Conte must know the manager can never be the boss at Chelsea
For a successful club, Chelsea do have an uncommon way of finding trouble. Jose Mourinho won the league and was in crisis almost as soon as the next season started. roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League and lasted roughly six months. Carlo Ancelotti did the Double in his first season and was sacked a year later.
So it really shouldn’t surprise that, within weeks of landing the title, there is speculation over the future of Antonio Conte. The mistake would be imagining that the turmoil means Chelsea do not have a coherent philosophy. They actually have a very strong philosophy. It just doesn’t include the manager.
Chelsea no longer lose fortunes in the transfer market. Chelsea sell to buy. Chelsea invest in the academy but largely use it as a revenue stream. All of these are powerful principles in which the manager plays no part. He is asked his opinion, of course. He identifies areas that need strengthening, or others where profitable business can be done. And he’s handy to blame if a traded player turns up elsewhere and does well.
But Chelsea’s business is not the manager’s business and if that is what Conte wants, he is going to be disappointed. roman Abramovich has had 12 managers in 14 years, not including short-term caretakers ray Wilkins and Steve Holland. Yet Chelsea have been hugely successful. So the manager is an expensively hired hand, and that is all. He is invariably top quality, as are the signings, which helps. But the system is built to work no matter who is in charge, regardless of age, nationality or style.
Chelsea have a clearly defined outlook. But they do not, and will never, have an Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson. They want Conte to sign a longer contract, but if he cannot stomach the lack of control, they will sacrifice him and find someone who will.
Ultimately, Arsenal caved to Wenger (below) this summer, in a way Chelsea will not to any manager. Arsenal relented on the issue of backroom staff, on the director of football, on strategy in the transfer market. No Chelsea manager will have that freedom while Abramovich is owner and, if that is what Conte seeks, even if he does not leave this summer, he will not be a long-term appointment.
In Abramovich’s time, Arsenal have had one manager and he has led them to the Premier League title and four FA Cups. Chelsea’s 12 have won five Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, the Champions League and Europa League. The club has identified a philosophy that bypasses the manager and any upheaval from his departure. Director of football Michael Emenalo consults, but playing the market is his role. Equally, Chelsea’s ethos does not have the aesthetic ambitions of Wenger at Arsenal, either. Abramovich is said to like good football, but he likes winning more.
real Madrid are Chelsea’s model. Between November 1986 and May 2013, Manchester United had one manager. real Madrid had 26. They won 11 La Liga titles to United’s 13 in the Premier League — but landed the Champions League on three occasions to United’s two. Manchester United took the FA Cup five times, real Madrid the Copa Del rey on three occasions. Manchester United won the Intercontinental Cup and Club World Cup, Madrid two Intercontinental Cups. They both won a single UEFA Super Cup. real Madrid won Spain’s Supercopa nine times — Manchester United matched that in the English equivalent, the Community Shield.
The rolls of honour are almost mirrored — yet one was the work of an individual, the other a seemingly haphazard journey through global coaching styles. What ties bind Alfredo Di Stefano and Jose Mourinho, Fabio Capello and Leo Beenhakker, John Toshack and Vicente del Bosque, Vanderlei Luxemburgo and Jupp Heynckes?
It is the same at Chelsea. There is no pure football philosophy, as exists at Barcelona. Conte won the league playing in a very different way to his predecessors. Juan Mata was one of Chelsea’s players of the season in 2013 and, after a change of manager, relegated to the fringes, then sold to Manchester United in the January transfer window.
So it is not as if consistency is demanded, as if Chelsea’s philosophy encompasses playing style. Managers pass through. They succeed or leave and another is installed. The constant is Emenalo. Chelsea have bought well, and badly. Chelsea have sold successfully, and also in haste. Few youngsters come through, despite a fine academy. Emenalo endures. A different standard is expected of managers. This leaves Conte in an awkward position. He would be a loss, but so was Ancelotti, so was Mourinho, and Chelsea recovered both times. Conte no doubt feels he is in a position of strength having delivered the title, and a new way of playing, in his first season. Yet Chelsea will not see his presence as the dealbreaker. Just as Zinedine Zidane does not sound like a man who gets the final say on Gareth Bale at Madrid — despite becoming the first coach to win backto-back Champions League titles in the modern era — so Conte is mistaken if he thinks recent success can be played as a trump card. Chelsea’s manager is a member of staff, and no more.
JOSE MOURINHO would win no prizes for tact, but he was right about Chris Smalling. Speaking at a seminar at Lisbon University, he explained that his tactics against Ajax in the Europa League final were to be more direct, and to avoid playing from deep. He said part of preparation is to know your own weaknesses, and that Ajax pressed high and would pounce on any defender who was not comfortable on the ball. ‘I said to Chris Smalling — with your feet we’re sure not playing out the back,’ Mourinho told his audience. And while his critics may decry such tactics, this is what makes him a great manager. He is honest about the flaws of his players. He is not married to an aesthetic regardless of the personnel. If there is a problem — albeit admirable — for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City it is that he will never compromise. It does not matter if some of his defenders are uncomfortable on the ball. That is the Guardiola method and he will not bend. Fortunately for him, his employers are providing the funds to assemble a squad that can carry out his wishes. But heaven help them if they do not secure the right men — because Guardiola will never adopt Mourinho’s realism. It is a fascinating clash of cultures. Romantics would love Guardiola to be vindicated; but the odds favour the Pragmatic One. CONTRARY to the title of the film by Wim Wenders, most goalkeepers do not have any fear of the penalty kick. It is the one moment of the match in which they are not under pressure. At any time, a mistake can undermine a good performance, but few expect penalties to be saved. The goalkeeper can only be the hero, the taker the mug if he misses. Look at England Under 21s’ opening European Championship game with Sweden. Jordan Pickford’s name was in every headline as the champion of the hour, on the back of his penalty save from Linus Wahlqvist. Yet Wahlqvist took a lousy penalty — soft, chipped, and straight down the middle — which Pickford palmed out with one hand. Soon after, he almost cost the game, dropping a straightforward cross from Wahlqvist, rescued by his team-mates. No matter. The narrative had already been decided: Pickford saves England. The blunder was quickly forgotten — although maybe not by whoever made Pickford the third most expensive goalkeeper in history, signing off Everton’s £30million fee for a 23-year-old with 31 Premier League games to his name. As good as he is, that’s a lot of money for a rookie.