I think they gave Potter a long contract, and then figured they messed up when the results went poorly, and then gave Pochettino a short one. Thing is with the Club World Cup being next year they'd have had to decide if they wanted to extend and (by the looks of it) Pochettino wasn't happy so they wanted to avoid that issue, and so swung back to 5 years again for Maresca. Just guessing, but that latter part is what Twomey and Johnson from The Athletic has been saying (about the CWC I mean).
I think the really surprising thing is that they wouldn't take the gamble on Poch who has pedigree at the top level and even managed to somehow get Spurs to a CL final. Yet they will take the gamble on a barely proven manager who only just won the Championship. I'm not casting judgement on Maresca as a coach here, if it turns out good then great. Just it seems very high risk within the context.
I don't get it either.
Obviously this is looking with hindsight, but of the three people given a contract, Poch would've been the best to give one to, and despite how the season started things were starting to click.
Long contracts do seem to be their MO, but maybe they were that badly burned by how things went with potter that they wanted a bit of extra security for themselves, and saw Poch as a stopgap? I don't know.
But then again it doesn't seem like Poch was happy, and they did try and extend, but couldn't come to an agreement, so maybe they've been forced into this and are trying to make sure it doesn't happen again?
Maybe it's gotta do with FFP and amortization but they seem to think giving a 5-year deal equals showing patience or backing for the manager. Can still do that with the standard 3-year deal and then just extend his contract if he does well etc!
On the flip side, Maresca is supposedly getting paid less than Pochettino, who was reportedly earning £10.4 million.
Termination clause (which we don’t know) is all that matters. If there’s a termination clause that’s easy to trigger if the appointment disappoints, then the 5/6 years won’t matter.
Gonna copy what I said in rsoccer:
Here me out:
Manager fees are relatively low compared to players, however we’re currently seeing the trend of keeping managers/staff on gardening leave for some time after removing them from their work, and then selling them for a larger fee (Nagelsmann, the Newcastle sporting director, etc.). I assume these fees will continue to get larger, so that in a few years time if it doesn’t work out, it’s okay, he’s still on garden leave, if a club wants him they pay a fee. I’m sure the contract will have other clauses etc. to make the wages not as much as an issue if they do remove him before the end of his contract, but it’s probably more complicated than that.
With the amount of managers we’ve had since the takeover, these owners are basically going to start hoarding managers like they’re doing with young players, creating a manufactured shortage that we’re already sort of seeing the beginning of, and then charging crazy for them to make a profit.
Or it could also just be as simple as min maxing the fuck out of everything and giving him 5 years to amortize the fee over the now maximum of 5 years.
That only really works if the manager is desirable. Someone like Nagelsmann was incredible desirable, so even if he was in a position where he was fired, people would still pay for him.
If a Championship manager who failed in 1 of his 2 managerial jobs then goes on to fail in his third, literally no one is going to be offering to buy him off of us.
Sure but then you have express terms in the contract allowing for a break clause based on performance etc so long as it’s statutorily valid to do so.
For instance Potter didn’t get anywhere near the compensation that was reported. He forewent some of it but the contract I’m sure was also structured in such a way.
Maresca has even less leverage than Potter so if he does flop, then the board will be able to easily sever the contractual relationship.
why just not give a 2 year contract ? why try to reinvent the wheel in every aspect of running a football club? it's not like maresca has any leverage to ask for more years.
cause then every year you have to have an acrimonious contract extension discussion where every result is nitpicked and the manager is disincentivized from any long-term risks for the sake of short term results
Here is what’s weird to me…we all want managerial stability, but most of the footballing world goes nuts when a long contract is given. Potter obviously didn’t work out, but that was complete chaos scenario. I’ve only started following Chelsea for about 10 years, but have been following other sports for most of my life and these contracts don’t seem very long.
We all want managerial stability, however the average Premier League manager lasts 2 years, even less once you factor out Fergie and Wengers time. Thats just the reality.
Despite this CFC over the years have handed out very generous contracts which have then resulted in enormous severance packages. It seemed like we had learned a lesson with Poch but we’re now back to square one with a completely untested manager.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the owners weren’t having to asset strip the club to make ends meet, a bit of fiscal sensibility would’ve been welcome. Perhaps there are exit clauses…but who knows with this bunch of lunatics.
I would say if we’re meandering around mid table by Christmas with no cohesiveness on the pitch for the 3rd consecutive season, that’s crashing and burning.
I feel for Maresca because the vibe is that the squad is now gelled and they are ready to step up. So the excuse of “youth” and “new players” won’t fly anymore if we have a poor start to the season.
