Following the news on Thursday about the sacking of José Mourinho, I asked Chelsea regular Ruth_NZ for his thoughts on what comes next for the Blues. Here is his view:
The situation at Chelsea now is worse than most outside the club will realise. Many will assume that removing the manager, who many neutrals disliked, will go a long way to resolving what has been wrong. But they probably don’t understand the standing José Mourinho had with the Stamford Bridge faithful.
For many Chelsea regulars, this will be almost like a bereavement. And if the players suddenly start to perform like champions after Mourinho has gone they won’t be thanked for it, they will be scorned for it. In my opinion, losing Mourinho will set Chelsea back three years. There won’t be peace now until half the squad have gone (including Eden Hazard if he wasn’t really injured last weekend) and a new manager and team have made the right connection with the fans.
I have spoken to quite a few regular, match-going Chelsea fans. Not one is happy that it came to this and not one is happy that Mourinho is gone. It’s not that we don’t understand the decision or even that we disagree with it. It’s that we really regret it, as the club does too if you read the statement on the website. The only sound explanation for it is a rift with some key players. If that’s the case then the Stamford Bridge crowd will not be settled till those players have gone too.
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So, I believe the fallout from this has only just begun. It may be that José Mourinho lost the players (or some of them). What the players will now discover is that they have lost the fans. Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo has talked about “palpable discord between manager and players”. This is not going to be put up with by the fans if they believe the some of the players wanted Mourinho sacked and downed tools.
Former England forward Alan Shearer said: “I have never known a capitulation like it. The players have just not performed and have a lot to answer for. They’ve let the club and the manager down.” That is now the feeling that many Stamford Bridge regulars have and it won’t be easily assuaged.
Personally I think you can write off Chelsea assets for the forseeable future in Fantasy Premier League terms. If I were the board I would use this as an opportunity to give youngsters like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Patrick Bamford, who can be brought back after Christmas, a good run of games for Chelsea and see what our youngsters can actually do in a first team shirt.
Maybe outsiders think that all Chelsea fans are glory hunters. I can assure you that while those “fans” do exist (and have already stopped trying to get tickets for games), the majority are not. Chelsea is a club with a proud history and there are some things the core supporters value more than short-term success.
FPL Diva 
It’s hard to judge from the outside looking in, but when you publicly critize a professional who is well liked with in the group and then remove them from the team for doing their job it can’t be easy to respect that person regardless of their impressive cv. That persons job is to protect the players, and the players got to witness that person become a scape goat and thrown under the bus.
If mourinho took some responsibility for this seasons early performances instead of blaming everyone but him self may be he wouldn’t have lost those key players. His main strength, his never say due attitude, ended up being his main weakness. His management style is not sustainable with out a high player turn over.
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Hello, Ruth. How great is it, to see this article? Good man.
If what you say really is the case, then I am afraid that you are all suffering a certain amount of delusion.
Mr. Mourinho, by both word and action, allowed your team to start the Season unfit and unready – by their own admission! To some extent, this is in fact about ninety percent of his job – and he, nobody else but him – failed. Miserably. Unprofessional.
I am sorry, but the cult of personality, to which, unusually, you are currently subscribing, will neither hide these central facts, nor excuse them.
He has proved, despite his excellent past results, in the end, a feckless and miserable manager. And I for one, for Chelsea’s own sake, am more than glad to see him go.
I am sorry for you and all the many loyal Chelsea fans, and for your hurt and loss. But you really ought to see the situation as it is, and not how you wished that it had been.
I hope that you find a decent manager, one that will bring both style and decency to Stamford Bridge, which you all deserve.
Mourinho had neither, but an overabundance of charm, which has now soured past bitterness, and into gall. You are well rid of him.
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I feel you’re pain but as a man utd fan I hope its our gain, Our fans will be singing his name over the festivites and I for one would welcome him sooner rather than later.
He was badly let down by men acting as children, you’re be well rid of a few mainly the once mighty fabregas who has shown once again his talents lie more in duplicicity rather than football.
