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Another season, another managerial cannon fodder to fire into the abyss, and another summer spent searching for that elusive man who can bring the Champions League crown to the door of Stamford Bridge. Yes, this is Chelsea football club, where the bar is set at Peter Crouch-esque heights, where failure to deliver the Premier League title as the bare minimum means the sack, and where one of the most successful managers in the club's history gets his marching orders in a cold and eerily deserted Goodison Park changing room. Talk about ruthless.
One imagines the players were all sat on the coach at the time Carlo Ancelotti was told his fate; playing cards, listening to some R'n'B trash on their oversized headphones and looking forward to a few weeks on the golden beaches of Dubai. And therein lies a big part of the problem. Out of form and lacking basic motivation for long periods of this campaign, the players appear beyond reproach, while another manager picks up the can for them again.
There may be some debate as to whether it was ultimately the right decision to part company with the Italian coach or not, however the rank classlessness and amateur manner in which the news came about yesterday evening leaves a nasty, sour taste in the mouths of Chelsea fans. The club have argued that the decision was made to sack Ancelotti as soon after the final whistle on Merseyside as possible so that he had time to say his goodbyes to his staff and players. Cobblers. The club made a desperate bid to bury the news amidst the end-of-season relegation drama but not surprisingly really for anyone with a shred of common sense, it backfired. Even if the club had wanted to give the manager ample time to say his arrivederci's, as they insist, a simpler solution would surely have been to inform him of his dismissal in confidence in the aftermath of the match at Everton before releasing a proper statement, with a bit of dignity, in the morning.
However, the manner in which a manager who achieved a league and FA Cup Double in his first season in English football (only the God-like Kenny Dalglish has ever done it in his first season as manager, at Liverpool, and that was after nine years previously at the club as a player) was handed his P45 brings great shame to our football club. It has been a shambles and Ron Gourlay, Bruce Buck and Co, should hang their heads in shame.
While performances and results on the field have been markedly below par this season, Ancelotti hasn't been helped by a number of mitigating factors. For one, the long injury absence at the start of the campaign of Frank Lampard, the cornerstone of this Chelsea side, didn't help matters, and Michael Essien hardly stepped up to the plate in Lampard's absence. Didier Drogba forgetting to take his tablets with him to Africa and contracting malaria didn't help either. Nor did the board's grand austerity measures last summer, which saw the departures of Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Juliano Belletti and Ricardo Carvalho, with only Yossi Benayoun and Ramires coming in. Benayoun's six-month injury made it practically a squad shorn of three key squad members. And yet expectations didn't adjust accordingly. Still, the board demanded titles and European Cups be delivered.
However, all of this is not to say that Ancelotti has been flawless. He hasn't. His team have demonstrated time and again this season a fundamental lack of desire and motivation, factors that will always come back to the manager's door. He has been tactically out-thought in the Champions League for two seasons running now, first by José Mourinho and Inter Milan and then, this year, by Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. And, even when handed a lifeline by the weakest United title-winners for years, that was feebly thrown away without so much as a fight at Old Trafford. Ultimately, a trophy-less season at Chelsea these days means only one thing. In fact, the only manager in the Roman Abramovich era to have survived a summer after not winning the league title was Mourinho, and he only lasted until September.
Furthermore, Ancelotti's failure to wholeheartedly integrate some of the youth players into the first team squad has also been disappointing to see although, with enormous demands placed upon him, is it any wonder he's chosen the least riskiest option time and again?
Where does this leave Chelsea now? The word on the street is that Guus Hiddink will return as director of football, with Marco Van Basten as manager. Make of that what you will, though it hardly fills you with hope, does it?
But now is hardly the time to debate the merits of Van Basten, Andre Villas Boas or Harry Redknapp (*shudders with fear*). It is the time to raise a glass of your finest Italian red to one of our finest Chelsea managers. A man who not only brought an unprecedented league and FA Cup double to Stamford Bridge last season, but did it the right way, both on and off the field. Chelsea fans could never have dreamt of the day when 5-0, 6-0, 7-0 and 8-0 wins were regular occurrences at the Bridge, just like they could never have dreamt of being even a little bit admired by neutrals. Ancelotti, a charming man and a football man's manager, made those dreams reality.
