Speaking exclusively to Read Chelsea, BBC commentator Guy Mowbray gives his thoughts on Chelsea’s title bid, explains just why he’s been so impressed with Antonio Conte this season and reveals his admiration for Stamford Bridge.
The Blues face Leicester this weekend looking to bounce back from their defeat to Tottenham and Mowbray doesn’t expect Chelsea to suffer from a hangover as a result of the loss.
I don’t see there’s any reason for that to happen to be honest, they got it out their system with the FA Cup with a nice comfortable win last weekend. That’s going to happen, you’re going to lose games on the way to winning a title or being in the top four.
Chelsea had that amazing run and people start to think they’re never going to lose again, but it was going to happen at some point. I think for the sake of the Premier League, it’s a good thing it did. Had they have beaten Spurs, I think people would’ve been talking about them running away with it with an eight-point lead at this stage of the season.
I don’t think Chelsea are going to run away with it, like many people did three or four weeks ago, that Tottenham defeat has shaken things up a bit.
Chelsea have surprised many this season, but Mowbray was expecting to see this kind of reaction from the players after their disastrous title defence.
I expected them to be so much better, because last season wasn’t Chelsea. It seemed that once Jose left, with the greatest of respect to those who took over, it seemed as if that was the season over. People stopped talking about Chelsea from February onwards. It wasn’t like Chelsea.
One man who’s played a crucial role in turning the club round is Antonio Conte, who took the reigns in the summer and has transformed the team. Mowbray recalls a moment from Euro 2016 that caught his eye.
I loved watching him in the summer in action for Italy. I did a game, Italy vs Sweden and the most memorable thing about it was him on the touchline. The way he was, was brilliant to watch.
It’s great for supporters to see that passion. I think it just adds to everything and gets them behind the team a little bit more. I love seeing a manager like that. I like Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool for the same reasons. The idea that it means just as much to them as it does to supporters.
The commentator is also impressed with the Italian’s ability and desire to speak English.
Immediately, although he has an interpreter, he’s got Carlo Cudicini or whoever on hand to help him out, post-match interviews from day one were exclusively in English and he very, very rarely even nods to his interpreter for a helping hand.
Conte has been well received in the media since arriving at Stamford Bridge and surprised plenty when he took a selection out for a drink to a local pub before Christmas.
A little bit like Jose Mourinho. A little like Rafa Benitez at Liverpool. He will very cleverly answer the question but not answer the question if needs be. He will make the point that he wanted to make, satisfying everyone that their enquiry has been sorted, but he’s in control.
Something that Chelsea didn’t always get right in the past, the little touches of PR, it was much talked about pre-Christmas how after his final press conference before the Boxing Day game, he took people out to the pub over the road. Not just in the pub, not just a glass of wine set up at a table by a media officer, they went out to the pub and all had a drink together.
I applaud it whole heartedly. A big compliant from the media in recent years has been the fact that there is no relationship, there is a distance between yourself and the club. It’s a smart move by the club, because it does just play on your mind. If you think ‘well you know what, they’ve treated me with respect, I should think about what I say about them’.
Mowbray reminisced about his first two experiences at Chelsea whilst working at a local radio station covering Sunderland.
It was 99, it was 4-0 and it was after Sunderland had been absolutely fantastic in the Championship or Division 1 as it was then. Poyet got two, Zola got one, Flo got one. The one I’m thinking about in 97 was equally impressive, it was 6-2 to Chelsea.
My first two experiences at Stamford Bridge working were covering a team that were wiped apart 6-2 & 4-0 and that was before Chelsea starting winning titles as well so the writing was on the wall.
It’s an exciting time for the club, with plans to re-develop the stadium given the green light. Mowbray is hoping the club don’t lose the sense of history that surrounds the Bridge.
Whenever I go to Chelsea, I always make sure I go in ‘the other way’ and walk down the Shed Wall. I really enjoy that, the sense of history. It always takes me back a little bit. I would hope something like that is incorporated into the new build.
When you think about the Speedy Bar and all the stuff they do with Osgood, I know the club I know the club will do something so the heritage is reflected in the new stadium.
