So, the past week has been a fairly hectic week for all those involved with Chelsea Football Club. We’ve won our first major honour since 2013, signed a mammoth sponsorship deal, along with a manager repeatedly confessing his love for the blues, and a new deal in the works for Captain Fantastic (who was outstanding at Wembley). It has been a good week to say the least, right? I left Wembley on Sunday with a grin from ear to ear, that arch was finally blue! Yes the cup win was incredibly important, but that grin was the result of an incredible week for Chelsea Football Club, this is a week that has reiterated how much our club has evolved over the recent years.
Everyone talks about how distant the current Chelsea is from the pre-Abramovic era however, how much has our club moved on since the eras of Hiddink/Ancelotti/AVB. The constant chopping and changing of managers, a conveyor belt of players and a squad that seemed to be constantly ageing. Albeit, it kept all us Chelsea fans on our toes, we never knew exactly what to expect, although when I first heard Benitez was taking over the helm of Chelsea, I thought it was a wind-up. I’m still trying hard however, to suppress that memory, but can’t quite do it. Now however, we have a Chelsea so similar to that of ten years ago on the pitch, we play at times, some of the most expansive football in Europe, but with that ruthless winning streak, which is epitomised by our furious forward, we are well and truly feared, which is nice. However, now there is this stability within the club like never before. The manager appears to have full control over the transfers, we are leading the way on how to abide by the financial fair play rules (take note City), we have a board that doesn’t want to fire managers, some of the best footballing talent on the planet and a humongous new shirt deal.
This past week has been like an epiphany for me, a moment of true realisation, we’ve won the League Cup. Which frankly, if we hadn’t won and City had won on Sunday, our season could have taken a very drastic turn.
Mourinho has repeatedly announced that he wants to stay with Chelsea for as long as Mr. Abramovic will have him and this deal with Yokahoma tyres (the second biggest shirt deal in the world) is huge. The fact we could be with the Special One for the next 10 years is incredible. Mourinho has the backing of the board, a buying and selling system that he is coordinating majestically, accumulating nearly £100million for David Luiz, Lukaku and Schurrle, need I say more? More importantly time to work on a project that can dominate English and European football. Mourinho has always been in and out of clubs relatively quickly, and look at the success he has had, he’s won everything. Now imagine, if Mourinho could develop a squad that could dominate European football for ten years plus, it sounds unstoppable and improbable if he has the time and financial backing, and that is what he has in West London.
Over the past ten years, we’ve always been there or there about in respect to being one of the biggest clubs in the world, but there has been a gap (albeit not very big, maybe more of a slight crack in the football matrix…) between us and the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, and there was always something holding us back. A lack of stability, incorrect systems, ageing players, the list could go on as to why things haven’t always gone exactly the way they should have in the past ten years. Even that night in Munich, no one is more of a fan of that night than me, I can’t watch it without welling up. But you look at that starting XI, except for Cech, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Mata and Drogba, its not that special. Jose Bosingwa? It still baffles me, how a man that is being paid 6 figures a week and doesn’t sort out his monobrow.
Our current team has moved on leaps and bounds and so has our club. With a settled manager, a board with clear objectives and a vision, a superb squad, there is no reason as to why we can’t be spoken about in the same breath as those clubs aforementioned. This past week, has cemented the fact that Chelsea is ready to continuously expand and grow. Last year we were the most watched Premier League Club in the world, and we didn’t even win the competition. Manchester City has every right to be jealous of our model. Everything is there, after our recent League Cup success, I don’t see why we can’t win the other two trophies up for grabs this season. The conveyor belt of players appears to be over, the revolving door of coaching staff appears to have stopped and we’ve seen the back of that Spanish waiter right? After all, it’s a better side than 2012.
To hear more from Josh, you can find him on Twitter @joshcrosss
