Since the good old days that i've been a chelsea fan (cough 1998 cough cough) our beloved club hasnt really had a period of general stability. Back when people thought we were a mid-tier team and when the EPL was the third rate league underneath La Liga and Serie A, the good old Premiership was the bitch of both Manchester United, and for a season or two, Arsenal F.C. Liverpool F.C was fading away into nothingness, and Ewood Park's Blackburn Rovers had begun their descent from Alan Shearer and King Kenny to who cares and why does it matter. Teams like Tottenham had their one-day savior in Gary Lineker and their job as stepping stool of the table, Newcastle was a top-tier club visiting the champions league every so often, and of course Leeds United wasn't bankrupt and their atrocious yellow jersey's stunk up the premier league.
Chelsea had gone through some decent managers in Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli and although our team had high hopes and potential, the expectations most fans have today at the bridge are without a doubt 3000 times stronger today then back in the day. With the exception of the one season under Ranieri where Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was sure we would hold the domestic crown up high (2002-2003), we were a 6th place team, and the day we finished off fourth and in the champions league that was the furthest we were believed to reach. Alas, while our ragged hooligan-laden club would taste champions league football, we had no idea that Ken Bates and his tyranny would finally pull off the revolutionary masterstroke that would change the footballing world forever.
While our dear Chelsea team was full of blooming talents in John Terry, Frank Lampard, Eidur Gudjohsen and Carlo Cudicini, it was Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise leading the way in the old days, pushing our team to a top 10 place and guaranteeing a cup win or two. Chelsea was the team where an accomplished veteran would prepare for club retirement or where a sleeper talent would begin the best parts of their career. The Chelsea F.C of the old days was indeed a team with the expectations of Aston Villa today. A team with some very strong players, but no serious Marquee names. However this talented team would often fight against the very titans of English football, treble winning Manchester United, domestic dynamos in Arsenal, Michael Owen's Liverpool (my how things have changed), Alan Shearer's Newcastle, and Rio Ferdinand's Leeds (indeed how things have changed!) At any rate, Chelsea may have had Zola, but he was certainly not as highly acclaimed as Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera, or Denis Bergkamp, though probably Rio. And even then, Newcastle was under the managerial noux of Bobby Robson, a british legend and united has living legend Sir Alex Fergie, and Arsenal had the amazing water into wine talents of Arsene Wenger. If anything, Liverpool was shite at the time, but Gerard Houiller was certainly a better manager then Ranieri, Gullit, or Vialli.
Fast-forward a bit to the Ranieri days. An italian manager who couldn't speak a lick of english and was if anything, an unsure man drained of confidence. He would rotate the squad so frequently his nickname became the tinkerman, however as he tinkered he began to nuture youth talents. John Terry and Frank Lampard would grow to become the best in their position under his tutelage and although he would sell club legend Dennis Wise, he would go on to create a new Chelsea. Under Gullit and Vialli, Chelsea was full of old veterans who had the ability to win cup ties, but had neither the stamina nor the drive to fight for the league. Ranieri would lead a new revolution in place and when Ken Bates sold the club to Roman 'sugardaddy' Abramovich, the signings began to pour in and Chelsea would push off United, Newcastle, Liverpool and the nearly depleted Leeds United to become a titan in the Premier League.
Of course, without winning anything Ranieri would lose his job, and although it was considered a sad end for such a great man for the club it was a necessary end. Having lost to the invincible Arsenal squad in the premier league was acceptable to a level, but losing to recently retired Didier Deschamps AS Monaco team in the Champions League was considered a disgrace. Deschamps at this point had retired quite recently as he was with the chelsea FA cup winning squad of 2000, making his manager experience a whopping total of 3 years in a team without any seriously strong players in a league considered the 5th best in the world. (the dutch league or the german league was 4th)
It is at this point that Abramovich would choose Mourinho over Sven Goran Erikksson (oh how the times have changed...) and we would become the most hated team in english football (or soccer) which played ugly defensive victorious long ball tactics full of a Sam Allardyce feel, but with pressure defense, strong set-pieces and an unbreakable defensive shield and a battering ram offense. And although Abramovich would end up spending a good 100 million GBP in the process to create a team of depth and menace, it would force other teams in the premiership to put up or shut up, creating the Big four and in the process bringing a new gambler's and expert's pick to win pretty much every trophy including the coveted champions league.
Of course, with such investment there comes a necessity for Champions League victory, a trophy which eludes our enigmatic club to this day, and despite the efforts of Avram Grant (who i will not write about due to the endless hatred of him), Big Phil Scolari (who turned out to be a huge failure) and the great Guus Hiddink (that was just unfortunate) have one empty trophy case in the hallowed hall in the bridge.
