I still believe that the two biggest mistakes we ever made as a club were sacking Jose and hiring Grant. I don't need to go into detail about Jose and how important he was for this club but the hiring of Grant in my view was pivotal and created this player power culture we have at the club today. I've supported Chelsea since Hoddle and I can honestly say up until now, Grant is the only manager I have ever called for to be sacked, even Scolari didn't test my patience as much. Jose should have been replaced immediately by a powerful figure, someone in the Hiddink mould, a manager who could stamp his authority on the team and make his presence felt. Appointing a Neville Chamberlain figure like Grant who offered nothing whatsoever other than emotional support meant that the players could effectively reign supreme, that season the players effectively became bigger than the club itself. What followed was a succession of quick fixes and players running off to Roman and senior board members when they didn't like the manager. Once you do that you basically undermine the role of the manager, as AVB is finding out.
AVB dosen't get off scot-free either, he has played a role (albeit minimal) in our demise, his biggest mistake was deciding to give certain senior players a chance. Had he come in and began to make changes immediately and stamped his authority on the team I don't doubt we would be in a better position and his authority would have been strengthened. Instead we've seen the likes of Malouda, Bosingwa and Meireles pull on the famous Royal Blue shirt time and time again despite half arsed and substandard performances and then the likes of Lampard and Mikel pulling in another direction. AVB's "tactics" have continued to bemuse me throughout the season, my first concerns came in August at Sunderland when we comfortably outplayed a poor Sunderland side only for AVB to go negative and have us clinging on in the closing stages, at the DW stadium his negativity was finally punished and in the games against Arsenal, United and Napoli we've seen some of the most tactically inept managerial performances I've seen in quite some time watching top tier football or football at any level for that matter. Up until AVB decided to mess around with the defence we were defensively the best team in the league for the past 6 seasons, forcing us to try and play the high line with our current centre backs - none of whom are renowned for pace - was a grave error.
Do I care if we make top 4 this season? Quite frankly no because there are issues at this club far bigger than league position. Sure it will hurt finishing below Arsenal and Tottenham for the first time in 7 and 15 years respectively but in the long term sorting this club out from top to bottom has to be the priority. To most Chelsea fans, 5th in the top flight isn't a bad position to be in by any means. When you look at clubs like Rangers and Portsmouth it makes you appreciate how lucky you are at times.
The only chant in football that ever annoyed me was when Arsenal used to sing "Stamford Bridge is falling down" after coming to SW6 year after year and inflict damaging results to our campaign but at the moment we literally are falling down and we need to build it up with a new culture, new idea and new philosophy, none of this player power that has led to underachievement for the last 3/4 years.
I said shortly after the Sheikhs took over City they would win far more than we ever did and I stand by that. Why? Because they had a plan and they stuck by it, they identified a manager and stuck by him despite media campaigns to get him out. It doesn't surprise me at all that the two most stable clubs with the strongest managers (in terms of authority) are 1st and 2nd in the league. City are building a legacy whilst we just built a world class team which is now way past its sell by date. Having been in the vicinity of Eastlands the facilities there are excellent, top plans in place for the future of their club so that when this crop of players go, they'll be producing their own top players similar to what Barca are doing.
I personally don't think AVB is the right manager, but he is right in everything he says about the problems at this club and my respect for him has gone up slightly for that if nothing else.
