"Manager Out" calls after 3 PL games? Lets stop embarrassing ourselves

We're making ourselves a laughing stock

I saw some things on social media post the Crystal Palace game, which really made me sigh in despair. There’s the horrendous habit Chelsea fans have been indoctrinated into in the last 20 years, and its now reached its absolute zenith. I’m talking about the way we “back” our managers and how much time we give them.

Four PL games into last season, there were cries of Pochettino Out all over twitter. At that point, we’d played 4, won one, drawn one and lost two PL games. Some even said they’d give him 3 more games and then he needed to go.

After the Crystal Palace draw, 3 PL games into head coach Enzo Maresca’s tenure, you had tons of people sharing Maresca Out tweets. One person on twitter said if we didn’t win against Bournemouth in our next PL game, he’d have the biggest agenda ever against a manager ever seen. That’s after 4 PL games and 6 games overall.

Just so you know, this is not normal. It’s laughable. Chelsea fans who do that are making our whole fanbase and club a laughing stock all on their own. Its utterly absurd. I’m embarrassed I even have to write this article to be honest, but I’ve had enough seeing this stuff all the time.

To be really clear, I’ve also got no time for toxic positivity and pretending everything is shiny and happy. The result against Palace was disappointing, as was the second leg result against Serviette. People have a right to be frustrated. But calling for a managerial change is just ludicrous to me.

I personally believe we controlled the first half against Palace and it was arguably one of our best performances / halves of the season. Second half we looked rattled and lost our way, but even then, in the last 10-15 minutes we had chances to win the game.

We didn’t play badly or look in serious trouble against Palace, we simply didn’t take our chances. We’re not actually conceding many shots on target per game - only 3 against Wolves, 3 against Serviette away and 3 against Palace. Statistically we’re having more shots on target per game and conceding less shots on target under Maresca, pretty consistently in his 5 games so far.

Nevertheless, the results are disappointing and we all want better.

That said, there is never an excuse to call for a managers head after 5 competitive games and 3 Premier League games - unless of course you’ve lost them all 4,5,6 and looked genuinely awful, but that rarely, if ever happens (unless your name is Frank De Boer).

I’ve even seen people saying we’re in relegation trouble. Which when you objectively analyse our performances, our attacking threat, the second half v Wolves and first v Palace, add to the fact you only need about 35 points to stay up now, and this squad got 63 points last season, is just utterly laughable.

I’ve had about enough of this toxicity 3-4 games into a managerial era. I turned on Pochettino last season, but I waited 6-7 months of the season before coming to that conclusion, well over 30 games in all comps. And even then, in hindsight I should have stuck by him because we finished so strongly and he proved me wrong.

Chelsea were 11th as late as March 2024, but ended up finishing 6th, only 5 points off the top 4 and 3 points off 5th place. This surely shows us conclusively that judging a manager based of a ridiculously low number of games is sheer folly. Ultimately, Pochettino gave us a hugely promising season and there was a case to keep him.

This is a pattern Chelsea fans seem to have with almost any manager All it takes is one or two bad results and people want the manager changed as if that solves the real problems or its some magic bullet.

You think if Pep Guardiola had come to Chelsea we’d have been playing brilliant football immediately? It would have taken a year or more to implement, as it did at Manchester City. Would our fans have been patient and stuck by Pep, when losing 3-1 to title rivals at home, as he did, or conceding 5 or 6 goals in some games? I highly doubt it.

In my view Pep wasn’t just referring to the owner when he turned us down because managers get no time. He knew our fans wouldn’t give him the time either. There’s also a story about how Roman Abramovich loved Jurgen Klopp, but he turned us down for the same reason. You can say “ah, they’re proven”, I’m telling you that wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference with our fans. Some Chelsea fans turned on our greatest ever player, a club legend, Frank Lampard. They abused him, insulted him, disrespected him, made personal attacks and called him “Fatpard” when he was head coach. You think they’d have cared when it was Pep or Klopp?

I’ll be brutally honest, in the last 20 years or so we’ve all been spoiled. Roman came in in 2003, we had zero financial competition, no financial rules to keep to, could buy literally anyone and basically play football manager with the worlds best players. Success came without much time or effort to achieve it.

We didn’t build it, or earn it by building a well run club, we bought it, overnight.

That’s why everyone hated us, because other clubs had had to build themselves, often on lower amounts of money over time, and go through difficult times to get success - we never have. It came easily, and there was no effort, patience or sacrifice needed to achieve it. So we never learned the value of patience, and the true value of success. Football has changed now, and no club gets success that way anymore, and the rules stop that happening anyway.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal all had struggles under Pep, Klopp and Mikel Arteta before getting where they are now. It wasn’t easy and it literally took years, in some cases 2-3 years before getting there. Would our fans have been patient with them? Even Arsenal fans wanted Arteta out, under three years ago. This team has been together 12 months and with this manager two months. Even considering the managers departure after just two months and 3 PL games is just nonsense, and I’ll be honest, I’ve had enough of this kinda thing by fans.

Criticise the players or manager or sporting directors all you like, we’re all entitled to our view. But to me wanting a manager gone when the season is barely begun is simply embarrassing. If we ever want to be successful again, you have to go through these periods with at least one manager, and the more we change managers, the longer you have to wait.

So maybe lets back our manager, who’s said or done nothing to disrespect Chelsea fans and has barely got his foot in the door. He wasn’t my choice as manager, but I’m backing him and giving him time.

Hire and fire no longer works, none of the most successful clubs do it anymore. Even Real Madrid have had stability with former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti. Pep has done 9 years by the end of this season. Klopp did 9 years. Arteta has been in post at Arsenal 4 and half years. Funnily enough, they’re also the best 3 teams in England right now. Slot has come in and simply built on solid foundations, so hasn’t needed so much time to adapt or build, the groundwork was laid for 9 years by Klopp.

Not one of the best teams in Europe now operates a hire / fire policy. Bayern Munich still do, but have lost their status as a top team, finishing 3rd in the Bundesliga and not winning the Champions League for 4 years. Football has changed and we have to change with it if we want to be an elite team again.

We’re still laying foundations, Maresca is just getting started, the squad is still young. So please, we need to stop these ridiculous calls to sack the manager after two months and 3 league games. Get behind him and give him your support. The merry go round has to stop, now, and the club can’t keep changing managers until the fans get who they want, that’s not how football works in my view.

My own perspective is to support the incumbent when they’re new to the job, unconditionally, until they prove to not be good enough, with no preconceptions or preconditions. I give them at least 6 months. They don’t earn my support when appointed, they get it unconditionally until they lose it. And even then, they can earn it back. That’s pretty much what happened with me and Pochettino.

I’m not telling anyone else to do it this way, we can all do what we like. This is just how I support the manager and the team, and always have. I’m just worn down by constantly seeing manager out tweets after a tiny amount of games. I’m not even going to give arguments defending Maresca because right now he shouldn’t need them.

Changing managers constantly only sets us back from getting back to the top. Success will only come again when we actually back a manager through a difficult period and give them time to succeed.

And I don’t know about you, but I want success back sooner rather than later.

The Score