Shortly before Christmas, off the back of a poor run but following qualification for the last 16 of the CL, this column wondered if the season could turn out to be something special (see Special Ones Too). And it certainly has, but not in a good way. A slew of defeats, players who don’t seem to be bothered about putting in a shift but are only too happy to collect their 000s of Ks every week, and continued reports in the media of problems in the dressing room culminated in yesterday’s abject performance at West Bromwich Albion, resulting in the dismissal today of Andreas Villas Boas, less than 9 months after his appointment as Chelsea manager.

As someone who has never received football coaching in their life, it is difficult for me to comment on the mechanics of a performance. All I see is players passing the ball. Whilst I’m au fait with systems and styles, like a typical woman, I prefer incidents to statistics. In spite of being there, I couldn’t tell you who scored our goals in the 3-2 defeat at Man Utd in September, but I remember Ian Marshall of Leicester pulling a hammy whilst trying to nutmeg Albert Ferrer in front of the still unroofed West Stand and getting celery chucked at him in about 1999. So I’m not really the one to say whether AVB didn’t know what he was doing on the tactics front. All I know that he failed to pull on a shirt in any of our games recently. Whilst the buck stops with the manager, our players have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how much they have contributed to letting the fans down.

It is not the first time player power has hastened the demise of a manager at Chelsea. As long ago as 2000, Gianluca Vialli lost the dressing room, and at the time when a revised Bosman ruling was being threatened resulting in contracts no longer being worth the paper they were written on, Ken Bates and Colin Hutchinson were presented with a “him or us” ultimatum by a number of players (this was confirmed to me by the respected Italian journalist Giancarlo Galivotti several years ago). Whilst Franck Leboeuf attracted most of the opprobrium directed at the players on this occasion, he was certainly not the only one involved and even tried to offload the blame on Gianfranco Zola – in a radio interview on the day of his last game at Chelsea, he commented “Gianfranco has much more power at Chelsea than me”. Indeed, Vialli’s own comments on Twitter today hint at a frosty relationship with the club’s new caretaker manager, Roberto di Matteo.

Stories about player unrest have abounded in the press recently, usually attributed to a “senior player”. I hope whoever he is, he will now expend his energies for the rest of the season in galvanising his team-mates to get their fingers out. The decision to appoint di Matteo as caretaker manager until the end of the season is an indication that Chelsea have a clear target in mind but need to wait until the end of the season. Were that not the case, either Benitez or Capello, both free agents, would have been appointed today. Given Jose Mourinho’s very public visit to London last week, combined with news of a further alleged visit on Monday, and information provided by a source to this column that Mourinho and Abramovich had dinner at a top London hotel last week, last week’s article “Return of the Special One” may yet prove to have been barking up the right tree.

As usual, the ones suffering most at this time are the fans. I know people who set off for Albion at 6am and reckoned they weren’t going to get home till midnight. Approximately 1600 hardy souls travelled to Napoli two weeks ago. As I write, Chelsea lie fifth in the premiership and no doubt there are those amongst the inter-continental support (and possibly one or two in the UK) who have decided that the club are so last decade, and transferred their support elsewhere. These are the very people that our CEO is keen on cultivating at the expense of those who invest their time and emotion, not to mention maxing out their credit cards, on supporting CFC in the flesh and not through the medium of their television.

I think the last time I felt so low about a manager was, surprisingly, the day Ruudi was sacked (when Jose left I was in an emotional maelstrom, and when Luca was sacked I was so ill that if Ken Bates had turned up to announce the news in person I probably wouldn’t have turned a hair). However, we Chels are a resillient lot. Whilst I’d be surprised if we sell out Birmingham away, the faithful will be out in force and giving 100% of their passion to the cause. Let’s hope the players can do the same.

In case you don’t recognize the quote, it’s from one of the best films to come out of the 1980’s: Top Gun.

I did change the spelling from “Goose” to “Guus,” for many Chelsea supporters’ favorite Dutch manager: Guus Hiddink.

