Dear Mr. Roman Abramovich.....
Firstly as a Chelsea fan I would like to say a big thank you for holding onto this club despite reportedly splurging £1 billion to bring the club to what it is today.
Since the arrival of you and your wealth Chelsea F.C. have won 3 Premier League titles, 3 F.A. Cups, 2 League cups and a couple of Community Shield titles. Not that you need any reminding but its hard to not boast of such facts when they have been achieved only in nine years. Being able to celebrate a league title in the centenary year was a dream which you helped achieve.What you seem to be doing at the helm of the club is fantastic and I know that I speak for all the Chelsea supporters when I say that we wish you to continue indefinitely. Having said that there are a few pointers or "suggestions" as I like to call them that I wish to put before you.
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1) The Manager Rotation Policy
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| Ranieri, Mourinho, Grant, Scolari |
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| Carlo Ancelotti |
One Of Abramovich-era-Chelsea's famous feature is what journalists call the managerial merry-go-round. Having appointed six different managers during his tenure this pointer needs no introduction. The policy seems to have worked as non performing managers were quickly replaced yet it has led to an instability and rigidity in the club. New managers are afraid to experiment as they know that under-performance will bring their head onto the chopping block. This is one of the reasons why we still see Chelsea playing Jose Mourinho's fabled 4-3-3, the one with which h turned Chelsea from a good club to a great one. Ancelotti tried the 4-4-2 diamond but quickly reverted back to the 4-3-3 in the second unsuccessful year.
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2) Show Villas-Boas some support
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| Andre Villas-Boas |
Well how would you like if some guy your age came up-to you and literally taught you something in which you considered yourself an expert? Well that's the exact scenario when Andre Villas Boas is coaching a bunch of players who are his age( read.. Drogba, Lampard, Malouda and company). What do Guus Hiddink, Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have in common? Well they are old guys who are respected by footballers. When they say something more often than not it is taken seriously. The simple reason AVB has lost control of the dressing room is because probably half of what he says goes in through one ear and out another. The players simply don't take him seriously. Now there seem to be rumors a plenty that AVB is about to be fire; that he's gonna replace Ranieri at Inter and either Jose Mourinho or Guus Hiddink is set to make a comeback at Chelsea, I would like you to really reconsider the decision.
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| Grim Beginnings |
The guy just guided FC Porto to a treble of the Europa League, Portuguese League and the Cup that too undefeated. Hell, he's not an idiot. He must have don something right. After all that's why you paid approximately £13 million to get him from Porto, might as well give him a season more. Give him enough space to make bold decisions. For a person who was the Head opposition scout at Chelsea he knows the innards of the team. just give him some time to get things in order. And no, Mr. Abramovich one season is not enough.
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3) The Stamford Bridge Stadium
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| Signal Iduna Park: Borussia Dortmund |
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| Santiago Bernabeu : Real Madrid CF |
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| Allianz Arena: Bayern Munich FC |
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| Camp Nou: FC Barcelona |
Another reason we see Chelsea under-performing at home is the Home ground itself. Chelsea FC's Stamford Bridge, its one and only home. The home its own fans helped save is unfortunately in adequate to the needs of the present club. During the era when Chelsea were among the top 6-7 teams, the 42,000 stadium was probably enough, but since Chelsea have broken into the 'elite' top 4 and are consistently battling for honors now; the stadium is extremely inadequate.
The simple fact of playing at Nou Camp is threatening to many because of the 98,000 screaming fans and to top it off with a world class squad is an icing on the cake. The mere fact of playing the team at their home ground should be ominous for the opponents. The Homes Of Bayern, Borussia and Real Madrid are all about 70,000+ seaters. Screaming fans and great teams are an unbeatable combo in the world of football.
You could argue that we had the best home record of 87 unbeaten league games, but well where are we now. When we enter the Emirates Stadium, the Etihad Stadium or Old Trafford , the shouting fans are ringing a death bell for the visiting team.
I dont see that happening anywhere at Stanfiord Bridge. Its no longer the fortress it used to be.When we fall back, suddenly the cries of the visiting fans seem much louder than ours.
We can argue saying that Stamford Bridge has been Chelsea's home since its inception and that the club is emotionally attached to the ground. Arsenal faced the same dilemma when they planned to move from Highbury what they so affectionately called the 'Home of Football' to its present Emirates ground.
The transition is not going to be an easy one but one that is necessary for the club to make. Another important reason it has to be implemented is The Financial Fair Play Rules. Only by increasing the revenue coming into the club can Chelsea hope to achieve a bigger output during the Transfer window.
(P.S. Also some semblance of bragging will be achievable with a bigger stadium.)
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| Chelsea needs a bigger Bridge |
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4) Get Fernando Torres a Supporting Playmaker
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| Fernando Torres: I'll be back! |
Chelsea has been eternally criticized ever since Fernando Torres became a record signing last January. People have long criticized for his lack of producing goals to lack of confidence. Right now he has probably zero confidence from not scoring many goals for over 1000 minutes of football. We see him taking too many touches to get into position before scoring because he does not want to miss and become the butt of a new set of jokes. But get this, when he just transferred he had the confidence, so why didn't he score? Pressure of being a £50m transfer?Could be. I think the real reason is that he lacks some one who can pick out precision, defense splitting passes for him to poach on. Something he was able to do in front of the combine of Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard. Lampard, Chelsea's chief playmaker albeit great still, is a mere shadow of his 20-goals-a-season form. Torres himself has admitted that Chelsea played at a much slower pace than what he was accustomed too. He is a great player.
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| Joao Moutinho |
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| Kaka |
You paid the hefty price for a reason. So why not build the squad around him? He's livened up since Mata's arrival but still the lack of pace of the whole team as a whole is dragging him back. We have an essentially defensive or centrally oriented midfield( read Essien, Miereles, Ramires, Mikel and Romeu) none capable of regularly providing precision passes for Torres. What we need is someone like a David Silva, Cesc Fabregas. Don't tell me that he plays with them in the national team and yet he doesn't score.
Chelsea have already destroyed his confidence and Del Bosque, the Spanish National Coach has him ostracized from the team. We need to look at players like Porto's Joao Moutinho, Athletic Bilbao's Iker Muniain, CSKA's Alan Dzagoev(a self proclaimed Chelsea Fan), Santos' Ganso to name a few. Real Madrid's Kaka was rumored to be interested in a switch too Chelsea. A playmaker like that could surely fire up Fernando Torres to goal-scoring ways.
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5) Ray Wilkins
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| Ray Wilkins |
Neither do I know the real reason Ray Wilkins was sacked nor do I want to know. All I know is that when he was at the club , the season before we won the Double. After he was relieved of his duties we went into the dramatic winter form dip. Though we recovered and almost got back the title we saw the effect his sacking had on the team. Although you have done great by bringing a former Chelsea player Roberto Di Matteo into the setup we are still suffering from the aftermath of that decision. We have slipped during the winter once again. All I'm saying is it's worth taking a look at.
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| Roman Abramovich |
So that's all I've got. I know its very unlikely that you will take this letter seriously. You might not even read it. In all probabilities you have a big advisory panel to guide you properly. All I'm saying is that if you do come across this ever, please give it an unbiased read. Well...it was a pleasure talking to you sir.
Hope you carry on all the great things you have done with this club.
Thanking You ,
- IndianChelseaFan
-copyrights of all the photographs used belong to their respective owners, none are owned by me.
