he won the Champions League and the Super Cup. Managing a fourth-placed finish in his first season, he bettered that with a third-place finish in the following one. The 1-0 away loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League before his sacking was just Tuchel’s 16th defeat in his 20-month reign. 

But the departure was hardly about football. There were various reports about the internal rift between Tuchel and Boehly, but the major speculation was about the difference in opinion regarding signing veteran forward Cristiano Ronaldo. While Boehly wanted the Portuguese star at the club (who comes with his own brand value), Tuchel was against this and wanted complete autonomy over player signings.

Chelsea, in its statement on Tuchel’s sacking, said that it was “the right time” to part ways with the coach as it looks to continue its transition and “take the club forward” in the Boehly era. Boehly later said that he and Tuchel, “didn’t have a shared vision.”

The downfall – a ship without direction

Replacing Tuchel was always going to be a task, but Boehly poaching Potter from Brighton was not a move many anticipated. Potter had worked wonders at the Amex Stadium, but history has shown multiple times that the transition from a mid-table club to a world-class one has been strenuous for many managers. One of the biggest examples in the Premier League was the case of David Moyes succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, which ended in immediate disaster. 

Thirty one games is that is all Potter got at Chelsea. In a tenure mired by mediocrity, the Englishman failed to deliver the results at the London Club. Winning just 12 matches, Chelsea lost 11 and drew eight under Potter’s tutelage. The Blues scored 33 times and conceded 31 goals. At the time of his sacking, Potter had a 38.7 win percentage.

To aid Graham’s transition, Boehly shelled out 350 million USD in the January transfer window, getting in eight new players at the Bridge — David Fofana, Benoit Badisashile, Joao Felix (on loan), Andrey Santos, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Malo Gusto and record-signing Enzo Fernandez. 

Despite the heavy influx of players, it did not change much in terms of results. It was not just about the quality of football, but the way Potter shaped his team. Almost spoilt for choice, he could not devise his preferred starting XI and failed to inspire his players. Also, his mellow demeanour was often the point of an unwanted point of topic in the press conferences. A 2-0 loss to Aston Villa was the last straw, and with Chelsea languishing in 11th, Potter got the axe. 

Repeating the old cycle

One would think that a club like Chelsea would go all-out for a proven manager after sacking Potter, especially with the likes of Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique available.

However, when the Blues announced that they were re-appointing Lampard as interim manager till the end of the season, it was seen as another step backward. It was the same person under whom Everton got involved in a relegation battle.

Frank Lampard, Caretaker Manager of Chelsea, looks on during the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge on April 18, 2023 in London, England.
| Photo Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Four matches in, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. A 1-0 and 2-1 loss to Aston Villa and Brighton, respectively, in the Premier League, along with a 4-0 aggregate loss, to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals – Lampard, like his predecessor, is running out of answers.

After reports emerged of Nagelsmann and Enrique being out of the race of becoming the next Chelsea manager, former Spurs and PSG head coach Mauricio Pochettino is a likely candidate to take over the reins at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea next plays Brentford in the Premier League on April 27.