At first glance, the new owners seemed to be doing everything right. They arrived with ambition, invested heavily in the club, and hired a promising coach. However, hidden underneath has been a series of questionable moves that have led to one of the most spectacular collapses in Premier League history. We have now gone almost half a year with the lowest number of wins in the league. Stunning!
To me the flashing red lights started popping with the departure of Petr Cech. The departure of Cech was a significant moment that signaled the new owners' willingness to strip down anything that did not meet their high standards based on objective criteria from the world of analytics and high performance. This was just the beginning of a series of losses for us, including the massive changes in backroom staff such as Maria's quick departure and the exit of Buck. This approach of making drastic changes may work in the business world, but football is not just a numbers game. The fabric of a club is built over years, and success is not just about buying the best players and making high-profile moves. Success is built upon day-to-day excellence and the people within the club who understand and embrace the club's history and culture.
By making so many drastic changes, the new owners ensured that the very essence of Chelsea Football Club, its people, was lost or at least changed for the worse, and there is no easy way to get that back now. If the new owners wanted to start fresh, why not buy a cheaper club like Nottingham Forest instead of paying billions for Chelsea and devaluing it with these moves? They did not even make sure a proper transfer of knowledge happened. They just chucked out a large part of the DNA of the club.
The problem is not the players. It is not the coach. It is that our DNA has been altered. And that is the one thing that makes me very worried going forward.