Jose's arrogance as the special one put Chelsea on the map as fast as possible. We became back to back premiership winners and would break records for least goals conceded and most points in a season. However despite the many many victories and trophies, the team Jose created would still play the boring pressure football which was successful but ultimately the most boring thing in the world. I would gouge my eyes out if I had to compare Jose's Chelsea to Hiddink's Chelsea because Jose's teams would play the long ball and then use the counterattack to get a good cross in, or rely on Lampard to score an unbelievable goal. And despite our Set-piece superiority, the games would become exceedingly dull. And thus, after a string of bad form (losing to villa, drawing to Rosenborg in the champions league) and not playing the players Abramovich wanted (Shevchenko definitely, Ballack somewhat) and for not winning the champions league in three tries, Roman would fire Jose, a huge shock to some, but in some ways a way to clean up Chelsea's image. If anything, Chelsea was akin to an arrogant snobbish guy in the arcades, who learned one ridiculously cheap combo, and would continue to spam it over and over and then if anything went wrong would block every attack and then counter attack effectively, if anything a very boring way to play. Roman wanted to see 10 hit combos and flashy moves, running fullbacks, exciting interplay, tricks and of course a champions league trophy. Which would lead to one of his strangest managerial choices yet. Enter Avram Grant, a short fat awkward looking man who was hated for his judaism (which to me was complete bullshit considering that Roman himself is a jew, something which many chelsea fans forget far too conveniently) at any rate, his football was the exact same as Jose's though probably less inspired, and if it was not for the miraculous performances of Michael Ballack and Joe Cole due to his faith in them, and the subsequent rage that drogba would have against Rafa Benitez, Chelsea would not have reached two finals (the champions league being the big one) as well as be level with points against Manchester United. If anything, Avram was a smart scout in the transfer market, buying Jose Bosingwa, Anelka and Ivanovic, all staple members of the first team. And his confidence in Ballack and Joe Cole would ensure two more big hitters for the future of the team, however his career would end due to several unfortunate incidents. For one, Avram could not control Drogba, who would go onto bitch slap away Chelsea's chances in the champions league final. Furthtermore due to his strange appearance and lethargic performances, Avram would be sacked. It would be considered unfair, but most fans simply wanted a more experienced man at the helm. And we would learn to be careful for what we wished for... Next the giant bald douche that is peter kenyon (yea i said it, i had that scumsucker) would hire the biggest fish in international football managers (well.. second biggest, i'd say hiddink was the biggest at the time) Luiz Big Phil Scolari, or as he would be parodied as the "Gene Hackman" (they do look alike). Big Phil was expected to bring a samba style to the defensive dullness in Chelsea's game and was also expected to bring both champions league and premiership to the trophy cases of the club. A man who had won the world cup, and had steered Portugal from extremely talented into major tournament favourites was seen as the top man for a club that was begging for everything he would bring to the table. And boy did we celebrate. His first win against Portsmouth was seen as something out of a dream, attacking fullbacks mixed with a deadbolt defensive midfielder with fast paced wingers and some truly enigmatic goals. He promised us Deco would be our Zidane and was modest and charming to the press. Then the robinho saga happened. Kenyon (the biggest d-bag in english football in the last 5 years) would go and drop the ball on signing robinho a good three times, by insulting madrid, underpaying the transfer fee and not realizing the danger of Manchester 'Abdul Fayed UAE' City we would lose a potential creative player and would have to rely on Frank Lampard for practically everything as Joe Cole would get injured and Drogba would once again be uncontrollable. And although there was a major improvement in Ashley Cole's game, our defense struggled at set-pieces (something we were invincible at before) and our beloved Bridge would face the onslaught of defeat at least three times, each blow stronger then the last. It all culminated in a 3-0 loss to Manchester United, perhaps our worst loss as our team was uninspired (once again) and totally unwilling to fight. Our only player at the time who would try to pull everyone together would be Lampard, and despite his amazing abilities, could not salvage us from a poor string of domestic results. And so Roman would sack Big Phil (which to me was a bit excessive as i figured he would be a better coach after a year, and would rebuild the team entirely making them younger and less grouchy). Big Phil's reign was seen as promising but tactically retarded (it's not PC but its the only way to put it) as the chelsea team with the samba style would repeat the same attack plan and would try to engage the long-ball attack that was so promising under mourinho. As big phil could not step outside of mourinho's shadow, our chelsea team would need to be rescued by the best living manager in the world. The enigmatic Guus Hiddink. Hiddink would of course fix everything and would even put us in contention for all remaining competitions even getting us to win the F.A cup in the limited time he had with the team. Under Hiddink, Drogba would be back to his best, Malouda would become a winger marvel, our team would once again be able to defend everything (look at the barca game at camp nou, that was a defense masterclass) Essien would come back and would be inspired to score a ridiculous number of holy-shit goals, Cech would improve (albeit only slightly) and Lampard would get better (despite already being the best player for chelsea) We would go on to knock out Liverpool in the champions league which at that point was at the peak of their abilities, and despite holding barca to a draw and being congratulated on the sidelines by their own coach, chelsea would lose the draw against barca in the champions league on away goals. Then drogba lost it, and that concluded the remaining big portions of the season. Chelsea would win the FA cup, and everyone would still commend hiddink on fixing practically everything, especially as he was juggling both the Russia team and Chelsea.and now here we are. Most fans would know Chelsea's current status right now. We have Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, and a strong team under pressure due to the transfer blockade put on us by fifa. Just as well, it should give our team a chance to develop players. But as time has so drastically changed (shit talks money walks) it makes one wonder if Manchester City will be in the same position as us today 3 years from now... However one thing is for certain, Ancelotti is one of the best managers in the world (sound familiar?) and has proven his ability with AC Milan and their senior citizens in the champions league two years ago. There is definitely a high probability that the champions league will come to chelsea (or at least the finals) and that although he is ranked less then Hiddink, I would rank him at par with Mourinho. As a tactically sound manager, as well as a man capable of dealing with grumbling veterans. And if you think about it, if he messes up, Hiddink comes back and we enter a new era of ridiculous victory. so I guess it's win-win with chelsea. And the only person who takes the hit is Roman and his wallet. Let's just hope that Ancelotti can give us what we want, because i actually like him the most out of all the managers we've had since (clearly not over hiddink though, hiddink is in the god-like tier, i mean among mortals)
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