Chelsea owners and board

[xceleryx]

9 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

Do people think that Boehly and co. were just ignoring the atmosphere at the ground and online?
It was shockingly negative against Potter.

It wasn't (just!) results that killed him. It was the fact that the fans turned and made it impossible for him or the team to function.

Can't see why that is so controversial!!!

By reports it was Winstanley and Stewart that drove the decision to fire Potter and not Boehly himself, so it's pretty difficult to see the decision being influenced by the supporter base and atmosphere. 

Results would've been the underlying reason, as would've likely been the lack of progression being made under his tenure. In fact, we were virtually going backwards.  We were bad, that's the bottom line. 

[Sleeping Dave]

On 17/04/2023 at 22:59, paulw66 said:

Well, you can take a sensible guess. 

Southampton, Leicester, Forest, Leeds, Everton..... All playing as bad as us, but ten points+ worse off. 

 

Not saying it is much to be proud of, but the bottom 3 will end up with less than 39 points.... 

 

And I don't think for a minute we won't get one single point from the last 8 games. 

4 points from the remaining 7 games is my best guess. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

15 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

I think next year will be our year.

….yep. I’m looking forward to the Championship Winners victory parade too! 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Chelsea_Matt

[east lower]

16 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

I think next year will be our year.

Have you moved to Merseyside?

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said:

4 points from the remaining 7 games is my best guess. 

Plenty 

[Max Fowler]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

By reports it was Winstanley and Stewart that drove the decision to fire Potter and not Boehly himself, so it's pretty difficult to see the decision being influenced by the supporter base and atmosphere. 

Results would've been the underlying reason, as would've likely been the lack of progression being made under his tenure. In fact, we were virtually going backwards.  We were bad, that's the bottom line. 

But the performances were predicated on the bad atmosphere. It wasn’t working. We didn’t like Potter here. The players lost confidence - in no small part because of the hostile atmosphere. The whole thing felt broken and Potter couldn’t recover it. That wasn’t based on a neutral supportive environment giving Potter every chance he could get. He was dealt a bad hand after Tuchel was fired the way he was. Potter started overthinking his press conferences - swearing etc. feeling the constant pressure after fans called for his head every week. Winstanley and Stewart may have realised sooner this wasn’t working - the idea that this was detached from the fans and their huge impact on Potter and the players is for the fairies. That Boehly fired Potter at all this season was partly because of how shocked he was at the atmosphere. Boehly had all intentions to stick with Potter until next season.

[Bob Singleton]

50 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

But the performances were predicated on the bad atmosphere.
[SNIP]

No, the performances were down to bad/non-existent coaching. The bad atmosphere was a result of those poor performances, not the other way around. Potter was sacked by the senior technical staff who saw the data. The decision was signed off by Boehly & Co.

[Mark Kelly]

6 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

No, the performances were down to bad/non-existent coaching. The bad atmosphere was a result of those poor performances, not the other way around. Potter was sacked by the senior technical staff who saw the data. The decision was signed off by Boehly & Co.

Indeed when the entire playing staff at your disposal regress it's a bit of an indicator of how well you're coaching them isn't it? 

[Max Fowler]

I mean I think it's actually false to frame one or the other as coming first. There were numerous factors interweaving to create the mess that we ended up with.

But this seems absolutely clear to me:

1) If the fans had been right behind Potter throughout his tenure and still behind him in the same way say Liverpool fans are behind Klopp (or even close), performances and results would not have been nearly as bad as they were.

2) If the fans had still been right behind Potter at the end, there was no way in hell he would have been fired.

[xceleryx]

2 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

But the performances were predicated on the bad atmosphere. It wasn’t working. We didn’t like Potter here. The players lost confidence - in no small part because of the hostile atmosphere. The whole thing felt broken and Potter couldn’t recover it. That wasn’t based on a neutral supportive environment giving Potter every chance he could get. He was dealt a bad hand after Tuchel was fired the way he was. Potter started overthinking his press conferences - swearing etc. feeling the constant pressure after fans called for his head every week. Winstanley and Stewart may have realised sooner this wasn’t working - the idea that this was detached from the fans and their huge impact on Potter and the players is for the fairies. That Boehly fired Potter at all this season was partly because of how shocked he was at the atmosphere. Boehly had all intentions to stick with Potter until next season.

@Bob Singleton summed it up nicely. 

Poor performances were the reason for a poor atmosphere, it wasn't the other way around in this instance. 