Carlo, thanks for the memories. Your place in Chelsea history is cemented and secured. No shameful dressing room dismissal can devalue that.
Read more: http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... z1NCHOF6Mn
Mr Midas wrote:roman abramovich will be the downfall of cfc
Mr Midas wrote:not saying that he isnt the reason cfc is where they are today....but what you expect to achieve by changing managers every season or two?
better he come and manage the team himself
Lucian-2nr wrote: most importantly to keep a manager to build the team.....
Mr Midas wrote:Lucian-2nr wrote: most importantly to keep a manager to build the team.....
agreed. ok so you said not carlo right? so i guess not claudio, not jose, not avram, not scholari either? then who? hiddink? villas-boas? van basten? that means the board is doing a poor job at picking them.
Claudio shouldnt have been sold either...... and obviously JOSE... avram is a to soft, scolari sucks just as much as ancellotti .....
the board post jose has been horrible with their decisions... the fee paid for torres could have gotten us 3-5 talented youngsters ....
you're right we dont know what goes on behind the scenes but look at the things that happened this season.... sacking of ray wilkins (with which carlo said he had nothing to do btw), purchase of torres (whom carlo said time and time again that we didnt need btw), 3 million pound bid for steven pienaar (whom the manager said we didnt need btw). who then (if not the manager) is making all these decisions?
Thats a good question?? who?? as I said most likely roman is going based on the advice of individuals... most of those top guys rely on advisers ... seating here and saying roman this and roman that not gonna do sheit... As usual people go based on the retarded information the press feed them.. and in the world of football listening to media is just retarded.... having roman as the boss comes with good and bad... deal with it... his good outshines the bad....
i would be pissed if i spent all that money and aint achieve what i set out to, but changing managers frequently isnt the answer. RA needs to hold up on his heavy handed approach a bit and let the team get some stability, give the manager time to build HIS team and stop managing from the back.
thankfully you didnt spend it, Roman needs to do what makes him happy.. fack what anyone thinks.. his money his team..... a billi a billi ... a billionaire
also, where does the blame on players fall in all this?
it falls on them and the coaching staff... a lapse from some players is cool.. but an entire team? piss poor performances... they doing sumn wrong in training
Lucian-2nr wrote:thankfully you didnt spend it, Roman needs to do what makes him happy.. fack what anyone thinks.. his money his team..... a billi a billi ... a billionaire
BLUES ON BEST BEHAVIOUR
Posted on: Thu 26 May 2011
The Barclays Premier League has released the Fair Play Table for the completed 2010/11 season and Chelsea finished at the top.
The points total in the table is determined by a team's ability to avoid red and yellow cards plus in each game, a score is given for positive play, behaviour towards the opposing side and the match officials, and the behaviour of the club's staff at the game.
Those categories are marked by an assessor in consultation with the match officials.
Tottenham and Manchester United are in second and third places respectively. Fulham in fourth, the highest-placed side in the Fair Play Table having not already qualified for European competition next season, are handed the place in the Europa League given to England due to the nation's second place in Uefa's own fair play table.
Matches up to and including Sunday 22nd May 2011.
Position Score Avge
1 Chelsea 324.3 8.53
2 Tottenham 322.0 8.47
3 Man Utd 317.8 8.36
4 Fulham 316.0 8.32
5 Blackpool 315.8 8.31
6 West Ham 314.8 8.28
7 West Brom 313.3 8.24
8 Arsenal 312.8 8.23
9 Liverpool 311.0 8.18
10 Man City 310.8 8.18
11 Aston Villa 310.8 8.18
12 Everton 309.0 8.13
13 Wolves 308.0 8.11
14 Wigan 307.0 8.08
15 Blackburn 305.0 8.03
16 Bolton 303.8 7.99
17 Sunderland 302.3 7.95
18 Stoke 302.0 7.95
19 Birmingham 300.8 7.91
20 Newcastle 299.3 7.88
pioneer wrote:drunkenscorpion wrote:Yup, first big game is against Manure yes.... I believe that match will give the momentum to the winners until the year end break.
