The Sporting Directors MUST be held accountable

Their treatment of Trev and failure of the summer window are examples of their poor decisions

I wrote an article recently on our sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart. I said in that article that they’d done a good job rebuilding the football infrastructure of the club and made some good signings. That remains the case. It doesn’t change because of what’s happened this week.

I’ll always give credit where its due, and I’ll never get into dehumanizing labels or personal attacks as others do sometimes. They may well be good men who work hard at their job and have some expertise, and I’m not gonna dispute that or ever disrespect them as people.

But the situation with Trevoh Chalobah might be the final straw for me as regards their suitability for their current jobs. Looking at Twitter, about 90-99% of fans there now want the sporting directors gone, and I don’t blame them. This, to me was the final straw in many ways.

Frozen out in the summer, they publicly briefed he was for sale, that we wanted him gone, didn’t fit Enzo Maresca’s system and he was made to train with the kids teams. Now he is welcomed back with a phone call - still unclear whether that was Behdad Eghbali or Winstanley - and we’re told he’s important to the first team and he can suddenly, miraculously fit with Maresca’s system.

That volte face is not only a sign of awful man management and disrespect to the player, its also clearly demonstrating their squad building skills are poor. Its incompetence and its unprofessional, and not fitting for a club the size of Chelsea. There’s basic standards of decency and respect, and honouring someone’s service to a club, and I don’t believe Trev, nor Conor Gallagher, have been shown that. And as a fan, I’m not ashamed to say it makes me really angry. Trev’s loyalty has been shoved in his face too many times, and now its being used to bring him back.

That’s just shocking behaviour from the Sporting Directors. Players are people, human beings, not commodities.

Outside of this, the Sporting Directors spent a billion of the clubs and owners money on this squad and we’re 4th. That IS progress, many didn’t predict that last summer and some of their signings have been successful. I’m not going to back down on my previous points about some signings and appointments being good ones.

However, the last summer window now looks more and more like a shambles.

Two of the players we signed then, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (surely a candidate for the Chelsea worst signing squad), and Renato Veiga, who I think has done well for us so far, could both depart this window. Even Tosin Adarabioyo, who I think has been a really smart signing who’s done relatively well and added some leadership and experience, has been linked with a move. Where’s the planning with all these?

Looking further back, Axel Disasi, a Laurence Stewart signing, looks to be moving on after 18 months, and Benoit Badiashile, another Stewart signing, could be in the summer.

The club have signed countless goalkeepers in the last two years, none of whom are yet good enough to be Chelsea number one. That’s at least 6-7 signings which either haven’t worked or could be gone relatively quickly. There’s a good chance one of the wingers will depart in the summer as well, and other signings are under scrutiny.

To be balanced, the sporting directors have made some good signings. I’m not here to make personal attacks or be unbalanced and rude. They deserve credit for Andrey Santos, Lesley Ugochukwu, Estevao Willian, Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho, Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia, Malo Gusto, Aaron Anselmino, Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto, Tosin and even Renato Veiga, who I think has been a shrewd signing, and extending Levi Colwill and Josh Acheampong.

They’ve also sold very well, bringing in over £430m and getting huge fees for Kai Havertz and Mason Mount, which now look excellent deals for Chelsea.

However, their overall squad building has been poor. We have a first team, but our squad isn’t strong enough in depth, and they’ve made consistently bad decisions in some areas and their treatment of Trev - and also Conor Gallagher last summer - is simply unprofessional. Recalling him after trying to force him out of the club brutally last summer is embarrassing, shameful and undermines any credibility or trust they had with the fans.

Not only that, it also undermines their credibility with the players and outside of Chelsea too. It gives the impression they have no idea how to manage players and no idea how to build a squad. I know there is an overall plan for the long term, as I’ve said many times here, but the execution of it hasn’t been top class at all.

We cannot keep blaming the manager for failures in the squad (we’re into their second appointment now) and not hold those above him to account. They built this squad, they spent the money, they made the decisions, they treated players poorly, so like in any job, they should be held accountable for what they’ve done. I won’t judge Enzo Maresca too harshly until he’s given a full squad he trusts and suits how he wants to play. Right now, he doesn’t have that.

The other failure is this continued unwillingness to sign some good experience in the squad. We need more established players of requisite ability, with experience, who have leadership qualities. Our inexperience is showing in recent games, and again, that’s down to the squad composition.

The sporting directors have spent about £1 billion in two years, and although there’s been improvement, there’ve been too many mistakes and bad decisions, and poor man management. How is it after two years of the sporting directors, we still need a proven CB with leadership qualities, still need a top GK and a powerhouse striker and elite finisher? Nicolas Jackson is one of their successes, but he needs proper support and we need a different profile up front, and its still not been properly addressed.

Surely the owners expect a better return on their investment than so many being sold on so quickly and still not having a deep squad two years later?

We were told in 2022 during the takeover we would appoint best in class, and respectfully, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart aren’t acting like “best in class” at all.

Best in class means someone like Luis Campos, Monchi, Michael Edwards, or Andrea Berta (pictured above), who just left Atletico Madrid after many successful years, and is available. It was rumoured Todd Boehly looked at Berta during the takeover.

You need elite people to run elite football clubs, winners who command respect, have historically built successful, trophy winning squads, who not only can spot talent but know what's needed, both in talent, profile and intangibles, in a squad to win major trophies.

Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart have some positive qualities and have done some good work in specific areas, as I’ve outlined. This isn’t an agenda driven article, I’m tying to be fair and balanced. But the evidence is clear, squad building is clearly not a strength of the Sporting Directors, and quite frankly, man management isn’t either. If they want us to give credit when it goes well, they need to hold their hands up and be held to account for their failures.

If they are to remain at Chelsea, it should be in roles which suit their skill set. We need a best in class sporting director who can build an elite squad and manage players and staff well and gain their respect - even the ones who end up leaving - and has respect in the wider football community.

The majority of the fanbase have had enough of mixed or bad decisions with a constant lack of accountability. This is our club, we deserve the best, we deserve some accountability, and we’re not getting either currently. Its simply not good enough, and fans are tired of excuses and PR talk. We need action, and answers.

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