Whether Boehly intended on keeping Potter around or not doesn't matter, there's every chance he could've just accepted the season for what it is and then fired him at the conclusion of it. Instead he's taken the advise of the football people he hired, pulled the trigger, and given us a longer duration of time to assess possible candidates to try and make the most informed decision we can on who takes over next. 

End of the day the performances weren't good enough, virtually every player regressed, and we're in the bottom half of the table. That's the nuts and bolts of it really and the basis of why Potter is no longer here. 

[thevelourfog]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

But this seems absolutely clear to me:

1) If the fans had been right behind Potter throughout his tenure and still behind him in the same way say Liverpool fans are behind Klopp (or even close), performances and results would not have been nearly as bad as they were.

Sorry guys, if I hadn't thought a shit coach was shit and had happy-clapped every other weekend anyway, we'd maybe have an extra point.

(Being glib, we both already know that our different views on this aren't ever being reconciled).

[ROTG]

All one can hope if TB sports department are to hire a coach currently unemployed now is time to hit the reset button and get him in to assess the squad for the summer cull. 

Should this not happen one can assume,  TB sports department have their eye on another who is employed.

Edited April 19, 2023 by ROTG

[Sleeping Dave]

5 hours ago, paulw66 said:

Plenty 

I’d say it’s pretty far from being “plenty”. Depends on what the expectations are of course but given the money we’ve spent, for us to finish 5th best in London, beaten by our two little brothers Fulham and Brentford. 

It’s embarrassing! So happy I don’t live in London anymore or have a Twitter account. 

[boratsbrother]

Point about future sponsorships.

While it's understandable for Chelsea fans to not care what fans of other clubs think about our club, is it not a worry to see us being ridiculed left right and centre? If you were owners of a company looking to  sponsor a brand, would you choose one which is being seen as a laughing stock? 

Not just crap on the field of play but an image problem off it is a bit a worry moving forward.

[Bob Singleton]

39 minutes ago, ROTG said:

All one can hope if TB sports department are to hire a coach currently unemployed now is time to hit the reset button and get him in to assess the squad for the summer cull. 

Should this not happen one can assume,  TB sports department have their eye on another who is employed.

Only Enrique anf Pochettino are currently available. Naglesmann (should he be their choice) is currently on "gardening leave". He may no longer be in charge of Bayern, but he's still contracted to - and presumably being paid by - Bayern.  It's not just a case of Naglesmann wanting a break and taking his time to view his options... he can't just accept and walk into a job tomorrow without Bayern's say-so even if he wanted to.

What we need to be careful of is not leaving it so late that, for example, Poch agrees to go back to Spurs, Naglesmann goes to Madrid (with Ancelotti taking up the Brazil NT job) and Enrique going to PSG with us left with no-one.

[Mark Kelly]

8 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Only Enrique anf Pochettino are currently available. Naglesmann (should he be their choice) is currently on "gardening leave". He may no longer be in charge of Bayern, but he's still contracted to - and presumably being paid by - Bayern.  It's not just a case of Naglesmann wanting a break and taking his time to view his options... he can't just accept and walk into a job tomorrow without Bayern's say-so even if he wanted to.

What we need to be careful of is not leaving it so late that, for example, Poch agrees to go back to Spurs, Naglesmann goes to Madrid (with Ancelotti taking up the Brazil NT job) and Enrique going to PSG with us left with no-one.

Come come Bob are you forgetting Brendan?

[Sciatika]

Maybe me, but I doubt that BM would want to keep paying him until 2026 on gardening leave as well as the annual amortisation of 25m euros it cost to get him. Taking him off the accounts would be a benefit to them - the sooner, the better - though we will probably have to pay the residual amount (guessing 15m euros). Also, I expect that they have an informal agreement in place well before the end of the season given there is no transfer window. Obviously, this is an assumption because I do not have access to his contract. 

[ROTG]

7 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Only Enrique anf Pochettino are currently available. Naglesmann (should he be their choice) is currently on "gardening leave". He may no longer be in charge of Bayern, but he's still contracted to - and presumably being paid by - Bayern.  It's not just a case of Naglesmann wanting a break and taking his time to view his options... he can't just accept and walk into a job tomorrow without Bayern's say-so even if he wanted to.

What we need to be careful of is not leaving it so late that, for example, Poch agrees to go back to Spurs, Naglesmann goes to Madrid (with Ancelotti taking up the Brazil NT job) and Enrique going to PSG with us left with no-one.

 Bob all good points. 

My take is if the club can pay £20m for potter then one would assume getting Neaglesman out of a contract should be a piece of cake especially with TT wanting AB. You also Herve the alleged quote from Enrique that he wanted to take the job before the RM matches. 

