Après moi le déluge
So said Marie-Antoinette a little over 200 years ago from the tumbril on the way to her appointment with the guillotine, and her foresight was spot on. Within three years, not only had many, many aristocrats and bourgeois been likewise executed, but also so had all those who were responsible for sentencing her to death, the Robespierre, Danton, Saint-Just and the like. Thus it is with the passing of The Special One, one can wonder who, if any, is likely to follow.
As I write this, the first group, the Portuguese coterie, has already been dispatched and they will have to be replaced quickly. A modern coaching staff cannot function without specialised coaches and these have all evaporated. Given the early state of the season, it is going to be hard to find quality replacements (unless Avram Grant has been preparing this for some time). Let’s hope this is sorted out soon.
No doubt there will now be players who are champing at the bit to clear out in January, followed by others next summer. High on anyone’s list must be Didier Drogba who has repeatedly said he stays because of Jose Mourinho, and who reportedly was in tears at their parting at Cobham yesterday. Others though must feel a sense of relief, Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack come to mind, though the latter will surely be playing elsewhere this time next year in any case - the call of Bernd Schuster at Real Madrid will be too strong. If Frank Lampard and, heaven forbid, John Terry (though I think this unlikely), also feel they have to go, then the team will have been eviscerated.
Then there is the villain of the piece, Avram Grant. From his arrival to do I never did figure out what, he has been patiently awaiting Mourinho’s departure knowing he was being groomed as the replacement. As several people have remarked in these pages, his achievement of nearly qualifying Israel for the World Cup is rather insignificant in comparison to that of winning the Champions League, or even the UEFA Cup. Is he even better than Claudio Ranieri? Only time will tell, but we may be in for a grossly sub-standard year compared with recent performances. Now that is a depressing thought, though I sincerely hope not, for if we do perform well this year, I shall be the first in line to congratulate him. However, my gut is telling me otherwise. No, his ride in the tumbril is already booked, it’s only a question of when. And then the fun really starts. A second Real Madrid in the making perhaps: a succession of managers, a succession of past prime players, a succession of sub-par performances. Perhaps if we are lucky, we can get David Beckham back from Hollywood.
And what about the executives? The case of Peter Kenyon is interesting. M-Day minus 1 he was still telling all and sundry that Mourinho was in the for the long haul, with the support of everyone in the club. There are rumours that he was not aware of what was boiling up between Roman Abramovich and Mourinho in which case where does that leave him? The club’s most significant event in the last three years and he was sidelined. Perhaps this more than anything shows how much real, day to day, power Abramovich exerts in the club when he no longer needs proxies like Kenyon.
So who does that leave us with? Well… Abramovich.
So he does not like our style of play. Well, from the comments in these posts over the last year, neither did most of us (not to say the legions upon legions of Chelsea haters who seem to crawl out of the woodwork at our least discomfort) - and why was that? For the simple reason that to accommodate Shevchenko and Ballack, we were obliged to dispense with the highly successful use of wingers and play instead a midfield diamond. It is noticeable that towards the end of the season there was a resurgence in stylish play when Ballack was injured, and so we were forced to resort to a more familiar 4-3-3, Shaun Wright-Phillips supplying the width and creativity we had so often missed. There are conflicting reports as to who was responsible for acquiring Shevchenko, but I find it hard to believe that Mourinho could have been overly enthusiastic to fit in to a winning system a player who was on the downside of what had been a remarkable career, but who was also clearly not fully fit (as was only too clear from his performance in the World Cup). If Shevchenko had played in the Premiership, then it might still have been possible, but the styles of play between this and the Series A are like chalk and cheese, not to mention that Milan had more or less built a side around him, something that was clearly not going to happen at Chelsea. For all that Mourinho claimed to have sole responsibility for the team selection, there must have been enormous pressure on him to select Shevchenko (and Ballack), so it is hardly a surprise that relations between himself and Abramovich reached an all time low when Shevchenko was not even on the bench for the first few matches of the season, his playing finally being contingent on Drogba’s injury and Claudio Pizarro’s fatigue.
So Abramovich is unhappy that we have not yet won the Champions League. I suppose he has just cause for being unhappy with the way we were eliminated the last two times in the semi-finals: to be eliminated on a very dubious goal in one game, and then on penalty kicks in the other (a very English trait?) is decidedly careless, almost Ranieriesque. However, only a couple of days ago, Kenyon said that Big A wanted to win the Champions League a couple of times in the first ten years. Well, my arithmetic is not infallible but that surely leaves at least six years to do this. So either Kenyon did not know what he was talking about (see above), or someone’s math is a lot worse than mine.