Right about now, the speculation is swirling that Guus will be the new Chelsea manager. News has even come out from the Turkish FA that they are powerless to stop Guus from leaving if he so chooses.

The father of Super Frank has also added fuel to the fire by proclaiming he believes Hiddink will be in place fairly soon. There is the problem of a compensation package for ending his contract early, but when has money ever stopped Roman from getting something he wants? I know, I know, we still haven’t won the Champions League, but all in due time.

Speaking of the Champions League, it was in the 2008-2009 season in which we were knocked out of the semi-finals not by Barcelona, but by the referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo. It was Guus who led us there after taking over temporarily for the fired Big Phil Scolari.

We also can’t forget the FA Cup that Guus won with us, as well as the almost flawless record he had in the EPL: only one lost game to Tottenham at White Hart Lane. So Guus did wonders for us when in charge on a temporary basis, but will he be a good fit on a permanent basis?

I think he will. At this point, regardless of whether you think Carlo Ancelotti is one of the few world-class managers left or if you think he was awful and deserved to be fired, we need a new manager and fast!

If I were a player, I would be hesitant to move to a club if I didn’t know who was going to be manager. Hell, when Gary Williams retired as the coach of the University of Maryland’s Men’s Basketball team, the whole freshman recruiting class asked to be released from their commitments to Maryland.

While I don’t expect that type of response to an approach from a manager-less Chelsea, players will probably think twice before becoming a Blue.

Guus has a great CV, with a TON of experience managing clubs and international teams. He’s won the Dutch league 6 times, Champions League, took South Korea to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup and much more.

He’s done much with little, and he did a great job for us. Surely his relative stagnation with the Turkish National Team is only a blip on an excellent managerial career.

I would love to see the man with free taxi rides for life (in South Korea) become the new Chelsea manager, not to mention he already has the trust and respect of Mr. Roman.

What do you guys think? Do you think Guus will be a good fit for Chelsea?

Keep the Blue Flag Flying High!

As it looks as though Carlo Ancelotti’s tenure as Chelsea manager is coming to an end after our exit from the Champions League and failure to win any trophies there are a number of candidates that have already been tipped to take over from the Italian.

It was recently reported that the players have asked Roman Abramovic for a “dream management team” of Jose Mourinho manager and Guus Hiddink as sporting director.

Although both are already contracted with Real Madrid and Turkey respectively, both already have a connection to Chelsea from their times as manager, and it has also been widely reported that Jose and Abramovich have buried the hatchet that saw the Portuguese manager leave, and ever since the Chelsea Inter Milan Champions League match last season, the pair have been in constant contact.

Both would obviously be favoured choices by both the players and fans as both were adored by all when at the club and both were successful in their times at the club. However it may be hard to obtain either as they already have contracts with other clubs, furthermore Jose seems to have his heart set on taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson once he retires.

There are other managers that have been put into the hat to take over from Carlo, Frank Rijkaard has been included on the list, a name which may be favourable to Roman’s desires of European success and attractive football as he won the Champions League with Barcelona, playing attractive football that truly was pleasing to the eye.

Another manager that has recently offered Roman his services was World Cup winning manager Marcello Lipp,i who wants to come out of retirement and has already expressed his desire to work in the Premier League, and that he would welcome the challenges of the Chelsea job. Other names have been included on bookies list of potential managers including; Marco Van Basten, Didier Deschamps, Martin O’Neil, Andre Villas-Boas, Pep Guardiola and even Rafa Benitez.

The long shots are ex players like Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Di Matteo and Gus Poyet, who all would obviously be fans favourites as managers although none of them have enough experience yet, so to choose them would potentially cause more problems as we are a team that need, and to a certain extent expect, instant success. Therefore going for an unproven manager would in my mind, be extremely unlikely.

The obvious choice would be to bring back either Hiddink or Mourinho, however the Turkish FA have already said they would not welcome any approaches for Hiddink. As either would be unlikely, Roman must go for someone that has proven success and can bring on the next generation of Chelsea players.

