What’s the key to success at Chelsea? It’s a club with all the resources a manager could want for, but which comes with the hefty burden of Russian owner Roman Abramovic’s expectations.
And they’re not easily satisfied. Just ask departed managers Claudio Ranieri, ‘special one’ Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Gus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, and the recently sacked Andre Villas-Boas.
Admittedly, some of these left the job empty handed and perhaps warranted the sack. In their short tenures under Abramovich-owned Chelsea, Ranieri, Scolari and Villas-Boas won no trophies, each leaving the club with a less than 60% win ratio. This is undoubtedly an unsatisfactory record when £120 million is spent on summer transfers (in the case of Ranieri in 2003 alone).
Their lack of success with a squad of top-line players, plus overseeing well-documented flop signings such as Adrian Mutu, Juan Sebastian Veron, Deco and Ricardo Quaresma gives credence to claims that they weren’t up to it.
But the others had some success at the Blues. Jose Mourinho won Chelsea’s first two Premier League titles, plus a handful of domestic cups. Avram Grant, stepping in to fill the breach, took the club to their first ever Champions League final, losing on penalties. Hiddink won the 2009 FA Cup while Ancelotti delivered the third Premier League title to Chelsea’s trophy cabinet, and secured a double with that season’s FA Cup to boot.
But the ongoing bugbear of Chelsea, and Abramovich, has been the inability to win the UEFA Champions League. It’s the reason his oil-mining money has been pumped in, and apparently the reason for his continual hiring and firing of managers who until now haven’t delivered it.
But Roberto Di Matteo has.
After falling into the role at the beginning of March (following Villas-Boas’s firing), Di Matteo has resurrected this train-wreck of a Chelsea season to snatch the ultimate prize in European football, taking Tottenham’s spot in the Champions League next season and wining the FA Cup against Liverpool along the way.
So how does inexperienced Di Matteo, sacked from West Brom a year ago, come in and steer Chelsea to success where much-hailed Portuguese treble-winning manager Villas-Boas failed?
The achievements over two-and-a-half months are more than many achieve in a career. Some will say that Di Matteo just came at the right time. He has won the most unlikely of European cup finals against Bayern Munich (known by critics as FC Hollywood for their combustibility and mercurial standard of playing) who had already managed to upset Real Madrid, perhaps the competition favourite. But that Chelsea themselves somehow overcame Barcelona is hugely impressive, and going one step further to win is something no one would’ve predicted mid-season.
One clear change in method has been the appeasement of senior players. Di Matteo has reintroduced talisman Frank Lampard to the starting line-up, who was largely left to contemplate his future on the bench under Villas-Boas. Despite being front-runner for most of the season, Didier Drogba has been unequivocally favoured as the number one striker since the change. And captain John Terry’s delight at a former club champion taking the reigns at Chelsea couldn’t be clearer.
The team has flourished. But why?
Following Mourinho’s departure in 2007, unnamed Chelsea players voiced concerns that Avram Grant wasn’t a big enough name for their club. Luiz Felipe Scolari found himself cast aside after the revolt from within which saw some old stagers, including Michael Ballack and Petr Cech, criticise his training methods.
Years later, the saga continues. AVB got some of the big boys in the dressing room offside, making his an uphill battle.
Player power is rife at Chelsea.
It is evident that while Roman Abramovich may own the club, John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Didier Drogba run it. Maybe all that a manager had to do to harness the team’s potential was accommodate the squad’s most influential stars.
Whatever it is that Di Matteo has done, regardless of how they have played or how he has benefitted from circumstances, he simply has to be worth a new contract.
Chelsea are European champions. That’s all Abramovich asked for.
Emmanuel Badejo
Guest
I think some people just go on to write anything they want,how can agaga say chelsea has never won anything before the intervention of mourinho and abramovich,i think we should alway check our records before we talk.
EddieDicker
Roar Rookie
Chelsea are in the process of looking for a appropriate site in south west London to build a brand new state of the art 60000 capacity stadium. Shows Abramovich is definately in for the long haul. They jostle for support in London because of the crowded market, but with their on field success they can generate that global support which will keep the money coming in.
Worlds biggest
Guest
Meant to type Chelsea !
Worlds biggest
Guest
Di Matteo deserves and will get the opportunity to be full-time manager. Being a successful gaffer at a big club is about managing and massaging the ego's. At Clubs like Chelase and Man City it's also about winning regularly to appease impatient owners. Roberto is off to a great start however if Chelski start the EPL season slowly the sharks will be circling.
Hop
Guest
10 years and you still believe Roman is leaving. I think it is just wishful thinking on your part, Roman is here for the long term just get used to it :)
Hop
Guest
i believe Aston Villa finished 11th the year they won it .