One can continue ad nauseum with an analysis of Abramovich’s desires vis-a-vis Chelsea, but it is becoming clear that he is taking a more hands on approach. There are two ways this can go: he can continue to stock the club with cronies like Grant, forgiving the lack of performance, and turn us back into what we were, a play thing for the owner; or if he really desires to succeed, he will continue to cut and paste, until finally, it will dawn on him that he is never going to succeed in this until he allows the club, and particularly, the team’s coach, to run things in their own way. My belief is that this will never occur to him, and so in a year or two, he will decide to cut his losses and get out, the last of the fall out from Mourinho’s departure.
So what will a post-Abramovich Chelsea look like? I’ve frankly no idea. However, Abramovich will leave a legacy. We have the most modern and best equipped training ground in the world. Our stadium has been upgraded and if the the new lighting works, the pitch will remain in good condition throughout the year, a minor miracle. He will also leave, at least at this point in time, a club that has started to win trophies regularly, and whose supporters expect the club to continue doing this; and of course, there is the little matter that he once hired a young man called Jose Mourinho, an opinionated, arrogant bastard, who nevertheless had the knowledge, strength, and ability to back up his words with deeds and who produced the best team this club has ever had, or is ever likely to have, more’s the pity. Not such a bad legacy at that for all the grief we are going to suffer through. If only Big A would jump now so the rest of us could get on with our lives.
- Posted at 11:41 AM · Permalink · Print · 2227 views · Last indexed by Google on the 10th May 2008
- Tags: Andriy Shevchenko, Avram Grant, Claudio Ranieri, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Ballack, Peter Kenyon, Roman Abramovich
Great article Graham, and perhaps if Roman does go I’m sure there are other investors out there who would be lining up to buy into a piece of Chelsea.
But the obsession he has with the Champions League just appears to be a big red self-destruct button to all we have achieved in the past 3 years.
What is it with Russian baddies and world domination? It looks like we’re in a script for a Bond movie ;)
You make some good points here Grahame but to call Grant the villain of the piece is to look at the smoking gun and spot the wrong man. Yes he was Mr Abs “spy” for a few weeks but the man who ultimately shot Jose was JT. I bet our loyal captain regrets all that now. Still rally round Grant and Clarkey. Chelsea go on.
Nice article - I suppose this is a Russian Revolution rather than French, but lets hope the main players stay and fight for us.
I always said to people when Roman came that if we won the league and then he buggered off I would still be happy, as we wouldn’t have won it without him. Let’s hope we can carry on Jose’s legacy and continue to be successful, but if not then it has been a great ride.
We still have a terrific squad and should win trophies this season.
Some interesting points Graham, nice article.
Kenyon was in Jose’s corner during all this, I’d imagine - he above all people knows that to make it ‘big’ as a football club you need stability and a poweful character to guide it. In fairness to him, the “2 champions leagues” quote is actually quite old (possibly even made when he first arrived, I think), and just something that has been revisited in the Blue Revolution DVD and jumped on by the hacks.
My main concern about Grant; put simply, he has reached the age of 52 without ever coming remotely close to landing a top level managerial post in football.
Is this really a man who can build the global dynasty Roman desires and handle the big names that the owner clearly wants in his team?
Has he really avoided the radar of the world game for this long as an ‘undiscovered gem’? On the evidence available, it seems rather unlikely.
I can’t bear to think about this much longer. the whole thing really pisses me off. What really grates it this ‘chelsea play crap football’ thing when we played the best football, consistently and the hightest level, in the country for two years. i mean, what did arsenal, united and liverpool do against us, with their ‘right way of playing’ and great ideals? they defended like buggers and tried to get us on the break - compare united’s 1-0 at old trafford with our 3-0 at the bridge and then ask me who was playing better football.
then we signed shevchenko and it all went to shit. thanks for everything roman, now fuck off.
Yes too right with your observation on Grant JD
I don’t think we’ve unearthed a Wenger here from pretty much obscurity, more likely it will be Charlton’s equivalent of Les Reed, or should that be Les Dawson?
without a doubt Mourinho did a lot of great things for our beloved club, and would have achieved even more, given time.
but at what cost may i ask? yes he is flamboyant, cocky and mastered the art of ironic comments. But how many times did he made us cringe with his stupid, baseless attacks on everyone from referees and weather, to opposition fans and grass on the pitch; how many times did you think after reading one of his tirades: “oh, Jose, why wouldn’t you just keep quiet, you are just NOT right!”???
i will miss him as a brilliant coach and motivator, but i am sure that there is a life at Stamford Bridge after him (may be not with Grant, though) and there is a future for Chelsea.