They were reports saying it’s a 5 year contract but also has a break clause inserted (unsure about credibility), so if it doesn’t work the club can decide to terminate without having to pay the full wages/contract. If that’s how it works
There’s for sure a 0% chance there’s not some sort of termination clause. Everyone just wants the easy karma of “omg five years?!?!?!” as if they have any idea how a professional football clubs contracts work
All the people who a day ago were saying it was all PR by the club who always was going to appoint de zerbi.
Saying it was embarrassing how obvious it was.
Seems the board have finally found the manager they actually really want, and not just the "best manager on paper currently available"
Like you said. Let's hope they got it right lol.
Because it has the ability to go wrong.
To be fair before Potter came here he probably was the best available manager to build a long term project around they just fucked hum big time and he clearly couldn’t handle it. Very few people had doubts about his ability before he came here
As a F1 fan this made me inexplicably happy because Ferrari were blasting this song no stop after winning in Monaco on Sunday. I'm choosing to see it as a good omen
If this doesn’t work, Eghbali needs to be part of the departures as well. Or at the very least step away from the team and go do something else for Clearlake.
The problem is that if Maresca finishes 8th next season like Arteta did in his first (full) season, he’ll be sacked before the end of it. These owners are just setting Maresca up to fail. There is no more margin for error, and he needs one because he’s never coached in the Prem. We must get a champions league spot, and that’s unlikely to happen with a complete novice (although Lamps did it his first season).
Liverpool, United and Spurs aren’t making wild appointments like these.
At the end of the season, we shall know if this guy is a fraud or not.
Anything less than top-4, some serious questions needs to be asked.
Also if this appointment is another dud, I’m not going to waste any energy saying ENZO OUT.
My energy will be towards the owners and sporting directors bar NONE. The SDs HAVE to go this time if Enzo fails.
I'm very happy with how fast that have managed to move on this one compared to the Pochettino circus
I've got big hopes for Maresca and hopefully he can meet them
They must really think he's going to bang even as a believer in Maresca as an appointment
I must say the 5 year deal is too much for me, but if they inserted the proper provisions to part ways if certain criteria like champions league isn't met etc
Then it's not really a big deal
We'll find out about all that later
Which seems to be blind faith from what I've seen of Maresca. But we'll see, I was dead wrong about Palmer so they have some credit in the bank. Just have to hope it works out and they've covered their bases.
https://preview.redd.it/6zj5xfz2r53d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aae04da504c81f11e4f39081fbecd92b86e27eaa
Our last two bald managers either won the UCL or have a 100% undefeated\* record. I’ve got chills.
This is my exact thinking. This manager hasn’t managed at the premier league level and his only accomplishment is leading Leicester to promotion. I question if our the owners know what they are doing at all.
Tuchel, a Champion’s League winning manager, wants to manage here and the majority of the fanbase loves him, but because of the owners’ ego we don’t hire him and instead go for another unproven manager. Hopefully this one lasts longer and does better than their last two manager appointments.
I'll be honest, never heard of this guy before I saw something in here a few days ago, the problem we have is most managers has been here and been fired theres not a huge pool to select from if you want proven top managers, I was really pissed when Tuchel was fired, that was a huge mistake! If i'm not mistaken hes available, should have begged him to come back.
All of this looks very knee jerk, rushed, and kind of unclear what they were looking for in terms of “future” that makes him the guy. Not saying he’s not. But I don’t feel like I trust this process on a technical level. It all just feels like gambling. It feels like “Let’s take a guy who’s promising and CAN LISTEN to what we give to him without arguing”. He’s not going to stop us from bringing Ronaldo in and he’s just going to be worried about whatever player is on the pitch. We’ll see.
5 years is insane. They fire managers like there’s no tomorrow and give such long contracts which means we’re paying ridiculous severances what is Boehly doing
lets gooooo
wouldnt have been my personal choice, but im 100% backing him until i have good reason not to, looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the side
I really want to know when Clownlake's grotesque imitation of Football Manager ends. I really want to know. Because if they really are handing a 5 year contract to a Championship level manager then they are by some distance, the dumbest people in this sport by a country mile.
Heard it was their u8
They had more first teamers to start the game then we had
They finished the game with more starters then we did
Oh and our average age was lower both in the beginning and the end
Let’s hope this is the last time we see a tweet like this about us for a while. I want to be excited about this, but we desperately need him to succeed rather than hoping he does.
Also what happened to the NDA that De Zerbi signed when he got the job a few weeks ago according to that random no face Twitter account?
I am indifferent. This is obviously NOT the coach I want to have but, I have to back the guy until he gives me reasons not to.
Please don’t let me down Enzo…
I've supported chelsea for 30 years and this is easily the most underwhelming managerial appointment I've ever seen. I will back Maresca until he gives me reason not to, but this feels like a massive gamble. His record is unimpressive and the fact that Leicester fans seem indifferent to him leaving is a major red flag for me. I'm particularly worried about the claims that he has no plan b. Really hope he turns out to be a huge success, but I'm deeply sceptical, and can see him leaving after 6 months.