Therefore, I feel Deschamps would be the perfect choice as he has shown at both Monaco and Marseille has can create a good team spirit and having got Monaco to the Champions League final a few seasons ago, and having won the league with Marseille after 18 years without winning it.

Having been France captain he’s also showed he is a leader, and during his time as Juventus boss he showed he was capable of managing big egos as players like Del Piero and Buffon were present in a team playing in Serie B. He also has experience winning the Champions League as a player with both Marseille and Juventus, and also was the World Cup winning captain with France.

To further add to his already favourable CV for Chelsea, supporters must look at his time as a Chelsea player where he helped guide us to winning the FA Cup, which shows he has experience and knowledge of the club, and would already have some knowledge of Chelsea’s history and culture that is present.

June 2003 will forever go down in Chelsea history as the date that the face of our club changed forever. Roman Abramovich waltzed into SW6 with the single purpose of transforming Chelsea FC into the biggest club on the planet.

In 7 years we have won the League three times, three FA Cups, two League Cups and with any luck (or a decent referee) will win the European Cup before not too long. However, things could have and should have been far rosier.

The current predicament or crisis, depending on your Chelsea perspective, is merely a microcosm of the Abramovich era: behind the scenes issues overshadowing and impacting on the field matters far more than they ever should.

This is not a reactionary article; people who know me or follow me on Twitter will know that I invariably remain positive. Nevertheless, we are beginning to once again see what board intervention does to our club. Suffice to say the internal politics at Chelsea make FIFA look like a transparent footballing institution.

It has come to the point where the club has an eerily similar feel about it to the weeks before Mourinho’s acrimonious departure. That remains for me, the biggest mistake we as a club have made under Roman. The similarities are striking, if not more poignant for Ancelotti.

On the back of the club’s first ever Double, a sensible board decision would have been to build upon the squad and make improvements. Therefore, the en masse cull of the squad was somewhat of a surprise during the summer. Releasing three first-team players on free transfers (Ballack, Deco & J. Cole), selling a world class centre back (Carvalho) and an exceptional squad player in Belletti signalled a move in the right direction.

All well and good if we had replaced them with suitable candidates; Ramires may turn out to be a brilliant purchase, but with players of Özil’s calibre going for considerably less, my questioning surrounds the squad composition.

The purchase of Andriy Shevchenko left a lingering shadow over the autonomy of the manager. That shadow has recently overarched the concept of the manager as the conduit for the playing side of the football club. When Ancelotti uttered he was there merely for technical direction, the shift was complete – we have a manager not in control of his own squad.

Cast your mind back to the days of The Special One and look at the similarities. The undermining of Mourinho began with interference, reached boiling point with the “spy on the bench” (Avram Grant or Emenalo if you’re into your conspiracy theories) and culminated with him leaving by “mutual consent”.

Shevchenko was purchased as a gift to enable José to win the Champion’s League. He goes down in living memory as arguably the biggest let down in Chelsea history and the catalyst for one Chelsea’s biggest mistakes. If the Manager is not in charge of his own squad, then who is making the transfer decisions?

If recent reports are to be believed Ancelotti did not know about the signing of Ramires nor did he want to release Ballack. So why have the board tangibly weakened the squad without consulting the manager? We clearly do not trust the youth to play serious minutes as Bruma, Sturridge, McEachran, Kakuta and Van Aanholt cannot buy a game at the moment.

Even more annoying when you consider there are two very usable English kids on loan in Cork and Mancienne, who will be overlooked and sold (most likely). I previously wrote about the futility of the youth academy system, this has illustrated my point superbly well.

Looking at Manchester United, how important have Messrs O’Shea, Brown, Fletcher and Evans become over the years? Why does every youth product need to be world class before playing? Would Mancienne run his heart and soul into the ground on the pitch? Yes. Has he ever let us down in his appearances for Chelsea? No. What about Cork? Have we missed someone who can put his foot on the ball in midfield? Yes. Can Cork do that? Yes. It beggars belief why they haven’t been kept around the squad.

