On Tuesday, Mauricio Pochettino left the club after only one season in charge and it sent shockwaves across the footballing world.
Chelsea had just ended the Premier League campaign in a very strong fashion. Winning their last five matches and securing a sixth-placed finish.
But it seems as though something more than just on-field matters has resulted in Pochettino’s exit.
Since his departure, managers left, right and centre have been backed to take the Chelsea job. From experienced coaches to the young guns coming through.
It seems as though the powers that be at Chelsea want to bring in a younger name, probably because they are more than likely to follow orders.
If you are a Chelsea fan, and given what you have been used to since the turn of the century, you would want that elite name in your dugout.
But given the names currently mentioned, that doesn’t seem to be the case, with Kieran McKenna and Enzo Maresca two men mentioned.
The duo helped Ipswich Town and Leicester City earn promotion to the Premier League this season, but Scott Minto told them they simply can’t take the Chelsea job, as he told talkSPORT.
Yes, it would be a massive step up from where they are currently at, but Minto feels it ‘isn’t right’ because the club itself isn’t stable from the top.
Kieran McKenna or Enzo Maresca as Chelsea’s next manager?
“Pochettino said at the start of the season he was starting from scratch,” said Minto. “I actually said this before, I felt he was starting from -10.
“So, for him to finish the season in sixth, and let’s face it, it wasn’t his fault and they should have got to the FA Cup final. But for a couple of missed chances by Nicolas Jackson. Disappointed with how they were in extra time of the League Cup final. Maybe if those two games had been different, then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it. But there is only so much a manager can do.
“Listen, no one is going to listen to my advice, in terms of Kieran McKenna and Enzo Maresca. But my advice would be, to the ones who have just had a job, their first job, like a McKenna and a Maresca, this isn’t the right timing for you. It’s a wonderful club. But it is still a club where the owners are finding themselves. We have already seen it in two seasons. What is it already? Three managers and a caretaker manager have gone. If things don’t go well next season, then it could easily be the same again.”
Chelsea have shot themselves in the foot
You see it with the still available Bayern Munich job, it looks like it will be going to Vincent Kompany, or who Liverpool have appointed – Arne Slot.
With due respect to these managers, they aren’t elite. It’s very hard bringing in that level of manager in today’s game.
So, if you shoot yourselves in the foot by allowing a man like Pochettino to leave when he was just building stability, then you are only going to cause more pain for yourself.
If Pochettino had stayed, many would have backed Chelsea for a Champions League finish next season. But now it wouldn’t be a surprise if they went backwards again.
