Dear Chelsea Football Club,
It is with a heavy heart and a despondent mind that I pen this letter. Thursday, December 18, beloved manager Jose Mourinho was sacked by the club.
My knowledge of football coupled with my understanding of a business has left me completely perplexed by the club’s decision.
It is rare that a club with high expectations like Chelsea suffer such a streak of poor results. A title has never been defended so poorly. But what’s even more rare is the manager of the club having the support of fans as much as Jose did, regardless of results. Never has a fanbase and a manager stuck together in such dreadful times.
Furthermore, the chance for consistency has now gone. As fans, we welcomed Mourinho back in open arms. Not just because he is the most successful manager ever in the history of the club. Not only because he lives and breathes Chelsea better than any other manager. But also, he represented a chance to end the chaos.
Mr. Abramovich, when you purchased the club in 2003, you created a revolution. No one can argue with your motives, your dedication, or your willingness to invest. You wanted to build a super club, one that would help break up the traditional powerhouses across Europe.
Within a super club, however, you need stability. It happened at Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson and it could have happened at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho.
Furthermore, who are you planning on bringing in to replace the Special One? Guus Hiddink? Regardless of his successful one year stint with the club, that’s all he’s going to do. He won’t solve our problems long term. He’s not going to provide the stability that the fans and players crave. He’s not going to be able to integrate the youth talent that surrounds the club in numbers.
Which means you have to sign a new manager over the summer, which creates another new plan, another new direction. And who exactly do you sign then. Pep Guardiola? A man that isn’t coming to Chelsea without Champions League Football. Are you willing to give him full control of the transfer market? I didn’t think so.
So now you’re going to bring in a different manager, shackle their influence and then be frustrated with stalled progress.
The man for Chelsea was Jose. The man who lived and died by the club. The person who would have led the transition and allowed us to continue to build and grow. He had planned to integrate the youth players and he could have followed through with more time. We keep spending money on this academy, but we have to bring them into the first team. Jose was the man to do that.
Where do we go from here Mr. Abramovich?
Sincerely,
Tyler Strauss, a disgruntled fan.
