I am close to the point of begging the stubborn lot who think they know better than everyone else, who happen to be running our beloved football club, to please, CHANGE the project. It’s not too late.
You have an ENTIRE fan base against you. I used to say about 90% of them are against you. But now, after one of the darkest nights I’ve ever seen at Stamford Bridge last night, you have an ENTIRE fan base against you. If you want to salvage anything at all at this club, if you want to attempt to keep at least some of your best players – because come on now, we cannot keep players who want to leave, that is just desperate and will never work out well – if you want to continue running this club and gain any kind of support, you have to CHANGE what you are doing – not even just tweaking it.
Drop everything you’re doing and change it. Sign players who are genuine difference makers and not squad players or development toys. Hire managers who actually have a proven CV. Bring in a HEAD sporting director to run the recruitment, one who has proven that they can build a successful squad and do it with balance. Use an avenue to speak DIRECTLY to the fan base as a whole and tell us that you are holding your hands up and changing what you are doing. Tell us that you are now looking to sign players who are not teenagers all the time. Tell us you are now looking to make hires across the board that will see people come into the right positions at the club with experience. You’ve completely gutted out the culture at this club and removed anyone who were real ‘Chelsea people’ and how sad that is.
And I want to talk about experience, because some people are getting this twisted. Just because we now have a few players who might be 25 or over in the squad because that’s what happens eventually, people get older. Just because we have a couple players who now might have a bit about them in terms of leadership (not really by the way but I’ll humour it). That does NOT mean we are now suddenly an experienced team. Did we look experienced last night when the kids were panicking and gifting them goals? Did a supposed ‘experienced’ player look assured and confident when defending as our ‘senior’ defender last night before he unfortunately went off injured? Nope, he didn’t.
Experience is about so much more than just age. It’s warriors, mentality monsters, physical beasts who have been there, done it, and seen it all. Players like that who can help youngsters on the pitch. QUALITY experience, that’s what we lack.
If you have played the game at any level, you will understand this. It’s a hand around the shoulder on the pitch and in game. It’s general leadership and motivation to all the players whilst being on the pitch with them. We don’t have ANY experience across the whole club, not on the side lines, not in the boardroom, nowhere. It’s farcical, and even more farcical that some people still want to deny that fact. We need proper physical leaders.
Nobody is saying that if we had experienced players we would have won the Premier League by now. Also, it’s about the RIGHT experience. Nobody can tell me that building our current squad FROM THE OFF with added balance and experience wouldn’t have helped the handfuls of young players they signed at the same time. Just because your Enzo’s and Caicedo’s are getting older now, doesn’t mean they were ‘experienced’ when they came in. And nobody needs to give me the example of Sterling and Koulibaly because I can give countless other examples of the RIGHT experience that HAS helped. Joe Cole was SPOT ON with the point he’s made yesterday. Experience doesn’t guarantee success, but for me, it absolutely helps it and would have helped the young players in our squad. John Terry has said it, as has Jody Morris, Frank Lampard, Obi Mikel, I can go on.
But back to the project. If those leading it cannot swallow their pride and change the way we recruit players and do it with WAY more balance from this summer, then we and they are in a lot of trouble. You cannot succeed without the fans on side, simple.
I’ve lost all my connection to this club. I have very little feelings about them now, and I’ve lost all interest in it. Last night, fans leaving Stamford Bridge early should be the final straw for these owners to change what they are doing. It was a dark, dark night, and most fans have checked out. THEY have done this, and only THEY can change it. Now before it’s too late.
And by the way, you can shout ‘BlueCo out’ all you like, but from everything I’ve heard, they are planning on going nowhere no matter what we do or say.