My concern is the TB sports department have already draw up a list of players going and coming this summer, and acceptance of who the club hires as the next coach.

Something needs to be done sooner rather than later.  

[Mark Kelly]

5 minutes ago, ROTG said:

 Bob all good points. 

My take is if the club can pay £20m for potter then one would assume getting Neaglesman out of a contract should be a piece of cake especially with TT wanting AB. You also Herve the alleged quote from Enrique that he wanted to take the job before the RM matches. 

My concern is the TB sports department have already draw up a list of players going and coming this summer, and acceptance of who the club hires as the next coach.

Something needs to be done sooner rather than later.  

It's a good point , we shouldn't be keeping players that the new coach doesn't want and selling those he does , I get the impression if it's Nagelsmann he has a studied philosophy of how he wants to play and our squad should reflect that. 

[thevelourfog]

I suppose we're also taking the club at their word ... That there genuinely is an ongoing search and no decisions have been made. Seems just as likely to me that the next manager is already done, and just isn't formally taking up the position until May. Whoever it is and whatever their contractual status is, they will very much already be assessing the squad. 

[ROTG]

1 minute ago, thevelourfog said:

I suppose we're also taking the club at their word ... That there genuinely is an ongoing search and no decisions have been made. Seems just as likely to me that the next manager is already done, and just isn't formally taking up the position until May. Whoever it is and whatever their contractual status is, they will very much already be assessing the squad. 

Could well be a right field appointment 

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said:

I’d say it’s pretty far from being “plenty”. Depends on what the expectations are of course but given the money we’ve spent, for us to finish 5th best in London, beaten by our two little brothers Fulham and Brentford. 

It’s embarrassing! So happy I don’t live in London anymore or have a Twitter account. 

Come on, mate, I wasn't being serious.

It is "plenty" in terms of us being relegated (or not), but of course, whatever happens in the next 7 games, it has been woeful.

New manager, sweep out some of the deadwood, and onwards we go

[martin1905]

54 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

I suppose we're also taking the club at their word ... That there genuinely is an ongoing search and no decisions have been made. Seems just as likely to me that the next manager is already done, and just isn't formally taking up the position until May. Whoever it is and whatever their contractual status is, they will very much already be assessing the squad. 

I have every little doubt that this is the situation. Everything points to Nagelsmann. The timing of his sacking and Potters, the appointment of Lampard, so quick and completely out of the left field. The fact that the two other most likely candidates, Pochettino and Enrique would have probably jumped at the chance to take on Madrid. Also you just can't ignore the two fellas we have that used to be at Leipzig. Everything we have seen, with Enrique and any other rumors are all a smokescreen.

I firmly believe the new man, Nagelsmann, is already in place but can't be announced because of the contract situation with Bayern and he will already be looking at who he wants to stay, who can leave and who he wants to bring in.

[Max Fowler]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

@Bob Singleton summed it up nicely. 

Poor performances were the reason for a poor atmosphere, it wasn't the other way around in this instance. 

Whether Boehly intended on keeping Potter around or not doesn't matter, there's every chance he could've just accepted the season for what it is and then fired him at the conclusion of it. Instead he's taken the advise of the football people he hired, pulled the trigger, and given us a longer duration of time to assess possible candidates to try and make the most informed decision we can on who takes over next. 

End of the day the performances weren't good enough, virtually every player regressed, and we're in the bottom half of the table. That's the nuts and bolts of it really and the basis of why Potter is no longer here. 

But do you seriously think the atmosphere didn't impact the level of performances?
Fine - we played terribly when Potter had credit in the bank after a fairly decent start.
But Potter was always dealt a bad hand because the fans hadn't got over Tuchel. 

Once fans decided we didn't like Potter we stopped supporting fully him - regularly booing the team off.
Potter and the team's confidence was shattered every time they played at the bridge.

I am not excusing Potter - I just don't buy that the fans didn't have a massive part to play in him being fired.

It's a results business at the end of the day - but the fans impacted our results massively.

Potter was the ultimate culprit - he needed to keep fans on side with better press conferences and interviews - as well as - of course - tactics and performances.

The atmosphere got incredibly hostile because of his terrible excuses and we just didn't like the guy at all.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Max Fowler

[Blue Moon]

Why does that old song keep running through my head? ....

     "Hang down your head, Todd Boehly
     Hang down your head and cry
     Hang down your head, Todd Boehly
     Poor boy, you're bound to die"

Might have got a few words wrong, though ... new words for the last line, anyone?