Stephen Smith
Guest
Comments like the one above really do get up my nose, as it shows complete ignorance. Chelsea a pub team? Hardly. They've spent only 19 seasons outside the top flight in their entire history. By way of contrast, Man Utd have spent 22 seasons outside the top division. Man City no history of success? Maybe not on the scale of some clubs, but they've won trophies on a fairly regular basis throughout the last 100 years. While you're right to question what would happen to those clubs were the money men to leave, at least they are not siphoning off money to pay the debt of purchase like the Glazers. Nor are they running their clubs like some money-laundering operation as in Italy. Juventus are probably a big club by your definition. Perhaps all should follow their example in buying off referees and other clubs instead? The billionaire owners have changed the face of football, and some (mainly the clubs they are displacing) don't like it. They'd much rather the game be a closed shop, the old boys network where all the rich clubs play each other every season in the Champions League, and the big trophy is shared around equally among them. That's why the Champions League replaced the old European Cup in the first place, to make the big clubs wealthier, and keep the majority of the cash for themselves. Nobody thought there would be interlopers like Chelsea & Man City. Tough. One final point, Chelsea have plenty of support, as do Man City. City averaged 47,044 last season, Chelsea 41,478. City's capacity is 47,500, Chelsea's 41,837, so I'm unsure as to how they could have fitted many more in?
agga78
Guest
The question should be what happens to Chelsea after the Russian leaves do they crumble like Leeds and go back to the pub team they have been for the 1st hundred years of their existence, remember like Man City Chelsea have no history of success for the majority of their history and theirsuccess now is down to one man and his billons. The Russian now has the crown he was after does he leave now having paid I mean won it or does he have plan to leave Chelsea as strong viable club without the debt and a small stadium. The real big clubs around the world have big support to help sustain success, does Chelsea have this support in England, I don't think so, being big in Asia is no substitute for being big at home.
Angus
Guest
Quaresma was only a loan signing for 6 months I'd hardly list him as a "flop signing"
Villa_B
Roar Guru
I'm not sure that's how you spell Abramovic in the headline and the rest of the article. Your missing a 'h' editors.
pete4
Guest
Says all you need to know... "But with his side finishing a staggering 25 points behind the runaway Manchester clubs in the Premier League, Abramovich is more determined than ever to put together a squad that can be champions of England as well as kings of Europe" Blues to flash the cash: Abramovich green lights spending spree with Hazard, Falcao, Hulk and Modric all targets http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-owner-roman-abramovich-set-843066
Roger Rational
Guest
Liverpool 2005. Like Chelsea, didn't even finish in the CL qualifying spots. Bayern in 1975 finished 10th in the Bundesliga and won the European Cup.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Steve---interesting comment and yes I reckon you are spot on.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
I almost had given up hope on Chelsea and least expected this outcome midway through the season after Carlo Ancelotti's last season sacking. I thought it would never happen after that, but so thankfull Di Matteo pulled it off against the odds. I'm not particularly over overjoyed the way our football is being played at the moment, but if Di Matteo is given the job; we know he is a pragmatist who can send out a team with a game plan to win. However, it remains to be seen if he can recruit well to take this club back on top in the EPL.. I am wanting to give him that opportunity---I think he deserves a shot.
Steve
Guest
It's a great point you raise. The fact that once Chelsea reached the knockout stages, it seemed like the only way they would qualify for next seasons CL was to win the whole comp this year. Sure they then fought back in the PL and gave the top 4 a nudge, but ultimately there focus was on the CL. This was evident when they rested 8 starters against Arsenal. Barca and Real on the other hand played each other in the league in between the two CL semis. You can't not tell me that both teams being 2-0 up at home weren't affected by the gruelling Classico that they played a few days prior. The fact is it is damn hard to win both the league and CL in the same season, and when it does happen it is usually when you are a decent number of points ahead in the league going into the major knockout stages. It can be no surprise that Barcelona for instance (who under Guardiola are considered one of the best club sides ever), won the CL in the two seasons they won the league quite handsomely, and the other two years that went down to the wire they couldn't win the CL in either. It's very tough to play a do or die match against good teams every 3 days. It's not completely uncommon to have a poor league season and a great CL campaign - Milan finished 4th and 36 points behind Inter when they won the CL in 2007. They played Liverpool in the final that year, who finished 21 points behind United in 3rd. The same teams played the 2005 final, Liverpool were 37 points behind in 5th in that seasons PL. The great Real Madrid teams that won 3 CL titles in 5 years didn't manage to do the double once. They finished their league campaigns in 4th (1998), 5th (2000), and 3rd (2002). It is the same reason why new teams to Europe often do poorly in the league as the further they progress, the more focus goes towards Europe. In other cases, some great teams do poorly in Europe as they focus on domestic campaigns (City this year). I believe to make it somewhat more even, so you don't get the case where teams purely focus on CL towards the end of the season while other have multiple leagues, you should make it so only the top 3/4 qualify, and there are no concessions for the winner from the previous year. I know Chelsea fans will hate me right now, but I honestly think its fair for both the teams that are jostling for a top 3/4 spot in the league, and the rest of the CL quarter/semi finalists who are all usually focussing on winning two campaigns.
peeeko
Roar Guru
Has a team ever won the champions league whilst having such a stinker of a premiership season? It was definitely a very strange ECL season with some unlikely teams doing very well