Ruud Gullit is a man who knows a thing or two about the chaos at Chelsea – he was manager when Ken Bates was in charge, let’s not forget.
Yet watching from afar, even he’s been surprised by the chaos this season. Mauricio Pochettino was appointed with talk of a long term project, struggled through the season, finally found a winning formula, achieved his goals – and then was sacked.
It’s all rather odd, and in an interview picked up by TeamTalk, the former Chelsea player-coach explained how he felt about the whole thing and how it reflected on the Blues ownership.
Paul Winstanley walks alongside Todd Boehly
“If you don’t perform at Chelsea, you are immediately out. That is still the case,” the Dutchman said.
“That was already the case in my time under Ken Bates. I still think it is a very strange club, it also happened to Carlo Ancelotti. Pochettino was in a difficult position, he knew that.
“And he actually managed to squeeze out a reasonable performance, although it was not great.
“During my period I still had the feeling: this is a football club. There was another thought behind it, with Roman Abramovich. But if you look now: you can’t really identify with that, can you? It seems like a business model; it’s just making money.”
He’s not the only one who fears that the new direction we’ve taken seems more focused on profits than trophies, although the evidence of the last two years has made profits look almost as tricky to come by.
Perhaps what this ownership have underappreciated is that selling players for a profit requires them to play well, and that require a winning team. And generally speaking, winning teams aren’t best built by sacking a coach the moment they seem to find their feet.
Source: “It’s just making money… you can’t identify with that” – Former Chelsea player slams
