Player Power!? ……

No no, not the impressive over powering of a weaker opponent on the pitch but the grumblings of players not getting their own way. Sadly becoming a historical problem at Chelsea when things are not right. So is it not right?…. at what point is player power acceptable?

When the man in charge is deemed a complete idiot….. well we had plenty of those here as well. Last being Scolari, who I did think prior was a good choice (shows my depth of football management) but that apart, he was clear not only had he lost the plot when found out how to beat his winning formula, he had no plan B and everyone at the club became concerned, then the players were at the height of their abilities and did not want to throw away the opportunity of success, so the axe fell.

However what about Grant? (No this is not a personal attack on the man it’s just an example) His credentials for the job were…. None! Other than being a good old mate of the Governor, maybe a side issue of getting rid of the man already here who had fallen out with said governor. However Grant had no qualifications to be a manager, let alone a manager of Chelsea’s undoubted world class standing at the time. If we had had some one credible I’m sure we would not have come up short that season. Where was the player power then when it was also obviously needed? And if it appeared it was very weak.

Now this time the circumstances are different, in AVB we do have a manager, with recent club success, and was part of TSO’s group. For sure it’s not gone well this season and we are playing some really dreadful stuff, we either leak like a sieve or are as toothless as a 40 year old tiger with dentures. However it’s clear that the players we have or some of them do not like and agree with what is going on. Yes it is very different now, we are not challenging for the top spot and anyone who thinks we can win the CL, really does need stronger medication. Arsenal got mangled by a fair Milan, not a good Milan, but a fair Milan. I really don’t fancy our chances against Napoli either, but rather that and get completely dismembered by a team like Barcelona.

I suspect many of the players who don’t believe are the ones who are at the twilight of their careers, and of whom this season have also failed to live up to their previous amazingly high standards. Sorry but old father time catches up with everyone eventually. I’d also agree that AVB has not been the most convincing either, he does not carry the weight of authority well, and some of his game changing substitutions change things for the worse. Many of our performances have been really ugly, and to lose 6 games already takes us back to 2000. In short we are a mess and its not going to get any better in the short term, we did little to re-address the issue last summer when we should have made more changes, and in this last transfer window (the second hand market stall option) we did nothing much either.

So what do we do?…… Change and bring in another saviour, and hope that will be enough to get us out of the mess we are in? Then we really do need wholesale changes during the summer, and maybe yet another manager! so it could be another start again like 2003/04 but this time with financial restraints, that is even if we can still qualify for the CL, even the Europa league looks unlikely at the moment. Or do we suck it and see if AVB can turn the ship round. Its like choosing to jump from an aeroplane without a parachute at either 5,000ft or 10,000ft either option does not look at all attractive. However the longer the uncertainty is around the longer the problem will go on…… For once the Governor must speak and either fire the gun, or lock it away in the draw and throw away the key.

I’m resigning myself to a couple of years of Chelsea being in the wilderness and a complete revamp of the team, with many popular high wage earners departing and more unproven potential arriving, we are safe from the drop and that considered try and pull together, if the payers who are now complaining and texting TSO get their fingers out, stop whinging and follow instructions, then maybe we have half a chance of saving our season.

We are not even good enough to win the FA Cup!

Player power, more often than not it’s a bad thing….. With the very rare exception, and this is not that time.

Posted by Voltaire

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