Chelsea's Continued Resistance to Any Form of Project

Chelsea’s sacking of Graham Potter is their latest failed attempt at creating a project for the future. Potter was awarded a five-year contract and many young players designed to take Chelsea forward over the next few seasons, but after just 7 months into this project he was relieved of his duties and Chelsea are back to square one trying to figure out where they go from here. This isn’t the first time a project at Chelsea has been ripped up and I fear it won’t be the last due to the impatience of fans and the demand for success straight away. The first signs of a project based approach was seen all the way back in 2011 when Roman Abramovich moved away from the appointing of big names and hired Andre Villas Boas and gave him the task of removing the “old guard” at Chelsea and focusing on younger faster players with a view to playing free flowing football that Roman had craved for so long. Under AVB the planning for the future began with signings of Romeu, Lukaku, Mata and Courtois as well as up reinforcing this focus on youth with players such as Patrick Bamford, De Bruyne and Lucas Piazon. Chelsea struggled from the offset as AVB’s insistence with playing a high line resulted in some embarrassing defeats to Arsenal, QPR and Liverpool very early on in the season which meant the prospect of finishing in the top four was looking more unlikely. The project was fully abandoned when Napoli beat Chelsea 3-1 in the first knockout round of the Champions league with AVB refusing to start any of the Chelsea old guard with regards to Lampard, Terry, Ashley Cole or Mikel and he was duly relieved of his duties with the fans and the players having had enough. I’m not going to say he should have kept his job as he was out of his depth but what is frustrating is that there was a vision for the future to bleed through young players and change the style of play and this was quickly abandoned and the first sign of resistance which is evident with what is going on at Chelsea yet again this season. In 2012 Chelsea managed to miraculously win the FA cup and the holy grail of the Champions league which gave Di Matteo the job on a permanent basis but allowed the club to start with a new project of exciting football as the champions of Europe.

The summer of 2012 saw Chelsea purchase even more young technical players destined for great things in the future. The marquee signing of Eden Hazard was the one everyone remembers but it was also the summer that Chelsea purchased: Christensen, Musonda, Marko Marin, Oscar and Victor Moses. All young players with high potential. The free flowing football of Di Matteo's Chelsea was a joy to watch however the team was defensively naïve. This resulted in high scoring games however, despite his unlikely success winning the Champions League, Abramovich was just looking for any excuse to sack Di Matteo and he only lasted till November having only managed 12 games in the premier league that season. With the hiring of Benitez it meant that this youth focus project was put on hold as Benitez favoured a safety-first approach with the younger more expansive players having limited playing time mainly from the bench. Benitez left his role as interim at the end of the season however the planned project was put on hold again with Mourinho being appointed in the summer. Mourinho came back to Chelsea with a point to prove and wanted to show that Madrid had got rid of him too quickly. Despite himself proclaiming to be the ‘happy one’ this time around he was anything but. His focus on immediate success meant that in his two and a half year stay back in West London despite winning the league in his second season he ripped up the youth focus by getting rid of De Bruyne, Juan Mata, Lukaku, Cuadrado, Thorgan Hazard, Josh McEcheran and Romeu. This plan for the future was well and truly undone and Chelsea were back to being a short term focused team.

Mourinho’s second spell ended with him having lost the dressing room and Chelsea were stuck scrambling to figure out where to go. They continued with the short-term approach by appointing Antonio Conte which resulted in a League title and a FA cup but no real future leaning plan. In Conte’s first season the only player you could make a case for being young was Michy Batshuayi, although his game time was very limited. Aside from him the focus was on immediate success without any focus on the future. The second season was a bit more forward thinking with signings such as Rudiger, Morata, Barkley and Bakayoko, although other than Rudiger the rest were very much failures at Chelsea. With Conte dismissed at the end of his second season at West London Chelsea were left trying to figure out where to go again. This idea for the future young superstars having been completely abandoned and the project now shifting to the much-maligned Sarri-Ball.

Although Kepa was signed this summer, the main reason was not because Chelsea wanted a young goalkeeper to be the future number one for years to come it was because Courtois had gone on strike in a bid to move to Real Madrid and Chelsea were desperate to sign someone to fill his place. The less said about this season under Sarri the better, despite bringing the Europa League to Stamford Bridge it was very much Eden Hazard’s last dance that made this season tolerable. Sarri departed at the end of one season with no pattern of play established and despite him giving game time to Loftus Cheek and Hudson Odoi it was only due to fan backlash against him constantly leaving them out.

The following season very much felt like Chelsea were back on track with the idea of a Project and a plan for future success with Lampard's initial season. Chelsea were transfer banned and so the focus was to bleed through the youth team players from Cobham who had been so successful at youth team level. With Jody Morris as his assistant who had worked with these players for years it felt like Chelsea had one eye on the future as well as a connection to the past with their record scorer in the dugout. This saw players like Mason Mount, Reece James, Gilmour, Tomori and Abraham flourish as well as young signing Pulisic play some of his best football in a Chelsea shirt. This felt like the future of Chelsea was bright, passionate young hungry players with specific pattern of play it was an exciting time to be a Chelsea fan and the project was looking like a masterstroke. However, the pandemic halted the progress of the team and when football resumed after a 3-month absence the players weren't as consistent as they had been before the break. This also allowed other clubs to realign their projects such as how Arsenal were able to accelerate their plan of action with Arteta. The following summer with Chelsea able to buy again the focus on youth and forward planning was still apparent with Havertz, Chilwell, Werner and Sarr coming on board however the progress being made under Lampard was swiftly ended for another short-term focus with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel. Champions league success was achieved again but at the expense of any real focus on where Chelsea were going. Playing well in the cups meant that immediate results was the main target despite failing to mount a real title challenge in the whole time Tuchel was at Chelsea. The only transfer of note purchased in Tuchel's only full season at Chelsea was Lukaku, a man known for his bad attitude and low work rate and was not a good fit at all.

The start of this season with the new ownership saw a scattergun approach to transfers with no real plan or focus at all. With some focus on the future with signings such as Hutchinson, Slolina and Fofana but also purchases of established players were still being played and Tuchel's resistance to playing youth meant this was never going to be fully welcomed by him. With the sacking of Tuchel and the hiring of Potter it felt like a project based approach was back on the cards for the fans. This was reinforced by the January signings of future focused players such as Enzo, Murdryk, Mudueke, Badashille, Andre Santos and Davide Fofana. The board were seen to be sticking to their man by handing Potter a five year deal and reiterated that this was a long term approach to building a team with a set pattern of play and young players growing under a consistent manager. Everything the fans were promised under Frank Lampard and what rival fans have seen present at Arsenal under Arteta. However, on Sunday 2nd April Chelsea relived Graham Potter of his duties and Chelsea fans are left wondering what happens next. Is it another short term fix to paper over the cracks of young players going elsewhere to become world beaters or are we actually going to be patient and build a solid foundation? For the future only time will tell.