LOL wut?
betta?
Andre Villas-Boas has tendered his resignation at Porto in anticipation of a move to Chelsea, the club confirmed in a statement to the stock market.
Porto received a fax from the coach in which he informed the club that his 15 million euro (£13.2 million) release clause will be activated.
As a result his contract at Estadio Dragao will be terminated and he will be free to be appointed as Roman Abramovich's latest manager at Stamford Bridge.
Porto confirmed the news in a statement to the Portuguese stock market on Tuesday morning: "Porto has been notified of the intention of coach Andre Villas-Boas to terminate, without just cause, his contract with the club, immediately activating his release clause."
It had been reported that Abramovich was unwilling to pay the full amount dictated in the release clause but the Chelsea owner has now relented in order to recruit Villas-Boas. His contract will officially be deemed terminated once the deposit for the release clause has been paid.
Though just 33, the Portuguese coach has already established a formidable reputation having won the Portuguese league unbeaten last season, as well as securing the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League in his first season at Porto.
A student of Sir Bobby Robson when taking his first steps into coaching, Villas-Boas also worked as assistant to Jose Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter before taking charge of Academica in October 2009.
After less than two full years of coaching he now finds himself returning to Chelsea and replacing Carlo Ancelotti at one of Europe's biggest clubs.
It is reported Villas-Boas will seek to sign Colombian forward Falcao from Porto, who scored a record 17 goals during the club's successful Europa League campaign last season.
His agent, Claudio Mossi, says the player would be open to a move to Stamford Bridge.
"If Villas-Boas is the new coach of Chelsea it is normal for players that are closest to follow him," Mossi told The Sun.
Eurosport
Birthplace: Porto, Portugal
Previous Clubs: British Virgin Islands, Academica de Coimbra, Porto
Honors: Portuguese Primeira Liga: 2011; Portuguese Cup: 2011; Portuguese Super Cup: 2010; UEFA Europa League: 2011
One of the world's most exciting young coaches, Villas-Boas firmly arrived on the scene in his first season at FC Porto, when he won the treble and took the team to an unbeaten league campaign. However, the young coach resigned the summer after, with Chelsea favourites to snap him up.
Villas-Boas' career as a player never got off the ground. Indeed, he had plans to become a football reporter but a break at FC Porto came courtesy of neighbour Sir Bobby Robson, who invited the 16-year-old to training while in charge in the mid-90s before later offering him a job in the club's youth set-up.
The coach has insisted that Robson was key to his development, maintaining that: "He was decisive in the love I feel for this profession and for the doors he opened for me at that age. I owe him."
Villas-Boas' English language skills - his grandmother is from Cheadle, near Manchester - saw him impress in Portugal and he gained his UEFA C coaching licence at the age of 17, before moving to become the head coach of the British Virgin Islands national team at only 21.
Moving back to Porto to take charge of the Under-19 side, he picked up his B and A licences and would later be promoted to study under another young manager named Jose Mourinho as his assistant.
Learning from a master, he was a key component of the club's success in claiming the UEFA Champions League 2003-04 and was labelled Mourinho's "eyes and ears" by the man himself. Therefore, it was no surprise when Villas-Boas followed Mourinho to Chelsea and Inter Milan.
At Chelsea, his role was to compile Opponent Observation Department (OOD) reports - basically a secret service-style dossier on Chelsea's rivals, and usually delivered as a DVD presentation. However, a year after Mourinho had taken on a new chapter of his career at Inter in 2009-10, Villas-Boas took the decision to cut the cord and try and make it on his own.
He soon found a job with in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Academica de Coimbra, filling a vacancy created by Rogerio Goncalves. Taking over a club in crisis, he was so effective that the side finished 11th that season and also reached the Portuguese League Cup semi-finals.
