In a day where football managers are lucky to last 2 seasons
unless they win the champions league or their respective league title, it isn’t
all too surprising to see Mourinho get sacked. But, is this what is needed for
Chelsea? Will this do more good than harm to the Chelsea football club? Let’s
take a look.
Three years ago Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea after
leaving in 2007. From 2004-2007 Jose won the FA Cup, two League cups as well as
two Premier League titles. From there, his
relationship with the still current owner, Roman Abramovich became troubled and
Mourhino quit despite having three years left on his contract.
When Jose Mourinho replaced Rafael Benitez in the summer of
2013, fans were no doubt ecstatic. The self-proclaimed “special one” was here
to lead Chelsea to their first title since 2009-2010.
The first season back for Mourinho was not one he hoped for
but was none the less a good start back at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho’s Blues
finished third in the league, 4 points behind the leaders Man City and 2 points
behind Liverpool. Jose revitalized Cheslea fans once more and there was a plethora
of optimism for the next season.
The fans were right. The 2014-2015 Chelsea squad dominated
their opening 14 games. They went 14 games without a loss to start the season
with only 3 draws. The draws came from Manchester City (1-1), Manchester United
(1-1) and Sunderland (0-0). Their first loss came to Newcastle of all teams in
their 15th game. Chelsea went on to top the premier league with 87
points, accumulating only 3 losses the whole year.
A quick recap of Cheslea under Mourinho--3 Premier league
titles, 1 FA Cup, 3 League Cups and a Community Shield Trophy.
But why, after just 16 games this year has Mourinho lost the
faith of the owner and the rest of the board? This season has been abysmal by
any standard, with the worst start through 16 games by the previous year’s champion
in premier league history. There are a lot of questions surrounding Jose and the
relationship with his players- Costa, Hazard, Matic, Fabregas and Ivanovic all
coming under heavy criticism from the media and Jose himself.
Why sack him now? Why sack a manager who has proven he can
win at any team he decides to work for. It doesn’t seem right. This is very
similar to Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid last season. Ancelotti won the
Champions League his first season in charge but failed to claim any other
trophy the following season. Does this warrant his firing? A manager who leads
his team to the most proclaimed trophy outside of international football, is
fired the next season because he didn’t win anything. They still finished
second in La Liga.
It seems like owners and board members are not willing to
give managers a chance anymore. It does
not matter what their track record was coming into the club. The only thing
that big clubs want to see are wins and trophies which is very understandable,
but what about developing a team? Giving
the managers some time to develop and produce a side that can contend year in
and year out. Letting the managers sign young and mature players to plan ahead;
a solid foundation for years to come. Sir Alex Ferguson did it best, but he
also had the owners full support in the matter which made all the difference.
The constant turnover of managers at small and big clubs has
become apparent within the last few years. The average stay for a manager in
the Premier League is now only 2.22 years. I seriously doubt any manager, even
the great Sir Alex Ferguson could produce a season where he would please
everyone within that time.
Only time will tell what this decision by Abromovich will do
to Chelsea this season, but in my opinion I don’t think it will do much. With
an owner who has gone through 12 managers since 2000, there is little chance
that a new manager will come in and make as big of an impact as Mourinho did
during both of his terms.
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