2 years ago
Todd Boehly wasted no time in stamping his mark on the Chelsea operation after his consortium secured the takeover - with a number of Roman Abramovich's trusted confidants leaving the club.
I enjoy it when newcomers bring a new broom into a club and sweep it clean.
And from the moment Todd Boehly and his consortium agreed to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, the Russian's trusted commanders, Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia, were likely to be pushed out the door.
Both smacked of oligarch, and when Boehly signed on the dotted line, it made perfect sense that he and his partners didn't want the old-school Chelsea era hanging around.
Petr Cech was unique because of his position at the club and his relationship with the fans. So the fact that he has also been ushered out makes me wonder if boss Thomas Tuchel is now living on borrowed time as well.
When a club has three or four people and hires a manager who wins the Champions League and Club World Cup in his first year, he is given the benefit of the doubt when things don't go as well.Relationships built over a year or two can often stand a gaffer in good stead with those above him in such circumstances.
But if two or three people come in and say they want to spend a lot of money to become champions of England and Europe again, and they know it will take a lot of work, it's almost back to the drawing board, and how long will they give him?
There's no reason to put Tuchel under immediate pressure. But if you believe Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are not going anywhere, and Erik ten Hag will be given a one-year reprieve, you have to wonder if he is now the most vulnerable of the country's top four or five managers.
As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if he was sitting there today thinking, 'I've lost three people who were instrumental in bringing me to the club, we were well off the pace last year, and we got Romelu Lukaku spectacularly wrong between us, so could I be a casualty in the Boehly revolution?
It would only be natural if he were. Of course, a lot will depend on whether Boehly already has a manager in mind with whom he wants to work and whether he has someone lined up, which I doubt right now.
Cech's departure, on the other hand, is a clear shot across the bows. One that says to Tuchel, 'We've swept away everyone who hasn't gotten us anywhere near the Premier League in a couple of years.'
'You can do it, Thomas, but you'd better do it quickly because you could be the last of the Fab Four to leave the club if you don't achieve the kind of success we want right away.'
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