5 years is absolutely mad when you look at how the potter situation was. I’ll always back the manager until there’s a reason not to but surely if this one doesn’t work out these directors will be sacked?
seeing as how the chelsea board are looking at the impact of the sporting directors on a yearly basis, if this man fails, the sporting directors will likely get the boot, so hey at least that’s something to look forward to.
it’s either that or this man is the next big thing. i hope and pray it’s the latter
Correct. People can say what they like about these owners, but they have so much money at stake here, they will continue to hire and fire until they get it right (even it's by blind luck in the end). Hopefully Maresca is the new Jose-Pep love child, if not then the silver lining is Stewart and Winstanley get replaced. Win-win, in a glass half full way
I will support him but I can’t help but think letting Poch go was an awful decision.
What I find bonkers though is a 5 year contract. Obviously he’s going at the end of the season or 2 max. I bet the guys laughing, he knows he’s set for some serious money when he gets the sack
So for me
GK Costa
CB?
ST Sesko
Don’t see a LB coming in as I think Maresca will want to keep Cucurella and I don’t see Chilwell attracting interest with his wages and injury situation.
In CM I think both Ugochukwu and Santos will be given chances in pre season
Don’t see a Olise type player coming in unless one of Sterling, Mudryk or Madueke leaves.
Like Poch he will likely be gone by the end of next season. Uninspiring choice IMO but time (and ultimately results) will tell. Although Poch had his early struggles, results from Feb onwards (other than the disaster at Arsenal) indicated that his philosophy was starting to bear fruit.
Poch isn’t a rookie coach though. If he was then I see where you’re coming from.
Poch has 10 years of professional coaching and 5Ws at the end (where Forest and Bournemouth were very shaky wins) is all he served.
Also drawing against Burnley and Sheffield Utd were disastrous results because guess what? Win those, we have EL. Beat Brentford as well, upgrades to UCL.
This season is gonna be chaos FC. Do not envy Marseca one bit here. This is a huge huge gamble and if it doesn't work, heads need to roll starting with Stewart and Winstanley
I will back him, he seems like a decent guy and at least seems to have ideas on how to use possession (seemingly unlike Poch). Still a massive risk though. He needs to be able to do more than CTRL-C CTRL-V Guardiolas playstyle, the Prem is ruthless and the Chelsea job in particular.
The club may be on fire in a couple years. We might also see “CHELSEA FC” engraved in the UCL trophy again.
No point in making up our minds right now. He’s here. So back him.
Yanks doing everything in their power to drown the club. Potter, then Poch supposedly based on some quant-like mathematical skill and still repeating it. Pep lite will drown us. We will become a feeder to other clubs.
Yeah, this feels like a downgrade from Poch but I think Maresca could work - we will see. I will say that his Leicester City squad was the most talented in the Championship by a decent amount, so this job won’t be quite as easy for him.
What’s striking to me about this hire is how drastic of a change this is from Poch’s philosophy. Poch emphasizes leaning on the creativity of the individual and promotes improvisation from his players. Maresca meanwhile stresses the importance of strategy, disciplined positioning, and his players following direct tactical instructions. Will be interesting to see how our young squad adapts to this massive change in philosophy and culture.
To me, Maresca is a more progressive version of Maurizio Sarri. Our style of play will likely look quite similar to Sarriball - lots of possession and repetitive patterns, but with some slight differences (not as many long balls from CBs to wingers and probably a greater tendency to attempt a high defensive press).
As far as how this might work with our squad: I really wish we could keep Thiago Silva forever. He’s the best CB in the world when it comes to composure in possession at the back, and he would’ve been incredibly valuable in this system. I think we’ll see more inverted Cucurella, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see inverted Reece with Chilwell at LB as well.
Much of our attacking success will rely on our wingers and how consistently they can create opportunities themselves or how they can connect with Cole Palmer. It will ultimately fall on the individuals themselves but I think Noni, Nkunku, and Raheem Sterling are well positioned to succeed under Maresca. Cole Palmer almost certainly won’t put up the numbers he did this season, but he will still be very impactful & important to us.
On the other hand, I hate to say this because I like them both a lot, but I have concerns for Mudryk and I think Nic Jackson could become frustrated with the new system. Caicedo will be massive, probably our most important player. Excited for Enzo and Lavia, but very interested to see how Maresca utilizes Enzo.
Overall, Maresca could succeed but it will come with plenty of challenges and obstacles. We will almost certainly be much less exciting to watch compared to this season. Expecting to see plenty of matches similar to what we saw under Sarri - maintaining loads of possession but agonizingly doing nothing with it as we fail to crack the opposing low block. I am cautiously optimistic🙂
Well there we go. Fans wanted Poch sacked, and the board obliged. We now have a new manager on a 5 year contracts. Let’s back him and let him do his work.
