THE MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND & THE CULTURE OF A CLUB
Graham Potter bit the dust. No shock, I suppose. The Managerial Merry-Go-Round is in full swing, with twelve EPL managers having been relieved of their duties in 22-23. So much for Todd Boehly's long-term vision for Chelsea! The fans didn't approve of his appointment from the start, citing his lack of a suitable CV. When the results weren't forthcoming, the fans became increasingly rabid in their views. Onlookers can only see things from the outside. Megabucks spent on numerous players, a lengthy injury list and over-inflated expectations. Tell me, who could have operated successfully under those circumstances? Ironically, many Chelsea fans will say, "Potter doesn't know his best XI." Chelsea's best XI?!!! The first team squad boasts 33 players! Teams no longer have a best XI. That idea died a long time ago. Add 22 players out on loan (many are current internationals) and all the millions they have pumped into their Academy. Who can sort that mess out in a few months? A first-team manager? A Director of Football? The fact is the culture of the club has changed since Roman Abramovich came to town. What was it before? Can it ever change again? Let me backtrack first.
When the Premier League came into existence in the early nineties, the game had evolved to the point that there were five clubs "bigger" than the rest of the First Division/Football League. Bigger refers to a combination of history, success and wealth. The money side differed from today, but these clubs enjoyed greater resources for running their team and signing players. The five bigger clubs at the time were Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
As years passed, the Premier League was brilliantly marketed and eventually surpassed Serie A, which historically had been the world's big-money league. The EPL attracted players from throughout the planet, and in time even top foreign managers arrived to join them. Pre-Premier League, a foreign manager was believed to be untenable in English football.
It was at Chelsea Football Club that the next most significant shift in momentum occurred. Ten years after the formation of the EPL, a Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, took ownership of the club. For Abramovich, money was no object. He was there to win trophies. Whatever the cost. Chelsea bought top players and hired big-name managers. The net result was Chelsea won more major trophies than any other club in the EPL since then.
Liverpool had been the dominant team of the seventies and eighties; Man United was similarly top dog in the nineties and noughties. Both clubs had historically built their empires on iconic managers who sat in the hot seat for a considerable period. They, like Chelsea, didn't win the league and major trophies every year but were always there or thereabouts. Abramovich's model was different. Whenever his team dipped in performance, out went the manager, in came a new "name", and the cash was splashed to help him. The Abramovich approach cannot be faulted if trophies were the main objective. Success via this route changed the culture of Chelsea FC massively. Indeed, what was the culture of Chelsea beforehand? Traditionally it was a club in the middle of the pack. They had moments but no enduring consistency. I saw them play in the Second Division back in the seventies. They didn't have a reputation of a passionate fan base like the Merseyside clubs, Newcastle or even London neighbours, West Ham. When Chelsea rose to the top, opposing fans taunted them with a "no history" label.
Abramovich's arrival essentially opened Pandora's Box. The next big mega-shift came when the United Arab Emirates took over Manchester City. The financial stakes were lifted to an even higher level. On their arrival, City's new owners did try to make a statement by signing players like the Brazilian Robinho and tempting away Tevez from their more illustrious neighbours. However, there was a significant difference from the Chelsea model. The vision was not just about the short-term, next game, next trophy to be won but a longer-term setup similar to those of Liverpool and United but with a Chelsea-like financial backbone. They wanted the best of both worlds.
Manchester City was similar to Chelsea in terms of its culture and history. Gradually, they started to win trophies, but the plan all along was to bring in who they perceived to be the very best. Consequently, Manuel Pelligrini may have won the EPL, but he was holding time until Pep Guardiola was available. Guardiola is a top manager, without a doubt, with unique ideas for playing the game. However, he required top-level players amenable to his structures. Pep finally had a club where he had the financial backing to get the players he wanted. The end product was the domination of the English game to levels unseen previously. When he leaves, what will come next? Presumably, they will bring in who they believe to be "the best". One thing is for sure, the culture of a formerly middle-of-the-road club has been irrevocably changed. Along with it, so will expectations.
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As noted above, there was a "big" five at the dawn of the EPL. Chelsea and Manchester City joined the group as Arsenal, Liverpool, and United continued to grow. However, Everton lost their place. "The Big Six" is based on financial prowess. All except Tottenham have won trophies with some regularity. "Spurs' hold their standing purely due to $$$!! In the future, Everton could win their way back with suitable financial backing. They thought they had that when Farhad Moshiri took control of the club in 2016. Unfortunately, Moshiri had no real vision to make his wealth count for the club. However, when the new stadium is completed, they may have the chance to go again with the right owner. However, that owner will have to contend with the historical culture of Everton Football Club. It's not just that the fan base expects success; they expect good football played by passionate players for the EFC badge.
It is an issue being experienced currently by Tottenham. Spurs have had three managers in quick succession whose football has been conservative. Mourinho and Conte have thirty-plus major honours between them, yet their approach did not endear them to the fanbase despite their impressive CV's. Clubs with the longest history have a culture that needs to be considered when creating a new "Dynasty". Chelsea and Manchester City clubs did not face this issue when their new owners took the reigns back in 1993 and 2008.
Aston Villa and Newcastle United are clubs that have the potential to join the very elite through their history and fanatical support. The latter is now owned by the Saudis and potentially has even bigger bucks to throw around than Manchester City. They have changed the club's fortunes in just over a year through sensible decisions on and off the field. We have yet to see the Saudis wield their $$$ power for the rest of the EPL and football world to see. As they continue to rise, so will expectations and pressure. The day will come when they may have to spend big to take Newcastle into the company of the very elite. While Newcastle fans are starved of silverware, the Saudis must deal with a club culture issue like Everton and Spurs. It would be similar at Villa.
One club that could be another Chelsea or City with a highly moneyed, ambitious owner is West Ham. Although the Hammers have some "good footballing" traditions dating from the Ron Greenwood-Bobby Moore era, they don't quite have the same weighty cultural expectations issues as some of the other clubs I've mentioned. The Hammers have a huge stadium that they fill regularly. The ingredients are all there.
Returning to the managerial merry-go-round and Chelsea. As the club's culture has changed in the last twenty years, how easy would it be to revamp the culture with a new long-term vision? Very hard, I would wager. Keeping a new vision alive is more challenging when things aren't going well. In the "old days," the fans might boo the team at a game in adversity. Nowadays, we have fan marches, planes with banners flying over the stadium, phone-ins and social media. Boehly couldn't tolerate the pressure any longer, so "his man", his choice, had to go. Good luck Todd going forward. A long-term vision for Chelsea FC could be near impossible with your club's culture and the fans who feed off it.
[As a postscript to all this footy madness, I worry about my team. Should Liverpool stay at their current level over the foreseeable future, I hope Jurgen Klopp makes the decision to leave and not FSG. Hearing some of the nonsense spouted by fans, I realise that my era of fandom is over, i.e. while we continue to support our teams, it may be in a different fashion than the younger generations. Expectations are not the same, and patience is way out the window!!]