I’m not one to ever dwell on the past too much, but found this somewhat instructive given that we’re (once again) in-between coaches and looking for the next man to take the thankless job of being Chelsea manager. Sorry, I mean head coach.
Mauricio Pochettino was the guest on “The Overlap” podcast this week, and you can watch the whole thing here if you can deal with Gary Neville & Co for nearly two hours. The bit about Chelsea is at the end, the final 15 minutes or so.
When Pochettino left Chelsea by “mutual consent” in the summer of 2024, it came as a bit of a shock. It wasn’t a great season by any means, but we started twelfth and ended sixth, and looked to be on the right path after a strong finish to the campaign. We even reached a cup final! Pochettino was well liked by the players and we looked to be building something good for the future.
Reports at the time cited unspecified differences that were “philosophical” in nature, related mostly to “the dynamics of working within a club structure”. We took that to mean that essentially Pochettino wanted a (bigger) say in transfers (specifically signing experienced players) and Chelsea wanted him to focus on coaching. Everything that the club have done since have only reinforced that notion.
One might wonder why Pochettino took the job in the first place then — though it sounds like there was more “alignment” in the beginning, to use Liam Rosenior’s favorite word, or at least Poch perceived all to be on the same page.
That said, the idea of a true “manager” has been dying for a while in top level football. A few noteworthy exceptions aside, all clubs have moved to some sort of sporting director model, with varying levels of involvement from the coaches. And the trend is certainly towards less and less direct involvement from those coaches, and not just at Chelsea.
But for Pochettino, that’s the wrong way to go about things.
Of course, Pochettino also believes that lemons can ward off evil spirits and bad vibes. So you, some science might be okay.
As with everything in life, it’s about finding balance. Rosenior, as alluded to above, spoke a lot about being aligned with the powers that be. We poked fun at the word choice, but that is an important notion to consider. Alas, though he was in alignment, he couldn’t produce results. (And he also lost the connection with the players.) Enzo Maresca, like Pochettino, got some results, but also got out of alignment. At one point or another, all of them hit on the need for some experience.
Some reports would have us believe that Chelsea’s decision-makers are reevaluating certain parts of our plans. That seems little more than PR to me, and I don’t expect drastic changes either way. But surely we’ve seen enough evidence by now that our current plans are not accomplishing the stated goals that we set out to accomplish. And that data is indisputable.
P.S. So, basically, bring back Tommy T; he never wanted to be a sporting director.