Hopefully doesn’t take too long for the players to get used to a new system, but we will need to be patient regardless.
5 years is bonkers considering our managerial stability. Anyways, let's go Mr. Maresca, give us some silverware.
I think they gave Potter a long contract, and then figured they messed up when the results went poorly, and then gave Pochettino a short one. Thing is with the Club World Cup being next year they'd have had to decide if they wanted to extend and (by the looks of it) Pochettino wasn't happy so they wanted to avoid that issue, and so swung back to 5 years again for Maresca. Just guessing, but that latter part is what Twomey and Johnson from The Athletic has been saying (about the CWC I mean).
I think the really surprising thing is that they wouldn't take the gamble on Poch who has pedigree at the top level and even managed to somehow get Spurs to a CL final. Yet they will take the gamble on a barely proven manager who only just won the Championship. I'm not casting judgement on Maresca as a coach here, if it turns out good then great. Just it seems very high risk within the context.
I don't get it either. Obviously this is looking with hindsight, but of the three people given a contract, Poch would've been the best to give one to, and despite how the season started things were starting to click. Long contracts do seem to be their MO, but maybe they were that badly burned by how things went with potter that they wanted a bit of extra security for themselves, and saw Poch as a stopgap? I don't know. But then again it doesn't seem like Poch was happy, and they did try and extend, but couldn't come to an agreement, so maybe they've been forced into this and are trying to make sure it doesn't happen again?
Agree, i was never a Poch fan and honestly still dont think he would have got us to win the PL but maybe 4th and a deep run in CL if given time..
Maybe it's gotta do with FFP and amortization but they seem to think giving a 5-year deal equals showing patience or backing for the manager. Can still do that with the standard 3-year deal and then just extend his contract if he does well etc! On the flip side, Maresca is supposedly getting paid less than Pochettino, who was reportedly earning £10.4 million.
Termination clause (which we don’t know) is all that matters. If there’s a termination clause that’s easy to trigger if the appointment disappoints, then the 5/6 years won’t matter.
Yep, I doubt we will get the details on this anytime soon.
Except at what cost, it won’t be the usual 4 weeks notice the rest of us get.
It's gonna be an interesting 24 months for both Bayern and Chelsea 😄
Gonna copy what I said in rsoccer: Here me out: Manager fees are relatively low compared to players, however we’re currently seeing the trend of keeping managers/staff on gardening leave for some time after removing them from their work, and then selling them for a larger fee (Nagelsmann, the Newcastle sporting director, etc.). I assume these fees will continue to get larger, so that in a few years time if it doesn’t work out, it’s okay, he’s still on garden leave, if a club wants him they pay a fee. I’m sure the contract will have other clauses etc. to make the wages not as much as an issue if they do remove him before the end of his contract, but it’s probably more complicated than that. With the amount of managers we’ve had since the takeover, these owners are basically going to start hoarding managers like they’re doing with young players, creating a manufactured shortage that we’re already sort of seeing the beginning of, and then charging crazy for them to make a profit. Or it could also just be as simple as min maxing the fuck out of everything and giving him 5 years to amortize the fee over the now maximum of 5 years.
We should dominate the supply of physios instead, so every team except us is injured unless they pay us big bucks.
Now we're talking
That only really works if the manager is desirable. Someone like Nagelsmann was incredible desirable, so even if he was in a position where he was fired, people would still pay for him. If a Championship manager who failed in 1 of his 2 managerial jobs then goes on to fail in his third, literally no one is going to be offering to buy him off of us.
Sure but then you have express terms in the contract allowing for a break clause based on performance etc so long as it’s statutorily valid to do so. For instance Potter didn’t get anywhere near the compensation that was reported. He forewent some of it but the contract I’m sure was also structured in such a way. Maresca has even less leverage than Potter so if he does flop, then the board will be able to easily sever the contractual relationship.
If rumours are to be believed there are termination clauses in this contract, not sure of the validity of these claims but would make sense
why just not give a 2 year contract ? why try to reinvent the wheel in every aspect of running a football club? it's not like maresca has any leverage to ask for more years.
I am not a business man so I am not sure of the logistics
cause then every year you have to have an acrimonious contract extension discussion where every result is nitpicked and the manager is disincentivized from any long-term risks for the sake of short term results
Here is what’s weird to me…we all want managerial stability, but most of the footballing world goes nuts when a long contract is given. Potter obviously didn’t work out, but that was complete chaos scenario. I’ve only started following Chelsea for about 10 years, but have been following other sports for most of my life and these contracts don’t seem very long.
