Following the defeat to West Ham, it didn’t take long for the ‘Mourinho Out’ gang to make their feelings clear on Twitter. It seems that the Chelsea fan base is starting to divide in opinions, should Jose Mourinho be sacked or should he be given the chance to turn this around?
The majority of Chelsea fans will tell you that he needs to be given a chance to turn it around, a lot of the reasoning behind that is for ‘stability’. The magic word, stability. Why is it so important? Admittedly, Chelsea do need stability, it is something we have never had at the club since Abramovich turned up.
Speaking hypothetically and Chelsea sack Mourinho, we will see changes to the backroom staff, possibly an influx of players joining and possibly leaving. That isn’t stability, but it is fresh blood, fresh motivation for current players. So why exactly has stability become so important? Are we under a state of stability now? No. Will we at any point in this season with underperforming players and constant flirtations with the FA? No.
Fans are beginning to talk about stability like it is something we already have, we don’t. Ever since Mourinho returned, it has been a bumpy ride. It hasn’t just been this year Mourinho has clashed with the FA either. We’ve seen clubs legend depart, a two-time player of the season sold, we’ve had the same manager for three seasons, but it has been anything but smooth.
It became slightly embarrassing to watch on Saturday, the players lost their heads in a turbulent five minutes, Cesc’s disallowed goal, Matic’s red and then Silivino Louro also found himself in the stands. Chelsea will undoubtedly face yet more punishment from the FA and that suspended stadium ban, may not be suspended for much longer. The profile of the club is beginning to be dragged to the ground, is that stability? Definitely not.
Including ‘The Tinkerman’ himself, Chelsea have had nine managers since Roman Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge. Along the way, we have won four Premier League trophies, three FA Cups, three League Cups, one Champions League, one Europa League and even two Community Shields.
By no means is that stability, but it is most definitely a successful period of the club’s history. It seems the only thing keeping Mourinho in the job, is his reputation. Which is, understandable. He has earned the right to be given time, but what if this was Rafa? Scolari? Would they be given time? Would we be calling for their heads or urging Abramovich to hold on to them for the sake of stability?
Managerial rotation is not something we want to be discussing year after year, but if it needs to happen, it just needs to happen. We won back to back European trophies under a caretaker manager and an ‘interim’ manager, not bad eh?
What stability would protect, is the future of the club, the youth. Is Mourinho likely to bring through youth players, though? He’s promised Ruben Loftus-Cheek ‘a run of games’ which has seemingly come to an end. On the other hand, there are other managers out there, that would give youth a better fighting chance, to make the cut at Chelsea.
I am as much of a Mourinho fan as the next Chelsea supporter, I really am. I will forever respect the man for what he has done for the club, where he has taken us, but is he the long-term future of Chelsea football club? It looks unlikely. Not for one moment am I saying he should be sacked this instance, but I believe we shouldn’t be so stubborn about the possibility of him losing his job.
The burning question is, by keeping Mourinho at the helm, are Chelsea achieving stability? Because undoubtedly there will be mass changes to the squad throughout not only the January transfer window but over the summer too, with the impending switch to Wembley also on the horizon. Where and when will stability come from?
