It was announced yesterday that Chelsea would be competing in the International Champions Cup for the second consecutive season and third time in the four-year history of the tournament.
Most years it may not be seen as a terrible thing. But before next season? I want nothing to do with the International Champions Cup.
Antonio Conte becoming the next manager of the club seems all but certain at this point. Throw in the fact that he’s managing the Italian National team at this summer’s Euro 2016 tournament.
And that’s before we even get to the issues with the current squad. Is John Terry coming back? He better be. If not, who’s the going to be next season’s captain? If Conte is the manager next season, who should he sign in the summer? Which loan players deserve a shot at making the squad next season?
I’ve seen multiple people on Twitter pointing out that the relationship Abramovich & co. are building with Relevent Sports and the lucrative money involved with participating in the tournament.
Now, I’m not sure of the specifics — I have no idea exactly how much Chelsea will receive from playing in the tournament. But let’s be honest — Chelsea aren’t the biggest club in the tournament. They’re not the “draw” of the tournament. They’re fighting Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, just to name a few.
My point is: the tournament could survive without Chelsea. It’d be just fine. We’re just a topping on the pie.
Sure, exposure in the American market would be great. But what are we really focused on here? Is it about drastically rebounding next season under, presumably, new management and possibly even no European football? Or are we trying to gain the attraction of some American fans who aren’t sure who to cheer for?
It should be noted that I myself am an American, and finally saw Chelsea play live for the first time last summer — twice. Seeing Chelsea play live again would be great, but I want none of it this pre-season.
Prior to Chelsea’s 2014-15 season, Jose Mourinho opted to keep the squad in Europe while teams like Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool went to the U.S. to compete in the International Champions Cup. Off the back of the 2014 World Cup, Mourinho’s plan certainly helped as he was able to keep the squad fresh early on and get off to a very hot start, leading for the remaining 36 match days en route to winning the Premier League title.
Prior to this season? Quite the opposite. Chelsea got embarrassed from a New York Red Bulls side that was filled with mostly youth players before collecting penalty kick shoot-out wins over PSG and Barcelona. We won’t even get into how Chelsea started the season.
Sure, maybe this season was a freak accident. But don’t think for a second that Mourinho didn’t have ulterior motives for why he planned the 2014-15 pre-season the way he did. Luckily for him, everything went according to planned.
It’s the route that Chelsea should be taking this season when you consider it’ll be under new management, who will be trying to get accustomed to new players and possibly even recovering from coaching a side in the Euro 2016 tournament.
Throw in the fact that we’ll have players returning from the European competition and trying to gain fitness back, and maybe even recovering from a knock or two, and it could be a recipe for disaster. From my point of view, it appears as though Chelsea are digging itself a hole before it even gets off the ground and running.