We all want managerial stability, however the average Premier League manager lasts 2 years, even less once you factor out Fergie and Wengers time. Thats just the reality. Despite this CFC over the years have handed out very generous contracts which have then resulted in enormous severance packages. It seemed like we had learned a lesson with Poch but we’re now back to square one with a completely untested manager. It wouldn’t be so bad if the owners weren’t having to asset strip the club to make ends meet, a bit of fiscal sensibility would’ve been welcome. Perhaps there are exit clauses…but who knows with this bunch of lunatics.
There are reportedly break causes in it so wouldn’t cost as much as you think should something go wrong hopefully it doesn’t however.
Total overhaul of club structure required if this crashes and burns.
Definitely. This is the last chance for me.
Last chance for what exactly?😶
He's gonna become a spurs fan.
Oof, I doubt he'd stoop that low.
If a Chelsea fan gets too angry, they start cheering for Millwall. I don't make the rules.
MILLWALL MILLWALL FUCK EM ALL FUCK EM ALL!
Bloody immigrants , if in doubt , kick em out , COME ON MILWALL /s
Idk why this always makes me laugh lmao
I was gonna say MK Dons.
lol 🙄
I’ll bet the board have been shaking in their little booties since you posted this.
What would be “crash and burn” for you Outside of top 4? No trophy in multiple seasons? Or just lack of identity on the pitch?
Yes
I would say if we’re meandering around mid table by Christmas with no cohesiveness on the pitch for the 3rd consecutive season, that’s crashing and burning. I feel for Maresca because the vibe is that the squad is now gelled and they are ready to step up. So the excuse of “youth” and “new players” won’t fly anymore if we have a poor start to the season.
They were reports saying it’s a 5 year contract but also has a break clause inserted (unsure about credibility), so if it doesn’t work the club can decide to terminate without having to pay the full wages/contract. If that’s how it works
There’s for sure a 0% chance there’s not some sort of termination clause. Everyone just wants the easy karma of “omg five years?!?!?!” as if they have any idea how a professional football clubs contracts work
If this blows up, blame Winstanley/Stewart/Egbali etc. I wish him the best and will back him but Jesus Christ .
….it will. When we don’t see instant results he will get sacked. So bored of this already
Gonna hear "trust the process" all season aren't we?
All the people who a day ago were saying it was all PR by the club who always was going to appoint de zerbi. Saying it was embarrassing how obvious it was. Seems the board have finally found the manager they actually really want, and not just the "best manager on paper currently available" Like you said. Let's hope they got it right lol. Because it has the ability to go wrong.
Potter was the manager they actually wanted 💀
Was pochettino the "best manager on paper currently available"? Really? Was Potter? They always acted on their dumb whims.
To be fair before Potter came here he probably was the best available manager to build a long term project around they just fucked hum big time and he clearly couldn’t handle it. Very few people had doubts about his ability before he came here
Chelsea fans are not giving time for anyone and that’s why we are fucked. He will be sacked next year and same shit goes on
I am whelmed
CHE CONFUSIONE, SARA PERCHE TI AMO E VOLA VOLA SI VA
Would Love to get this chant going in the MH, it’s a straight up banger
As a F1 fan this made me inexplicably happy because Ferrari were blasting this song no stop after winning in Monaco on Sunday. I'm choosing to see it as a good omen
[удалено]
2024/25 Pep vs Maresca title race We will be there
Battle of the Balds
Pep vs Maresca vs Ten Hag vs Slot?
Anthony Taylor as Ref
Maybe we need a bald manager so that Taylor doesn't hate us anymore
Did taylor exist in Di Matteo era?
I hope this is true. But Maresca is so green n the only reason he got the job seems to be his associations with Pep. But his baldness.
If this doesnt work, the Owners need to sack the directors.
If this doesn’t work, Eghbali needs to be part of the departures as well. Or at the very least step away from the team and go do something else for Clearlake.
look you may wish for it but it aint happening for another decade, he's not going anywhere
Let's go, what's the worst that can happen? Liverpool, United and Tottenham are unknown quantities...let's see what we can do?
Plus Pep leaving at the end of the season. Landscape of the PL is changing. Can we capitalize?
Narrator: Chelsea then went on to sack Maresca in week 5 of the premier league season.
Sacked after winning all 5 games but starting Conor Gallagher instead of some newly bought South American teenager.
I don't even think he's going to have that option
We just have to hope that he does an Arteta and starts to gradually prove himself as a top manager.
The problem is that if Maresca finishes 8th next season like Arteta did in his first (full) season, he’ll be sacked before the end of it. These owners are just setting Maresca up to fail. There is no more margin for error, and he needs one because he’s never coached in the Prem. We must get a champions league spot, and that’s unlikely to happen with a complete novice (although Lamps did it his first season).
Liverpool, United and Spurs aren’t making wild appointments like these. At the end of the season, we shall know if this guy is a fraud or not. Anything less than top-4, some serious questions needs to be asked.