Ancelotti has essentially been sent into the title fight with one arm tied behind his back. If we talk about usable players (those trusted to play serious minutes), our squad is overtly thin. Cech; Bosingwa, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, A. Cole, Zhirkov; Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ramires; Malouda, Kalou, Drogba & Anelka. Sixteen players versus twenty-one from last year, is there any wonder that we turn to the bench and we have nothing to throw on to change games?

Rational fans would see this as a season to push on all fronts, blood the young players and hopefully pick up a trophy. With the depth of squad, why have the board stated that we should retain the League and essentially win/come close in the Champion’s League? They have taken the decision to considerably weaken the squad and we are seeing the consequences.

You cannot tell me that we went into this season banking on Cech, Terry, Essien, Lampard and Drogba to remain fit throughout. Even the most amateurish football club can see the pitfalls of such a plan staring them in the face. Terry succumbs to that long-term injury, Essien inevitably gets sent of stupidly and picks up niggles, Lampard has the first serious injury in his career and Drogba is/was playing with malaria.

Sadly we do not have the squad to cope with the level of injuries/suspensions/illness we are presently seeing. People bemoan Ancelotti for the lack of a “Plan B” – with this squad that would constitute a gamble beyond what Carlo can afford to take. Against Everton we needed to control the ball in the second half – bring on a Deco or a Ballack. The pressure Ramires is under to swim straight away is immense, give the lad some time.

This is where the Politburo comes into the equation. Plainly and succinctly the old cliché of too many cooks spoiling the broth is rearing its ugly head. What astounds me about the complexity of the decision making starts with Roman. How can a man who has made billions as a successful businessman get things so drastically wrong?

With around £43m to spend in the summer (£18m for Ramires and the reported £25m on the table for Neymar) and some very big holes to fill, whose decision was it to buy one player with potential? Roman has employed a team of people with conflicting motives, a group of yes men and glorified accountants.

Buck, Gourlay, Tenenbaum, Alexander, Barnard, Forde and the much maligned Arnesen all comprise the Chelsea board. Where is the leadership, the direction? The board are pulling in different directions. Buck spoke about marquee signings, but Gourlay clearly has cost cutting on his mind.

Arnesen has now resigned from his post, a sign of his waning influence behind the scenes. This prompts the question who is the new power broker behind closed doors? That is something that will probably reveal itself over time.

What needs addressing straight away is the direction the club is heading: the cascade to youth over experience seems an initiative to trim the wage bill. Yet, the Neymar bid showed that there was money to spend. Maybe it is simply a case of the right player at the right price? Or maybe I’m right in thinking that the £43m available could have been put to better use.

Given our high wage bill the balance between remaining competitive and cutting costs was always going to be a fine margin in lieu of the Financial Fair Play rules. January will remain a telling time in Ancelotti’s reign. He will no doubt want reinforcements, but will the club provide them?

It goes without saying our recent points total is more relegation than title retention form, but it surely cannot persist.

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Roman Abramovich, a Russian footballing phenomenon, sailed into the the history of Chelsea Football Club, our great club, by becoming the club’s owner during the midst of a cold rainy season in June 2003.

The Russian, relatively unknown in the UK at the time, saved the club from an uncertain future and possible bankruptcy, and provided the platform for which we have grown into one of the world’s largest and elite football clubs. The takeover was touted as the biggest in British football history without doubts.

It was indeed a night to remember in the history of the club, making Chelsea Football Club the richest club in the world, with the Forex playing a part in making the Roubles pour into the UK.

The papers read “Roman weds Chelsea FC, Football made in heaven!”, ”From the pensioners to the blues!”. Indeed it was like a wedding reception, because Chelsea fans didnt waste any time to welcome him on board and welcome him to our wonderful stadium, Stamford Bridge, The home of the mighty blues.

It was the beginning of THE golden era……….

From then on it was just the color of the mighty blues all around the world that went through a rigorous and sensational makeover making Chelsea a brand name worth reckoning within the shortest period of time. Not only has Roman embarked on this ambitious programme of the financial development of the club, but he has also shown considerable passion towards the game and the club.