The team's attacking style gained praise and he was linked with a move to Sporting Lisbon, before he moved back to Porto again to take on the manager's role after the departure of Jesualdo Ferreira. His first title arrived when Porto beat Benfica 2-0 in the Portuguese Supercup and more were to follow as one of the most impressive debut seasons in recent memory also saw him take the Portuguese Primeira Liga (unbeaten), UEFA Europa League and Portuguese Cup titles.
However, his head turned by interest from Chelsea, Villas-Boas resigned in the summer and, with a release clause of 15 million euros needing to be met, it was only a matter of time before he joined one of Europe's top clubs.
Strengths: A strategic thinker who has learned from the very best in his short career, his motivation and attention to detail are unparalleled. As humble as they come, he is also an excellent and inclusive man-manager.
Weaknesses: Yet to be tested in the top leagues of Europe, he may lack the dominating personality that has made Mourinho so successful.
Career high: Clinching the treble with FC Porto in 2010-11, which included the UEFA Europa League trophy.
Career low: His time at the British Virgin Islands was not a successful one, although he was only 21 at the time.
Tactics: Almost obsessed with tactics, he holds special 30-minute tactical teach-ins the day after every match - plus sessions after each training stint. He likes a lone centre-forward, with an attacking 4-3-3 in the shape of the formation Mourinho employed in his early days at Chelsea. Against stronger opponents, the wide players tuck in and create a solid 4-1-4-1 system, but counter attacking is still a key part of the philosophy. There is also great emphasis placed on a team ethic and he has been quoted as saying: "If a midfielder does not fight for me, he does not have a place in the team."
Quotes: "People focus a lot on the work of the manager and I don't see it that way. I don't see myself as a one-man show. Football isn't won by one person but by collective competence. It is the quality of the players and the structure of the club.'' Andre Villas-Boas, May 2011.
Trivia: After winning the Europa League, he became the youngest manager ever to win a European competition, at 33 years and 213 days of age.
Andre Villas-Boas has formally cut his ties with Porto after the Portuguese club confirmed his release clause has been paid, freeing him to be confirmed as Chelsea's new manager.
Porto confirmed earlier on Tuesday that Villas-Boas had resigned and that the coach had told the club his 15 million euro (£13.2 million) release clause would be activated.
The fee has now been paid to Porto, who have appointed Villas-Boas's former assistant Vitor Pereira as his replacement at Estadio Dragao.
A statement from the club read: "Porto has received from Andre Villas-Boas the amount foreseen in the release clause of this employment contract,"
It is reported that the man who took Porto to the league title unbeaten last season, as well as winning the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League, is in London to finalise his move to Stamford Bridge.
More to follow...
Eurosport
Porto have confirmed that they have received the required payment to release Chelsea manager-in-waiting Andre Villas-Boas from his contract.
The 33-year-old tendered his resignation with the Portuguese and Europa League champions earlier on Tuesday to pave the way for his move to Stamford Bridge.
That resignation has now been accepted after Porto received compensation, which is reported to be £13.2million, and Villas-Boas is set to hold talks with Chelsea on Wednesday.
Discussions in London will focus on Villas-Boas' salary, which is understood to be £90,000-a-week, and his determination to bring members of his backroom staff to England.
Fitness coach Jose Mario Rocha is an important colleague of the Porto native after they also worked together at former club Academica Coimbra.
Opposition scout Daniel Sousa is another thought to be wanted by Villas-Boas when he agrees a probable three-year contract.
Villas-Boas, who led Porto to a domestic double as well as winning the Europa League last season, replaces Carlo Ancelotti, who was sacked in May after failing to win a trophy in his second season having won the Premier League and FA Cup in his first.
Villas-Boas, who becomes the youngest manager in the Premier League, moves to London after Chelsea paid £13.3 million to trigger an escape clause in his contract.
"Andre was the outstanding candidate for the job," said a statement on the Chelsea website.
"He is one of the most talented young managers in football today and has already achieved much in a relatively short space of time," the statement continued.
"His ambition, drive and determination matches that of Chelsea and we are confident Andre's leadership of the team will result in greater successes in major domestic and European competitions.
