With Sarri’s days clearly numbered, there have been a number of potential successor’s mentioned to replace him.
Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane the popular one at the moment, because of his career as a player and as a coach in Spain. Well, to be honest, I feel perhaps I could have coached a team with Cristiano Ronaldo in his prime to some trophy wins.
I would love to see Chelsea go another way, look down a different path to try and find success – rather than go for the named coach – Luiz Felipe Scolari, Andre Villas-Boas to name but two, who came in with big reputations and ended up on the cutting room floor.
Indeed Roberto Di Matteo with his simplistic approach, passion and Chelsea background knowledge led us to the Champions League in 2012.
I want to throw Steve Clarke’s name into the mix.
This is a guy who is Chelsea through and through. He succeeded as a player and as an assistant manager at the Bridge. He has paid his dues and took West Brom to their highest ever league finish of eighth and when at Reading, he took them to the FA Cup semi-final. He has been sacked and come back, which is a pre-requisite to being a successful coach when you look at others around the world.
Clarke is now currently working wonders as manager of Kilmarnock and he is causing shockwaves in Scottish football, breaking up the usual Celtics/Rangers monopoly – which in itself is miraculous.
He is described as being a player’s manager – a hands-on, fully involved coach and that is what Chelsea needs. They need someone who is passionate about what they do, who will roll up their sleeves and be involved in every aspect of the training. They do not need a name who relies on assistant coaches for the day to day running of things.
The club need a firm hand at the helm, with Chelsea roots, who has served his time in the dugout and in the trenches. This will require Roman Abramovich to think outside of the box, but I would bet my heart and soul that if given the job, then Clarke would bring the pride back to our famous club and take us to new heights.
