End of season conclusion and reflections

Simon gives his final thoughts on a season that was very down at times, but finished very high in the best possible way.

Frank Lampard, a club legend, was sacked by Chelsea only four months ago, and for many fans, it was one of the lowest points they had felt for some time.

I love Lampard, I always will, and it hurt when he was sacked despite me knowing deep down it was probably the correct decision under the circumstances. He appeared to have lost too many players in the dressing room, and after an inconsistent start to the season, things were rather sour at the club.

We can sit and discuss what went wrong, what Lampard did or did not do, but at the end of the day you just know that on Saturday night when Chelsea lifted another Champions League trophy beating Manchester City 1-0, that Lampard would have been one of those ‘fans’ shouting the loudest.

After all, he is a fan just like all of us, but he will also be feeling proud as punch knowing that he had a hand in helping Chelsea win this competition.

When Thomas Tuchel took the reigns, I did my extensive research and I knew we were getting a top class manager. But for the life of me I never expected us to win the Champions League. I thought top four and maybe a domestic trophy if we were lucky judging by how things were going.

But even for Tuchel it has been far from easy, he has seen the ups and downs and changing mentalities of this group of players over the last few months, and we even almost messed up getting top four late on. So in reality, Tuchel has made many positive changes to these players and this team, but he would have been left very frustrated if we hadn’t lifted that trophy on Saturday night, especially after losing in the FA Cup final as well.

The only way I can describe this season is comparing it to a rollercoaster ride; it’s been up, down, around, upside down, low, and high… Especially with the added aspect of playing through a global pandemic without fans in the stadium, which has been mighty weird for us, let alone the players.

In that respect it is a relief that the season is over, and even more of a relief that we are starting to see fans back in stadiums again, it makes such a difference to the players.

The main thing Tuchel has done is bring that team spirit back into the camp, and it was the players characters and desire that won us that game on Saturday night to become Champions of Europe, I have no doubt about that.

I’m excited for the summer and seeing which few players Tuchel wants to bring in to make this squad one that is capable of challenging for the Premier League title, which is our next task and focus going into a new season.

Simon Phillips