Under his tenure, Chelsea has gone on to become a face of English football and one of the most consistent and successful clubs of the contemporary times. We have won Three Premier League titles, Two FA Cups, Two League Cups & Two Community Shields during the Roman era.

We have also reached the Champions League Final for the first time in the history of Chelsea Football Club in the month of May’08, under his ownership making it even more special by playing the final under his home town, yet another historical night to forget for the club considering the five times consistent Champions League semifinal performance.

A £100 million outlay on world-class players, that was the prize from Roman on his new foundation for the club, others called it a dangerous gambling spree. Indeed it was dangerous considering the enormous amount of money that was put forth infront of Claudio Ranieri but the resulting product was the end of Chelsea-Ranieri Era.

It was during the start of his tenure that a host of transfers of considerable importance was done, that of Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Wayne Bridge, Arjen Robben, Damien Duff, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo and Claude Makelele, the notable additions, but with the departure of Chelsea’s all time favourite and Legends of the legend Gianfranco Zola.

Success followed the next year with the additon of Champions league winning manager Jose Mourinho, the special one, indeed the special one within Chelsea hearts and a Premier League title, which made the Russian more than happy. Records spoke for us. Chelsea went on scoring spree and defended like a wall infront of goal. But the moment came when it was the night to be recorded as the most precious for Chelsea fans when Jose took Chelsea for back to back Premier League titles and embedded “Chelsea” in the history of English Football.

There were notable additions under Roman era the year later like the ones of Didier ”The Warrior” Drogba, Michael “The Bison” Essien, Michael “13” Ballack etc. Although there has been success through transfers under this era, there was considerable amount of flops too, like that of Andriy Shevchenko and Shaun Wright Phillips.

But Roman Abramovich’s efforts to strengthen the club is without any doubts crucial in our fortunes to date.

The one thing that makes Roman stand apart from any of the owners of English Top Flight Football is his passion for the club, an unquestionable scene, as he is seen cheering for the team in nearly every game, which has led to his liking by the fans. That is solely why this “We have the Roman Empire” makes us different from the “Hate you Glazers” to “Tom Dick and Harry, do whatever you want, don’t mess with our Club”.

With the long-term future of the club now secure, we can look forward to a continuing period of growth that has seen us become the world’s fourth-largest club in terms of turnover.

It is upto you to hold him high up in the sky or to criticize him just like how every other Manc does their owners. Let’s see if we still trust on the Roman blood and believe he can take the club further for even more greater heights.

It’s fair to say that one of the most common snipes from opposition supporters since Roman bought the club back in 2003, was that we’d be up the creek should he ever decide to leave us.

This wasn’t strictly true, but with the ‘debt’ millstone around our necks, many took aim and fired without seeing the irony of their own situation. Yes supporters of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, I mean you.

The club did indeed owe money to Roman however this was always interest free and with no heavy repayment schedule. At a stroke though, Roman has now signed away all debts owed to him by Chelsea FC by converting them into equity.

A statement released by Chelsea said: “Following previous conversions of half of the debt, the remainder of the interest-free loans from the parent company, whose ultimate controlling party is Roman Abramovich, have been converted into equity making the group effectively debt free.”

In doing so, Roman has also alleviated any threat from so-called ‘financial fair play’ rules being mooted in UEFA corridors of power. Indeed, the club could also be taking a different strategy; to squeeze our rivals in the economic downturn and over the coming years.

It was allegedly a visit by Roman in person to see Michel Platini that gave momentum to the plans for the proposed new regulations in European competition. This of course is convenient for Chelsea, as our rivals do not have the same option available.

One suspects the banks will not be as kind to Manchester United or Liverpool as Roman has been to us.

We would like to send our congratulations to Roman Abramovich on the birth of his baby son. Roman was reported to be “ecstatic” last night after becoming a father for the sixth time.

Roman’s girlfriend, fellow Russian Dasha Zhukova, gave birth to a baby boy on Thursday afternoon with his Roman at her bedside. The pair have decided to name the child Aaron Alexander Abramovich.

Abramovich, 42, also has two sons and three daughters with his ex-wife Irina.