Chelsea fans, do not to buy into the media outrage, whether you agree or disagree with the dismissal of Carlo Ancelotti, I am sure you remember how wrong the media and opposition fans thought it was to sack then Chelsea manager Phil Scolari mid-season. I am sure you also remember how much of a complete a U-turn they would later go and do eventually praising the decision as Guus Hiddink was brought in and proved very successful.
At the turn of the year (2011) when it was thought that the West Ham board were to axe former Chelsea manger Avram Grant there was similar outrage. David Gold & David Sullivan, the owners of West Ham decided against sacking Grant in fear of fan and media outrage, they let the media (who are a fickle bunch) dictate their decision, this is weak, for as much as West Brom were criticised during the same crucial period for some say prematurely sacking their manager Di Matteo, the decision is now paid off and the media has changed their tune, the decision is now lauded as Roy Hodgson has since performed remarkably at the helm and rescued West Brom for the clutch of relegation.
Gold and Sullivan now maintain that they had known Avram Grant was not the right man for a long while, and that in hindsight they wish they had shown more valour and gone with their gut.
Who remembers cries from opposition fans and critics asking “Why sack Ranieri?”
“He (Claudio Ranieri) finished 2nd and in the semi-finals of the Champions League, who can they get that can do better than that?” Were there articles following admitting they were wrong about the decision to sack Ranieri or Scolari?
No there wasn’t, there was even a campaign for Avram Grant to be kept in his job after his efforts to take Chelsea to the finals of the Champions League, the same Avram grant that is now almost universally slated, these people do not have the best interest of clubs at heart.
They will preach to you about stability and they will mention Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. Chelsea have had a revolving door policy and have still been more successful than Arsenal, as for United? Who are the best team in the world? The general consensus is that this title belongs to Barcelona. The Catalan club have been through a plethora of managers in the last 15 years, they recently sacked a manager in Rijkaard, who had won the club 2 UEFA Champions League trophies. Guardiola was hired and apart from winning La for the club. Liga in his first year he has gone on to win the league title every year and also win a Champions League for the club.
In fact recently new managers have “trashed” this notion of stability, Inter Milan brought in Mourinho, who won Serie A in his first season and then won the league title again in addition to the Champions League in his second season. Didier Deschamps managed to steer Marseille to their first Ligue 1 title in 18 years, this was in his first year at the club. Carlo Ancelotti won Chelsea the double in his first season at Stamford Bridge. If stability was so much of an advantage, considering Chelsea hadn’t spent big money in a good number of years, how did Wenger and Ferguson allow newbie Ancelotti to win the Premiership in his first season with virtually the same squad that hadn’t won it for 3 years?
At last an article seeped in reality rather than knee jerk vitriol. The section about Sturridge was spot on as many supporters just couldn’t work out why he wasn’t given a chance when he was scoring for fun in the cup and reserves. Carlo had a reputation at Milan for obsessing about wringing out every last day of the older players and Pato aside he failed to bring a new young spine to rebuild that side so it’s no surprise that he failed to bring any of the real talant Chelsea have in the reserves ( they won the reserve league) and establish them in the first team.
A well written and factual analysis probably lost on most brain-dead Chelsea oppo supporters (and I hate to say it – some Chelsea “modern” supporters too)