Future, where Chelsea FC is loved by supporters, feared by opposition and recognized and respected by neutrals. and the way to this future, i believe, is not paved by whines and hysterics of a head coach.
one may think that bad publicity is still a free publicity, but in our case, bad publicity does not win hearts or “sell t-sirts” for that matter.
w2 russky, everything has a price, and the price of having Jose was that, and I think that was a cheap price, everyone can still remember the Pizza Incident but please tell me who still remembers Jose calling Ronaldo an uneducated boy?
and other thing, the way Jose and Cfc departed doesn’t suggest a near good future, actually, I share the same thoughts with Graham, the team is feared to be going down, everyone loved Jose, and they are not blind, they knew exactly what was going under the table, somebody please tell me who is the player they know for sure he will be playing under that beer-belly-52-years-cement-headed coach,
maybe Cheva will.
Damn…the future doesn’t look bright at all.
He came…..
He saw…..
He conquered….
He had self belief (the one thing he inspired in the players) and by extension…..the fans
He was so good that the rare slips his team made were ‘celebrated’ by the opposition….the blips made headline news!
He played for three years without losing a league tie at home! (similar feat achieved at porto)
He raised the stakes in the premiership, winning admirers and fans from different parts of the globe…The premiership became the main SOAP OPERA in otherwise lukewarm countries
He was so witty that his peers dreaded the mind/word games with him….ask wenger, fergie and tubby at the pool…or even rijkaard in the catalan
In three years, He won EVERYTHING the club could have won save for the Champions League
His name is Jose Mourinho…
Looking back, i think the ’system’ did not help him….
the media were too harsh and critical of him (i’v been listening to the news and looking up sites and articles since yesterday and cant believe its the same media talking about the same mourinho)…If only they’d been fair to see JM’s good sides (and there are quite many), there probably wouldnt have been such thick, negative pressure on the club…
I almost cried for him….but on second tot, i think, hope and pray he will find joy and peace in his future endeavours (maybe we didnt deserve him, he was just too good)….
As for the media (and the board that did not back him and share his winning-mentality vision) i hope you all find peace too ‘cos its onvious that you’ll be the biggest losers….especially the press
So long Jose….u’ll live in the hearts of football fans for a long long time…..both in those coloured BLUE…and others..
Still Blue!
Bring on Scolari!
Thanks Graham for the perspective, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, or of ramifications beyond some players loyal to Jose leaving, but it’s a bit scary really. If what has occured is a result of the ultimate game of fantasy football manager then anything could happen. Why does the dog lick it’s balls?.. Because it can. Ruthless Roman indeed. Let’s hope he gets what he seeks in terms of fluid attacking football that wins old big ears.
@ Damien 999
Why do you see JT implicated?
Oh common guys. Why does it appear that Roman is coming out of this the bad guy. Sure his obsession with the Champions League is a little questionable but still if it wasn’t for Roman, Jose would have never even looked at managing our team. I mean can you honestly say if Bates had stayed in charge we would be in the predicament we are in today?
Just think would Jose have joined us if we hadn’t of said right…”here ya go old boy, you’ve got a £5mil a year contract and you can spend a few hundred million on some decent players” And you are inheriting a team that nearly played you for your only CL medal had our previous crazy manager not blown his load!
I’ll admit, i’m not fond of the appointment of Avram Grant but my word if we don’t get at least a point on Saturday then it doesn’t look good!
Lets be real here when Gullit left, we were gutted but in came Vialli and brightened up our lives again, and then Ken went and got on his high horse and gave him the chop. So in came Claudio, did a good enough job once he learnt the language, takes us to a semi final of the champions league, we all get emotional when he leaves us and in comes Jose. The inevitable was always going to happen, unfortunately Jose is no Sir Alex either, he was not content with being at the bridge for his whole managerial career. So i say lets find another quality manager and back him like we did Jose (not Grant!) and start winning some darn trophies again!
>> I mean can you honestly say if Bates had stayed in charge we would be in the predicament we are in today?
No Guido, we’d be in the predicament Leeds find themselves in.
Graham sorry to say mate but this article save for the use of language is utter speculative and I almost thought I was reading the Gaurdian worse still The Sun.
Okay wake up everyone and smell the coffee. WHo thought The Special One coming from the Portuguese league would get in and win a back to back????? I am not hoping for miracles (save for us beating Manure on Sunday) this season.
