Sport

Why Chelsea Have Become a Managerial Graveyard

Since Clearlake and Todd Boehly arrived on the scene, Chelsea have felt like an explosion waiting to happen. Last week, with the acrimonious exit of head coach Enzo Maresca, it finally detonated.

Maresca departed in what appeared to be a club-led move, but he had made his displeasure clear a matter of weeks earlier. Accusations of boardroom interference and minimal influence on decisions beyond team selection come with the territory in the Blues dugout these days, and Maresca is not the first man to be frustrated with his working conditions. Thomas Tuchel’s exit made everybody sit up and take notice because he refused to tow the line, while Mauricio Pochettino was reportedly similarly perturbed when he left in 2024.

Links to the Manchester City job have been persistent in recent weeks for Maresca and The Athletic reported after the news broke that he had held talks and was contractually obliged to inform the Chelsea board. Pep Guardiola may well depart the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season. Maresca, who was part of his staff before embarking on his own managerial career with Leicester City, is seen by some as an ideal replacement.

Although he is far from perfect tactically and his man-management has left a lot to be desired at times, he has not been helped by the set up at Chelsea. It is not an unfair question to ask what Clearlake’s long-term ambition is; record amounts of money have been spent on a lot of players, but it is hard to decipher a true direction or identity within the club. Only a handful of those signings, such as Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Willian Estevao, look capable of performing at a level to help the club challenge for the Premier League or Champions League.

Although that bar is high, it should not be outlandish considering the outlay. Some fans believe most of that money is being spent on players in order to turn a profit, rather than improve the team. There is very little evidence to counteract this assessment, despite the likes of Boehly and his Clearlake partner Behdad Eghbali consistently claiming they want to be the best.

Potential replacements must look at Maresca’s plight with caution. Chelsea do not want the sort of coach who will elevate them at any cost, completely contrasting the ambition showed during the Roman Abramovich years. There are many legitimate criticisms to be levelled at Abramovich, but it cannot be denied that he accepted nothing short of the best.

The turnover of managers during his time was worse than Boehly’s – who is now looking to make his fifth appointment in just shy of four years – but the names he attracted, and trophies won speak for themselves. The best in the world often queued up to take over at Stamford Bridge, and a brash, confident personality was almost a prerequisite to survive; that is far from the case now.

But is that a problem for Clearlake? Not really. They would much prefer a lesser known arrival, somebody without a track record of winning who would be happy to take the opportunity, work quietly on the training ground and not ask too many questions. Maresca was very much of that ilk when he took over, with only a promotion from the Championship with Leicester to his name, he was far from the obvious choice to take Chelsea to new heights. Champions League qualification always seemed like enough, too, but the mood shifted only when he made his feelings known.

It is telling that Liam Rosenior is favourite to replace him. He is impressing over in France with another Clearlake owned club, Strasbourg. Many of that club’s supporters denounce their involvement and believe they have stripped the soul away in order to make it a Chelsea B team, but that doesn’t mean Rosenior’s work, by getting them into Europe, has not been noteworthy. Prior to that, he’d been nominated for Championship Manager of the Year during the 2023-24 season after guiding Hull City to seventh before being surprisingly sacked. Hull only narrowly avoided relegation on the final day last term and are only just showing signs of recovering from that disastrous decision.

Rosenior is a progressive coach with good ideas. He is also a very intelligent, thoughtful man with a big future in the game. Rejecting Chelsea would be difficult, especially as he is already linked to the project, but it would also make him a pawn, and it would be almost impossible for him to put his stamp on things. Graham Potter was the first Clearlake appointment and was viewed very similarly; his quality was undoubted, but he was discarded early and has never recovered from the impact on his reputation.

Chelsea have become a circus, spending more than enough to win it all but with an approach resembling Brighton. Players barely improve and managers can’t have a true impact; it will only get worse the longer it prevails. Rosenior, and anyone for that matter, should stay away.