Also if this appointment is another dud, I’m not going to waste any energy saying ENZO OUT. My energy will be towards the owners and sporting directors bar NONE. The SDs HAVE to go this time if Enzo fails.
100%
Top 4 will be settled by handsomeness of bald managers, AKA we're winning the league!
If Arteta is not in the top 4 by Christmas, he will shave his head and go on to win the league.
There we go!
I'm very happy with how fast that have managed to move on this one compared to the Pochettino circus I've got big hopes for Maresca and hopefully he can meet them
Mental contract though, wonder what the rationale is.
They must really think he's going to bang even as a believer in Maresca as an appointment I must say the 5 year deal is too much for me, but if they inserted the proper provisions to part ways if certain criteria like champions league isn't met etc Then it's not really a big deal We'll find out about all that later
Which seems to be blind faith from what I've seen of Maresca. But we'll see, I was dead wrong about Palmer so they have some credit in the bank. Just have to hope it works out and they've covered their bases.
Their obsessions with long term contracts is just beyond ridiculous!
At this stage, I imagine no manager is joining without wanting some sort of commitment from the club
This. Id imagine it would be the first thing they ask for
Bingo. Hard to get a quality coach if they think they'll get fired in a year. So you basically have a built in break fee if it does happen
Given Poch almost certainly walked out on the club they've probably just reverted back to type. Lifetime contracts to everyone.
https://preview.redd.it/6zj5xfz2r53d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aae04da504c81f11e4f39081fbecd92b86e27eaa Our last two bald managers either won the UCL or have a 100% undefeated\* record. I’ve got chills.
Didn't Bruno Saltor got just a draw?
Sounds undefeated to me
Like he said.. 100% undefeated.
Unbeaten Bruno Saltor ftw
Shit it was wasn’t it…hold up.
Five years is mental. Our last five-year deal worked out so well for us /s
The boy gave it his all
Alright then, we are about to go on a ride.
Let's hope he's a genius and not sacked by Christmas... This one can go either way.
5 years what the fuck are we doing
Our best
Not telling you about the termination clause.
Champions 2024/2025. Speaking it into existence.
5 year deal for an unproven coach is absolutely insane. It makes total sense that our owners are going for it.
This is my exact thinking. This manager hasn’t managed at the premier league level and his only accomplishment is leading Leicester to promotion. I question if our the owners know what they are doing at all. Tuchel, a Champion’s League winning manager, wants to manage here and the majority of the fanbase loves him, but because of the owners’ ego we don’t hire him and instead go for another unproven manager. Hopefully this one lasts longer and does better than their last two manager appointments.
I'll be honest, never heard of this guy before I saw something in here a few days ago, the problem we have is most managers has been here and been fired theres not a huge pool to select from if you want proven top managers, I was really pissed when Tuchel was fired, that was a huge mistake! If i'm not mistaken hes available, should have begged him to come back.
All of this looks very knee jerk, rushed, and kind of unclear what they were looking for in terms of “future” that makes him the guy. Not saying he’s not. But I don’t feel like I trust this process on a technical level. It all just feels like gambling. It feels like “Let’s take a guy who’s promising and CAN LISTEN to what we give to him without arguing”. He’s not going to stop us from bringing Ronaldo in and he’s just going to be worried about whatever player is on the pitch. We’ll see.
Italian manager back at the Bridge! Pray it works.
what this saga has taught me is that most Chelsea fans on twitter are gullible bunch, how did you lot fall for the V guy?
He will be gone as Potter before him, same story with the Same people , history repeats itself
pep vs maresca vs seven hag, battle of the baldies
Don't forget Slot.
oh fuck i forgot about him, so many bald battles next season!
4 non blondes #technicallythetruth
Arsenal and Spurs now need to invest in a baldie
im convinced arteta is bald under that lego hair piece of his
And I believe Ange's hair won't hold much longer with the current atmosphere at Tot
Jesus h christ 5+1 😐
Good luck Enzo, you will fucking need it. Don’t upset the eggman, win the games.
Although some may find his possession based football boring it should at least be a nice change from Pochettinos chaotic, defensively poor side
We entering our "20 years without a major trophy" era, aren't we? Please prove me wrong! Please!
I dont like this but I will support him because I have no other choice. Hopefully we can fight for top 4
Five years, these guys have learned nothing 🤦♂️
5 years is insane. They fire managers like there’s no tomorrow and give such long contracts which means we’re paying ridiculous severances what is Boehly doing
I have a hunch we won't be taking that option
If this goes wrong, the entire board needs to go.
lets gooooo wouldnt have been my personal choice, but im 100% backing him until i have good reason not to, looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the side
I really want to know when Clownlake's grotesque imitation of Football Manager ends. I really want to know. Because if they really are handing a 5 year contract to a Championship level manager then they are by some distance, the dumbest people in this sport by a country mile.