The sooner Guus gets in the safer I will feel…but hey wait just a second…two games down the road and we are back to the top of the league…will we still be crying Jose Mourinho???? Come on you blokes you are really some sure sorry people.
We might have lost a geat coach, but we remain with dream and we have to get on with our lives.
Chin up like The Special One would have said.
Let’s go and slay Manure…
Come on Chelsea
Come on Chelsea
Come on Chelsea
Exactly JD!
I’d much rather be losing Jose with Roman right now than stuck with Bates’ in League 1.
I take your sentiments Guido,
We’ve got to back Chelsea now more then ever at Old Trafford come Sunday. We need the points and should focus ourselves on that.
It’s just so hard knowing we had a plan over ten years with TSO and everything was going to be hunky dory (to a degree) and now the players and the fans are thrown in to uncertainty.
Come on you blue boys.
Flyin’ high up in the sky,
We’ll keep the blue flag flyin’ high,
From Stanford Bridge to Wembeley,
We’ll keep the blue flag flyin’ high.
Nice writting Graham. I actually can repeat it again as I am an Israeli and know Grant for a long time. He has won Israeli title couple of times that is true. however take into account that 99% of Israeli players will not first in Championship you inderstand the level of achievement. The other thing about him is that where ever he were he was all the time unrestling the cituation.
God save the Chelsea from other Roman mistakes.
You could say the wheel has come full circle. Almost exactly 7 years ago, there was a summary sacking and a bloke no one had heard of took over. And his first match in charge? Man Utd away, which ended in a 3-3 draw, after the situation looked hopeless just before HT when, 3-1 down, the MU keeper dropped a clanger and in the 2nd half Flo scored again for an unlikely, though thoroughly deserved 3-3 draw.
Referring back to a previous post, and mention of that piece of gross incompetence against Monaco, Ranieri offered as an explanation afterwards that he was not thinking clearly because of all the pressure he was under from the club’s bosses. Now, does that ring a bell at all? He said that when we went 2-1 down he panicked because he knew that winning the Champions League was the only possible way he could save his job. I think one thing we would all agree about Ranieri was that he was a decent and honest man so I believe him when he says that. You could say that a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg at home is just as bad a result as losing to Monaco away although it was nothing like as critical a match. Ranieri also had players foisted on him - Veron, Crespo etc and it was even said that he hadn’t even heard of Glen Johnson when he was signed (that may be apocryphal). On that basis, coming 2nd to what was the best Arsenal side in the modern era and a CL semi-final wasn’t such a bad achievement. I’m not trying to be an apologist for Ranieri, who, in the main, I don’t think was a very good manager. I just think that things should be put in perspective and although Jose achieved many things with Chelsea he inherited a multi-million pound squad and was able to spend many tens of millions to improve it. On that basis, were his achievements so extraordinary?
And, btw, I don’t believe for moment that this Grant is meant to be Jose’s long term replacement. Surely by next season, it will be someone like Hiddink installed in the driving seat
When, 8 or so games into Mourinhos first season - we crushed Fulham away 3-1 - Coleman admitted he had just watched the future Champions - when we appointed Mourinho we all knew we’d appointed the brightest managerial prospect in the world game and allied with a quality squad of players, I for one felt very early on that this was the final piece of the jigsaw.
Early on with Ranieri I started to have misgivings (in my eyes his credibility never recovered from his transalated sound bites by the gnome!) I haven’t the faintest Idea whether Grant can do the job but were his CV to have arrived in the post when Chelsea advertised the job without a recommendation from Abramovich its most unlikely he would have even got an interview.
So in answer to Jose Musumba - we can keep our chin up but I think stoicisim is whats going to be needed rather than optimism!
I agree with Peter H - under any other circumstances Grant wouldn’t even get an interview for a bar job at Chelsea. This is naked nepotism and is doomed to failure.
Jose Musumba - good to see your evangelism is as unblinkered as ever, but for me I truly fear the worst and cannot see us winning a bean this season. And if we did win the CL….is that more success than the PL? My own view is that the CL needs bucketloads of luck on your side whereas the PL is a much truer indicator of who is the best. Mark my words the club will spin us with “bad is the new good” and tell us things have improved even when we aren’t the power we are now.
As I’ve said before anyone who doesn’t win us titles and cups at the rate TSO did will always pale into insignificance and I can’t get rid of the feeling that somehow or another when Grant goes , Greenberg and co will mobile themselves and spin it to say that the intention was always to use him as a stopgap. I’m down the pub with ChelseaBob tonight who religiously watches and believes ChelseaTV so I wonder what bollocks they’ll be broadcasting? The truth? I’ve got more chance of french kissing the Pope than that happening.
