So, I was saying...

Picture: Chelsea FC

I wasn’t intending to blog again about Chelsea for a while, but this morning’s shock announcement that the club had “parted company” with Thomas Tuchel took almost everyone by surprise. 

Even with this club’s history, especially in the Abramovich era, of capricious managerial sackings (such as Carlo Ancelotti - arguably one of the greatest club coaches of the modern era - for simply leading Chelsea to second place in the Premier League at the end of his sophomore season, having done the league and cup double in his first...), the abrupt way with which the Todd Boehly-led regime dispensed with Tuchel was utterly shocking.

Viewed through a narrow prism, it might have been coming - at some point in the near future. Even if the new Premier League season record looks patchy - three wins, two defeats and a draw - it was last night’s defeat away to Dynamo Zagreb that brought the curtain down on the German’s 20-month tenure. The 1-0 loss might have been accommodated, but not the way Chelsea lost, with Boehly and his co-owner Behdad Eghbali looking on, and immediately determining that they’d seen enough.

Reports have since emerged that all had not been well in the Chelsea camp for some time. No surprise given the sometimes toothless performances of late, but most had faith in Tuchel to turn things around, especially after he’d picked up a browbeaten team from Frank Lampard in January 2021 and promptly went on to win the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup in the space of a few months. When Russia invaded Ukraine, and Roman Abramovich became sanctioned, putting the club itself at existential risk, Tuchel became Chelsea’s public face. This at the same time as he was going through a divorce. As spring gave way to summer, and the club’s ownership was eventually resolved at the 11th hour, Boehly took a hands-on role in rebuilding, eventually spending £273 million on acquiring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Raheem Stirling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wes Fofana, Marc Cucurella and others to plug gaps. 

Even the most ambitious proprietor would understand that, following a shorter pre-season and only a few games of the new season itself, it would take time for the new players to bed in and the squad to gel. Perhaps, though, that’s an overly generous assessment. In my last post on Chelsea I quoted Tuchel’s rantings about the team lacking the right mentality: “It’s a lack of hunger, intensity, a lack of determination to win duels, to actually do things on the highest level.” Goals were too easily shipped in moments of lax concentration, while at the other end, attacks looked positively anaemic. There are, too, reports of Tuchel’s relationship with the squad taking an unexpected turn for the worse. From, clearly, being a good man manager - you don’t achieve what he did on his arrival if you’re not - to seeing even Mason Mount off the pace makes you question how the hitherto underlying spirit dropped off. Hakim Zyech has looked as disinterested as a lethargic teenager visiting an elderly relative, while Christian Pulisic - who has never fully lived up to expectations - has stumbled about with nothing to show for it. And, yet, Tuchel continued to play them.

Conor Gallagher, who Crystal Palace were desperate to keep after his aclaimed loan period, was bawled out by Tuchel at every opportunity during his debut home start at the Bridge; Billy Gilmour, another youth prospect and serial loanee, was eventually sold to Brighton for a cut-price £9 million. That was, obviously, a club decision, but Tuchel was more involved in this summer’s business than any Chelsea manager for the previous 18 seasons. There are suggestions, too, that Tuchel simply hadn’t yet developed the same working relationship with the new owners that he’d enjoyed with Marina Granovskaia and Petr Čech, previously Abramovich’s representatives on Earth. I don’t know about that, but for a manager to be terminated so quickly suggests a ruthlessness that no one was expecting from Boehly, an owner who has been more visible in three months than Abramovich was in 18 years.

There was, though, something pleasantly round about Tuchel’s sacking, after his 100th game in charge. Yesterday marked 100 days since the new owners took over. The word is, however, that the Zagreb result wouldn’t have made any difference, and change was already in the offing. Perhaps Tuchel was indeed the architect of his own downfall. Communication with his squad had become minimal (as had his confidence in their abilities), and he had reportedly become less engaging with the club hierarchy, too. Tuchel was also racking up the bookings for his touchline behaviour, including that infamous red card and hefty fine following the stormy Tottenham encounter at Stamford Bridge. It was starting to become obvious that his public demeanour wasn’t quite right. Even his normally frenzied windmilling from the touchline, like a tracksuited Basil Fawlty, had given away a greater restlessness than his normal frenetic appearance. It’s entirely reasonable to suggest that this was only a window on what he was like behind the closed gates of Cobham. With a win ratio of 44%, and Chelsea heading towards mid-table of the Premier League - even only after six games and 10 points out of a maximum 18 - something wasn’t right.

“The new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition,” the club said in a statement, conflating the 100 days of Boehly/Clearlake ownership with Tuchel’s final match in charge. To this they aded the customary platitude of “placing on record” the club’s “gratitude” to Tuchel and his staff. The bottom line is, however, that regardless of who is in charge, Chelsea are manageress yet again. 

The end of the Abramovich era was meant to herald a period of stability, of allowing the manager to build in much the same way as Jurgen Klopp had been allowed to at Liverpool, not to be felled by a knee-jerk reaction at the first sign of failure. But, as we are constantly reminded, this is a results business, and the results simply haven’t been good enough. And even though players should always bear the burden of poor performances, the coach is paid to motivate them. Tuchel probably knew that had been missing after the Zagreb game when he declared himself to be “angry at myself and the team”, adding that “everything was missing”. Sadly, his job was to ensure that it wasn’t.

So what happens now? With Brighton’s Graham Potter hotly tipped to succeed Tuchel - in what would be a major gamble on someone unused to managing a collection of high-octane egos competing in Europe - the Chelsea roundabout spins again. The new owners have made their point in shedding Tuchel so soon in their reign, but at the same time, they’ve set themselves up for failure in the future, if the managerial door revolves every time results take a dive. From a fan’s point of view, we only want the club to succeed, and if that means drastic action, then so be it. Just as long as it doesn’t mean that Rafa Benitez gets another shot, we’ll support the shirt, come what may.