"Andre will bring his coaching experience back to a club he is already very familiar with, having previously worked here for three years.
"He has always been highly regarded at Chelsea and everyone here looks forward to welcoming him back and working with him."
Villas-Boas worked at Chelsea as a scout under Jose Mourinho, who left Porto seven years ago to join the Premier League club.
Although highly-rated for his achievements at Porto, where he brought success with style in his 20-month reign and was unbeaten in the league last season, Chelsea initially seemed set to return to Guus Hiddink in their search for the man to finally bring them the Champions League after so many near-misses.
The Dutchman, who enjoyed a successful spell as caretaker boss at Chelsea in 2008-09 and has a close relationship with Abramovich from his days as Russia coach, is currently Turkey's national team manager but speculation that he might still arrive as director of football has cooled.
Former Chelsea midfielder Ray Wilkins, sacked as Ancelotti's assistant last November in a move blamed by many observers as contributing to the team's decline through the season, welcomed Villas-Boas's appointment.
"We've had lots of older coaches come in at Stamford Bridge and they've not done as well, so we have to give this young man the credit for what he has done up to now," Wilkins told Sky Sports News.
"Let's give the young man a chance, he's obviously done exceptionally well. His man-management skills from what I can read from the players he has worked with have been first-class.
"That will be required at Stamford Bridge because these are big players, big guys, and it will be very interesting to see how this young man goes on."
Villas-Boas, who proved a shrewd operator in the transfer market, is likely to try to persuade Porto's Colombian striker Falcao to follow him to Chelsea after his prolific season, which included 17 goals in the Europa League alone.
With Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka all vying for a starting role up front, the addition of Falcao would give Villas-Boas formidable firepower.
Reuters
DI MATTEO RETURNS AS ASSISTANT
Posted on: Wed 29 Jun 2011
Andre Villas-Boas this morning introduced his new backroom team, announcing the return to the club of Roberto Di Matteo as assistant first team coach.
The Italian is already a Chelsea legend, having served the club as a stylish midfielder between 1996 and 2002, when injury forced his retirement at the age of 31, and now rejoins the club to become an important member of backroom staff with top level coaching experience.
Di Matteo is best remembered at Stamford Bridge for his FA Cup final goals of 1997 and 2000, the first of which set a Wembley record for the earliest in a final after just 43 seconds.
The 41-year-old was most recently manager at West Bromwich Albion, where he achieved promotion to the Barclays Premier League at the first attempt before departing The Hawthorns in early February this year. He previously spent a season in charge of MK Dons.
Villas-Boas also brings with him to Stamford Bridge Jose Mario Rocha, a 48-year-old fitness expert who worked alongside the new manager at both his previous clubs, Porto and Academica.
Jose Mario Rocha with Villas-Boas
Another new face will be Daniel Sousa, who will become head opposition scout, the role previously occupied by Villas-Boas in his first spell at the club between 2004 and 2007. Sousa also worked alongside Villas-Boas at each of his former clubs.
Following the success of last season's reserve side, who became national champions, reserve coach Steve Holland will also step up to work with the senior squad, becoming an assistant first team coach, while Christophe Lollichon continues as goalkeeping coach.
Chelsea face a nervous wait as reports escaping from their Cobham training camp suggest that midfielder Michael Essien has seriously damaged his knee.
The news was first broken on Twitter by former Chelsea player Jody Morris. "Sad news about michael essien...1st day full training aswell," he tweeted. "Sorry tweeps...heard he done his knee..cruciate.."
The club are said to be drafting a statement for release after Essien undergoes more tests from medical staff.
Essien missed much of the 2008-09 season with a damaged cruciate knee ligament before succumbing to a medial ligament injury at the African Nations Cup in 2010, missing half the 2009-10 campaign and the World Cup.
Should the feared worst proved to be true, then the Andre Villas-Boas regime would be expected to enter the transfer market for a player in a position where a pool Ramires, John Obi Mikel and youngster Josh McEachran already look stretched.