I’d have taken almost anyone other than No-mark Grant, a man that Harry Redknapp couldn’t wait to see the back of, and Harry’s no fool. Deschamps, Hughes, Kilinsmann….any of them would have sweetened this bitter pill a bit.
I’m off for a gallon or two of Guinness and will raise my glass to the only person we’ve had who can truly claim to be The Special One.
When AG fails - what if RA decides to go because he knows what a cock up he made? We could end up like Leeds……maybe I need more than Guinness…the dark thoughts are getting darker……….
to Tony Glover
do not despair yet, although we are certainly in for a rough season, but it seems to me that somehow the remote figure of guus hiddink is getting closer and closer to stamford bridge..
Having just watched the news conference on Sky Sports has not made me feel any less angry or sad. It was really like watching a party political question and answer session, all I can say is we’re going to need a minor miracle in the coming weeks and months.
As a side issue Sky Sports had questioned virtually every Premiership manager on Jose. They all had a good word and praise for him, (even Wenger) except one. So no prizes for anyone guessing it was that ungracious classless fat fool from the Wirral who preferred to talk about Birmingham.
So Fuck Off Rafa you “Stephen Hunt”
Talking of ironies: perhaps I spoke too respectfully of Ranieri in my last posting as after he left Chelsea he went to Valencia where he took the reigning champions (under our friend Benitez) to mid-table mediocrity within only a few months. It is very much on the cards that he will cock things up at Juventus as well. If that is the case, and he gets the sack, which high profile manager would be immediately available to take over from him?
My dispair is declining,
I’m thinking the players will show there worth now. They must remember first and formost they play for Chelsea FC; i know they played for TSO!
As the clubs supporters we must be vocal in our support for the CLUB. We must also can’t Mourinho!
While i’m typing this i realise all fof us know this, but we must stand firm and not let our mourning of Mourihno cloud our goals.
I’m so messed up. I’ve lost all sporting faith as Ireland just got pumped by France!
K/T/B/F/F/H
With the make up of the owner, board, manager and team what are we going to sing when Spurs visit?
Even JT’s contemplating circumcision.
The Emperor said, “Jose is bad for business, Jose must die!”… Jose didn’t resign, Jose wasn’t sacked, Jose was assassinated by the cruel men in suit!
Tonight’s 5live Football Daily podcast is all about Jose - includes a few minutes of today’s press conference.
Download link (mp3).
Jose’s coming back to England, but not before he’s managed abroad first. He’s learning either German or Italian during his time off.
Over and above the clash of ego’s that obviously played a big part in JM’s departure, I think we have to remember that we haven’t played really well for a long time now…
All last season, we were struggling to beat those mid table sides that we were trampling over the previous two title winning seasons. We were scraping 1-0’s or drawing almost every week and we looked far from convincing for the most part. As it turned out, that kind of form cost us the title in the end.
But when that form followed on into this season as well, RA became increasingly disillusioned with the way we play, and I think Jose was a bit concerned that his winning formula had been rumbled, and decided to quit while he was still ahead and be forever remembered as THE greatest of all Chelsea legends.
To that end, he has succeeded!
NOW IT’s ALL ABOUT HOPE!
Southside Bucky - you say that in the end JM was forced to go because “All last season, we were struggling…”.
Let’s hope that in the future who ever comes on after Grant can have a season, where is gifted with players he doesn’t want, still fight for 4 trophies till the end, and win 2.
These days I ear so many people saying that Hiddink is the right man for the job. Am I the only one watching Euro 2008 Qualifying games? Let’s hope not!
Imagine Frank Rijkaard coming to Chealsea. Could we play Barcelona style with english players and win the PL? I doubt it.
One year in the Desert, that’s for sure, and then bring someone with JM profile. My choice would be Juande Ramos, Sevilla’s manager.
Let’s Hope!
PS - I also believe JM will coach Tiago once more. Christmas time : )
Actually Joe, I don’t think he was forced out because of last seasons form. After all, two trophies hardly constitutes failure…
what I meant was that if we take the explaination by both the club and JM at face value, ie, that the departure was a mutual agreement, (and there’s no reason to believe otherwise) then the fact that we have not been playing well, made the decision to part easier as far as RA was concerned.
From JM’s point of view, it was looking as though his air of invincibility was seriously in decline. So he decided now would be a good time to move on.
The mark of a true winner: Quit while you’re still ahead.