Boehly’s blunder beyond belief
Having had my mind completely boggled by Chelsea’s outrageous decision to ‘part company’ with Mauricio Pochettino last week I tried to put together a list of justifiable reasons why Todd Boehly would do this:
Poch demanded another spend on players.
The dressing room had turned against the manager.
Sir Alex Ferguson is available after coming out of retirement.
Todd caught Poch in bed with his wife. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.
And as I am reasonably sure none of the above are even close to true, then my mind will probably have to remain boggled, at least until the non-disclosure agreements run out.
While I am struggling to find the logic in this latest spin of the Stamford Bridge managerial merry-go-round, that doesn’t mean it is entirely surprising. The way the Argentinian had been speaking over the last week or so it was obvious there was unrest behind the scenes.
But surely it is on the pitch where it really matters and, having taken a while to knock the billion-dollar-babies into shape, Pochettino showed he had got to grips with the project. In fact, his young team powered through the end of the season, winning their last five games, playing sweet football and qualifying for Europe.
The future looked bright.
I have spoken to a lot of Chelsea fans over the last few days, and none of them agree with this decision. One particularly passionate supporter declared that he would no longer follow Chelsea while the American is running the show. He was lying – he isn’t that fickle – but it does show the depth of feeling out there.
It was only a week or two ago that Boehly was telling the world that recent performances were properly exciting and the string of victories showed that the club’s plan was coming together.
So how does saying goodbye to the manager behind that improvement in form fit in with “the plan” exactly? Or was he, as I have said before, talking nonsense because the reality is he is running Chelsea on the hoof and making things up as he goes along.
Obviously talk has now turned to Pochettino’s replacement, with Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna one of those being touted as a potential replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened as the young man is obviously ambitious, and the idea of jumping from a newly promoted team to a club with top billion to four potential will fit in nicely with his career plan.
However, I think McKenna may be getting slightly ahead of himself if he does become Chelsea’s latest victim, sorry, manager.
He has done a super job with Ipswich, way beyond expectations, but there is a massive difference between getting a team you have built yourself to overperform and taking over a collection of underperforming megastars.
Spend at least one more season at Ipswich would be my advice to the lad because there is nothing more certain to end a promising career than trying to run before you’ve learnt how to do the Premier League walk.
If he does take the plunge and swap the relatively low expectations of Portman Road for the unrealistically high demands of Stamford Bridge, it’s highly likely he will find himself out on his ear when he hasn’t delivered a title in the first three months of arrival. *
* I suspect this is how Todd Boehly thinks English football works.
New Balls for Gareth
Is it possible Gareth Southgate has spent the past few months growing some balls?
I know it seems unlikely, but the fact that there was no place in his Euro 24 squad for Jordan Henderson or Marcus Rashford does seem to suggest he is no longer petrified of taking decisions that may offend his favourite players.
And that has been one of his (many) downfalls in the past.
To be fair, I fully agree with his decision not to take those two – while they have been important players for England in the past, neither of them is in anything like the sort of form needed for a major tournament.
And it’s not like there is a shortage of players for Southgate to choose from in the midfield and forward areas. If anything, there is an embarrassment of riches in those departments that is the envy of every other team going to Germany.
Having said that, I don’t mind reiterating my overwhelming view of Southgate – he isn’t up to the job.
Even if he has grown his own testicles, or even if he has borrowed a pair, he still doesn’t have the vision, dynamism or tactical bravery needed to drive a team to a trophy.
Luckily for Southgate, his squad is so full of quality and talent, that almost makes up for his personal deficiencies.
I’ve said it before, but I don’t mind saying it again, if England win in
Germany it will be in spite of Southgate, not because of him.
MoNey talks louder thaN loGic
The next time anyone from either Newcastle United or Tottenham Hotspur – manager, chair, owner – complains there are too many games being played in English football let’s remind them about last week’s little exhibition match in Australia.
At the end of a long and gruelling season, when players from both teams should be decompressing or getting much-needed rest before Euro 24, the clubs were instead bundling their exhausted squads on to a plane to fly halfway round the world.
The purpose of this overseas friendly was nothing other than marketing, promotion and increasing their brand awareness down under.
And let’s not pretend that this is something only Spurs and Newcastle do. All the other 18 teams in the top flight would do exactly the same thing if the money or exposure was right.
Well I’m sorry, you can’t have it both ways. If Premier League people want to be taken seriously when they claim players are being made to play too many games, stop making up extra ones.
Simple as that.
“If England win in Germany it will be in spite of Southgate, not because of him
E-MAIL: JAMES.CALVERT@TIMESOFMALTA.COM TWITTER: @MALTABLADE