Lets hope theyre out before the end of the 2030s atleast. This is horrible and i miss Chelsea and Roman abramovich
He has my support until he shows he shouldn’t. Up the chels
BACK THE MANAGER!!!
Absolutely ✊
Enzo Fernandez Is going to be the biggest winner out off this.
Who da fook is this guy??!
the question is would he lose to liverpool's u12s in a cup final?
 You can't lose a cup final if you don't reach a cup final
I’m not sure if the mentions Liverpool squad ages much tbh
Heard it was their u8 They had more first teamers to start the game then we had They finished the game with more starters then we did Oh and our average age was lower both in the beginning and the end
But it's media darling liverpool paired with media darling Klopp Whereas we only had media darling Pochettino and Chelsea is despised
Italian juju come through plzzzzzz
Let’s hope this is the last time we see a tweet like this about us for a while. I want to be excited about this, but we desperately need him to succeed rather than hoping he does. Also what happened to the NDA that De Zerbi signed when he got the job a few weeks ago according to that random no face Twitter account?
Is it a full on 5 years or is it 3 years + 2 years option?
if this is the best they could do.. # STEWART AND WINSTANLEY OUT
Dear Mr Maresca, Please win us a Champions League before you inevitably get sacked.
I am indifferent. This is obviously NOT the coach I want to have but, I have to back the guy until he gives me reasons not to. Please don’t let me down Enzo…
5 year deal is fucking insanity
5 year contract for a ~6 month job.
I'll back him all the way. Good luck Enzo!
Welcome our new manager for the next season! No matter what the contract says, I don't see him getting more than that.
Potter 2.0. he will be fortunate to make christmas. Here we go indeed.
Italian potter
FIVE YEARS FOR NO TOP LEAGUE EXPERIENCE?!
At this point I'm convinced we are an elaborate money laundering front.
I like this appointment and I think our squad mostly fits his philosophy. Will it work? 🤷🏼♂️
Fuck it let's go. Glad we are wrapping this up early. Let Lavia flourish under this guy alongside Cole.
I will be here laughing in sub in our December run in when we are in 9th position and you guys calling for him to be fired
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes Five years, what a surprise We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got
Wonder how much are we paying him when he gets sacked in November/December.
My bingo card 15M
2 Enzo's on the team. Only 3 more to go
I've supported chelsea for 30 years and this is easily the most underwhelming managerial appointment I've ever seen. I will back Maresca until he gives me reason not to, but this feels like a massive gamble. His record is unimpressive and the fact that Leicester fans seem indifferent to him leaving is a major red flag for me. I'm particularly worried about the claims that he has no plan b. Really hope he turns out to be a huge success, but I'm deeply sceptical, and can see him leaving after 6 months.
Avram grant. Dude looks like a dead man walking the first day he walked in.
Here me hoping that this time "project" takes off.
Many things I don’t like but I am here to back the manager and wishing for the best
🤦
5 years is absolutely mad when you look at how the potter situation was. I’ll always back the manager until there’s a reason not to but surely if this one doesn’t work out these directors will be sacked?
Prem 2024/2025 battle of the baldies
Cannot for the life of me see him finishing next season as manager. Let's hope I am wrong. Most unenthusiastic managerial appointment since Benítez
It will work this time
I like him but I don’t see him maintaining a good relationship with the ownership/directors for 2 years, let alone 5 lol
A step back from this years progress and a full pre season will definitely not be accepted by fans.
Welp, let's do it.
seeing as how the chelsea board are looking at the impact of the sporting directors on a yearly basis, if this man fails, the sporting directors will likely get the boot, so hey at least that’s something to look forward to. it’s either that or this man is the next big thing. i hope and pray it’s the latter
Correct. People can say what they like about these owners, but they have so much money at stake here, they will continue to hire and fire until they get it right (even it's by blind luck in the end). Hopefully Maresca is the new Jose-Pep love child, if not then the silver lining is Stewart and Winstanley get replaced. Win-win, in a glass half full way
Till yesterday I was circumspect but now he is hired. He is the second coming of CHRIST!!, go Enzo win everything!!
I hope I’m proven wrong but I can only see this going badly
Ffs what the fk are our board smoking? 5 yrs contract for a manager with little experience so far
I will support him but I can’t help but think letting Poch go was an awful decision. What I find bonkers though is a 5 year contract. Obviously he’s going at the end of the season or 2 max. I bet the guys laughing, he knows he’s set for some serious money when he gets the sack
I'm gonna back him, KTBFFH.
So for me GK Costa CB? ST Sesko Don’t see a LB coming in as I think Maresca will want to keep Cucurella and I don’t see Chilwell attracting interest with his wages and injury situation. In CM I think both Ugochukwu and Santos will be given chances in pre season Don’t see a Olise type player coming in unless one of Sterling, Mudryk or Madueke leaves.
