As we enter the ‘business’ end of the season, we can look forward with anticipation: who will win the league? Who will finish fourth? Which teams will gain a Europa League spot? What 3 clubs face playing next season in the Championship and who will survive? At the time of writing, there are still 9-10 Premier League games left to play and therefore around 30 points available to each team. With all this left to play for and a Manchester derby on April 30th that could well decide the title, it certainly prepares us for a nail-biting climax to the current season.
However, what if we take a look backwards? Of course, with a chunk of the season still left it may seem premature; yet what I wish to discuss is a concerning, interesting and thought-provoking subject. My question is this: What signifies progress for a top team?
The first of three examples is Liverpool. Opinions vary between Liverpool fans who are unsure to believe that their historic club is moving in the right direction or it is in fact heading backwards. Many of us saw an entertaining Carling cup final at Wembley this year between Liverpool and Cardiff and even though the Merseyside club eventually lifted the trophy, it did not seem like an overly convincing performance from a team whose fans warmly look back on their not too distant European dominance, strongly believing that is where they still belong.
Kenny Dalglish promised to bring silverware back to Anfield when he took over from Roy Hodgson and just over a year later, he has begun to fulfil his promise. On the other hand, a look at Liverpool’s league form tells a different story. With 8 draws and at home this season and several defeats littered amongst their fixtures, a Carling cup success story simply papers over the cracks for the Reds.
Speaking to the Guardian’s Sport recently, Dalglish was quoted as saying “Kit deals and a happy club are as good as points”. Sure, having a happy club plays a major part in morale and positive performances. In response to his other point, for me, if it was a choice between kit deals and points it would be a no-brainer. Dalglish will be the first to know if Liverpool are underperforming and on course to drop points, so as someone who has an incredible amount of influence to where his team will finish at the end of the season, so with the recent poor run of form (setting the Merseyside derby apart) the comment about kit deals could be viewed as an attempt to ‘dig himself out of a hole’. Progress is what is expected for Liverpool; the last thing Dalglish will want to do is admit any thought of the club heading backwards.
Next, we move onto Chelsea where more often that not, progress for the club is cut short by the explicitly desirous yet easily displeased Russian Billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich. Since Abramovich took over at Stamford Bridge in 2003, too many managers have joined and subsequently parted company from Chelsea with an outrageous redundancy payment as Abramovich watches on in hope of achieving his dream: Champions League success.
Since welcoming Abramovic at the club, over £1bn of the Russian’s money has been spent into trying to find the winning formula.
As a result, Chelsea have undoubtedly progressed. However, they will go nowhere if high-profile, well respected European managers continue to make Stamford Bridge look like a bus stop.
Chelsea’s purchase of success and glamour has made them a worldwide brand, with fans and followers in every corner of the planet. However, that does not make their internal workings and structural cohesion produce a Champions League trophy instantaneously; only time can buy that.
In terms of progression and in my opinion, Chelsea took a huge step backwards after they sacked Andres Villas-Boas. As inexperienced and naive as he may have been, he had the courage to drop senior players from the first team. The Portuguese 34 year-old was brought in on a 3 year deal to take the club through an imperative transitional period (the ‘project’?) last summer, only to become a rumoured victim of a so called ‘dressing room revolt’, leaving Chelsea back at square one momentarily while Di Matteo attempts to tidy up the mess.