CHELSEA'S owners have hit the factory reset button for the third time in two years, dispensing with Mauricio Pochettino to leave players fearing for the Blues' future direction.
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali must now prove they know what they are doing, starting with another managerial appointment - one that they can ill afford to fail.
Pochettino's five-match winning run at the end of the Premier League season was a record for the Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership era. The Argentine had seemingly found a way to make the Blues' bloated squad make sense, delivering those five wins on the spin with significant tactical shifts.
But instead of building on that late-season form and opting for continuity, they have chosen to once again turn their own house upside down, casting that progress aside.
Chelsea's chiefs are convinced their aggressive, bold transfer strategy can shift the entire market, but adopting the same approach with the managerial hot seat is fraught with danger and keeps taking the club back to square one.
Chelsea will now have a sixth coach in two years under Boehly and Clearlake, with Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard having held short-lived interim roles in that cohort.
Graham Potter and Pochettino have both been installed as highly-backed and trumpeted appointments on the new owners' watch.
Denne historien er fra May 22, 2024-utgaven av Evening Standard.
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Denne historien er fra May 22, 2024-utgaven av Evening Standard.
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