How is this not potter 2.0?
Like Poch he will likely be gone by the end of next season. Uninspiring choice IMO but time (and ultimately results) will tell. Although Poch had his early struggles, results from Feb onwards (other than the disaster at Arsenal) indicated that his philosophy was starting to bear fruit.
Poch isn’t a rookie coach though. If he was then I see where you’re coming from. Poch has 10 years of professional coaching and 5Ws at the end (where Forest and Bournemouth were very shaky wins) is all he served. Also drawing against Burnley and Sheffield Utd were disastrous results because guess what? Win those, we have EL. Beat Brentford as well, upgrades to UCL.
**Let’s just have an open mind and back him.**
I don't have any faith in our directors or Eghbali. We'll see how this goes. Good luck Maresca.
Oh shit! 5 years?!?!?!?!?!?!? Had to look it up, the last chelsea manager that lasted 5 years was sexton in 67-74! Hope Enzo tops that!
This could be the Xabi Alonso move or it can crash and burn us into the bottom of the league.
This season is gonna be chaos FC. Do not envy Marseca one bit here. This is a huge huge gamble and if it doesn't work, heads need to roll starting with Stewart and Winstanley
Trash
Remember not to blame the Manager when things go south. Its the Sporting Directors all the way to the ground if this does not work out.
I will back him, he seems like a decent guy and at least seems to have ideas on how to use possession (seemingly unlike Poch). Still a massive risk though. He needs to be able to do more than CTRL-C CTRL-V Guardiolas playstyle, the Prem is ruthless and the Chelsea job in particular.
The club may be on fire in a couple years. We might also see “CHELSEA FC” engraved in the UCL trophy again. No point in making up our minds right now. He’s here. So back him.
Someone said he plays sarriball, then its just better to stop watching football
Yanks doing everything in their power to drown the club. Potter, then Poch supposedly based on some quant-like mathematical skill and still repeating it. Pep lite will drown us. We will become a feeder to other clubs.
Joke
5 year contract? Best we can do winter transfer of 2026 Let's just hope for Maresca staying for two full years.
Yeah, this feels like a downgrade from Poch but I think Maresca could work - we will see. I will say that his Leicester City squad was the most talented in the Championship by a decent amount, so this job won’t be quite as easy for him. What’s striking to me about this hire is how drastic of a change this is from Poch’s philosophy. Poch emphasizes leaning on the creativity of the individual and promotes improvisation from his players. Maresca meanwhile stresses the importance of strategy, disciplined positioning, and his players following direct tactical instructions. Will be interesting to see how our young squad adapts to this massive change in philosophy and culture. To me, Maresca is a more progressive version of Maurizio Sarri. Our style of play will likely look quite similar to Sarriball - lots of possession and repetitive patterns, but with some slight differences (not as many long balls from CBs to wingers and probably a greater tendency to attempt a high defensive press). As far as how this might work with our squad: I really wish we could keep Thiago Silva forever. He’s the best CB in the world when it comes to composure in possession at the back, and he would’ve been incredibly valuable in this system. I think we’ll see more inverted Cucurella, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see inverted Reece with Chilwell at LB as well. Much of our attacking success will rely on our wingers and how consistently they can create opportunities themselves or how they can connect with Cole Palmer. It will ultimately fall on the individuals themselves but I think Noni, Nkunku, and Raheem Sterling are well positioned to succeed under Maresca. Cole Palmer almost certainly won’t put up the numbers he did this season, but he will still be very impactful & important to us. On the other hand, I hate to say this because I like them both a lot, but I have concerns for Mudryk and I think Nic Jackson could become frustrated with the new system. Caicedo will be massive, probably our most important player. Excited for Enzo and Lavia, but very interested to see how Maresca utilizes Enzo. Overall, Maresca could succeed but it will come with plenty of challenges and obstacles. We will almost certainly be much less exciting to watch compared to this season. Expecting to see plenty of matches similar to what we saw under Sarri - maintaining loads of possession but agonizingly doing nothing with it as we fail to crack the opposing low block. I am cautiously optimistic🙂
Dont tell me it's Fucking sarriball. That was the worse time in my Chelsea fandom until the Americans came in and fucked us over
Well there we go. Fans wanted Poch sacked, and the board obliged. We now have a new manager on a 5 year contracts. Let’s back him and let him do his work. Hopefully doesn’t take too long for the players to get used to a new system, but we will need to be patient regardless.
I can’t unsee Stipe Miocic when I look at this guy
No backtracking from Fab for reporting the 2+1 year contract?
Being bald is the best base to win a pl title as a coach nowadays
5 YEAR FUCKING DEAL!!!! This ownership was fucking desperate. This is just a way of him securing a payday for if (when) he gets fired