All the Best Ruth_NZ
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35143511
Exactly as I predicted. The “stand up for the special one” song which brought the whole stadium to their feet was the spine-tingling moment of the day. “Where were you when we were sh!t” (aimed at certain players) was also repeated numerous times. Scorn is the correct word and it was the strangest atmosphere I have ever experienced at a football ground.
Doosra, I disagree with you. But then, I am 50 years a Chelsea fan and you aren’t. I don’t expect you to “get” Chelsea in the way the core supporters do. That’s just how it is.
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I accept this, Ruth. But let me put it this way: I would not want a Mourinho anywhere near my club. That is my way. I could not feel the same about somebody who had behaved in that way, anywhere near the reins at West Ham.
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Doos, I’m not going to argue with you because I like you and I don’t feel much like arguing anyway. But I’ll try to offer an explanation so you can maybe understand…
At Chelsea, pre-Abramovich, we were always an up-and-down team. High moments, low moments, a fantastic era from 1965-72, an awful time in the 80s (we all still remember Walker’s late goal at Bolton that saved the club from relegation to the 3rd Division and probable bankruptcy and we alll still remember the fight to save Stamford Bridge from being developed into flats after the previous owners sold the ground to property developers).
We had some great players that we loved and we had some awful players that we loved. Micky Droy is a name you may remember – he was as agricultural a lump of a CB as you will ever see and captained Chelsea when they were at their worst. But he was held in great affection; he was voted POTY in 1978 and would still get an ovation if he returned to Stamford Bridge now.
Why? Because he was Chelsea. He had some personality, he gutted it out with the rest of us and he always tried. Chelsea fans (the core support that is) value that more than anything. Being Chelsea, having a love for the club, giving the lot.
Whatever you or anyone outside the club think about Mourinho, that is how the Chelsea fans see him. He blatantly loves the club and has a connection with the fans that is rare in an era of mercenaries. We know that Hazard is ambivalent about Chelsea and is marking time till he moves to Real Madrid. We know Costa would rather still be at Atletico. We know that Chelsea fall way behind Barcelona and Arsenal in Fabregas’ affections. We know Oscar would as soon be playing for PSG or Juventus. This applies to a lot of our players and has done more and more over the last 10 successful seasons.
That is why we have taken those that became (as we saw it) “Chelsea” very close to our hearts. That means Wise, Zola, Terry, Lampard and Drogba in particular. Also players like Willian and Azpilicueta that run and run and seem to really give a damn. And right up there in that list is José Mourinho. We know the difference between him and the mercenary managers (AVB, Benitez) that only came to Chelsea for their CV. We know he wanted to stay at the club long-term. We know he cared like we did and we know he gave all he had. And he was also the most successful manager in the club’s history. We considered him one of our own, like JT, like Drogba and like Micky Droy.
Did we see what you did? Sure. He royally fecked up the start to this season. He handled the Carneiro incident very, very badly. He was out of his depth in knowing how to put things right again – correcting such a slide in form isn’t something he has done before. He made some very bad mistakes. We know all that. But he was one of our own and we trusted him to figure it out and get it right again. He never stopped trying. Some of our mercenary players evidently did.
That’s the long and the short of it, Doosra. The whole story I am telling is quite peculiar to Chelsea because we are quite a peculiar club. But the glory-hunter fans have gone away already and at Stamford Bridge yesterday it was the core support that was filling the ground. And more than anything else we had come to say thanks to one of our own.
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Hi again Ruth.
I hope you believe me, when I say that I am not arguing with you.
And also, when I say that I understand what Lampard and Drogba – and even the benighted Terry – means to you all. And I remember Micky Droy very well, even with some affection, as he was another of what I would call a “decent”, if not the best, player.
However, what I am saying, is that this man, who you are all so busy venerating, has let you all down, behind your backs, and big time. He has zero in common with the players that I or you have mentioned, and I would argue that he has fooled you all. Sorry.
Moreover, you probably already know what I think of Fabrègas, and I can sympathise when some fans feel that the players, or a section of them, have let the club down. But I say again, the main responsibility lies with the manager. Has he accepted this? I think not. Weasel words is all I ever hear.
So what I really want to say is this: I have seen your club’s struggles close up, particularly during the Bates era(my parents lived five hundred yards away from Stamford Bridge, and my Mother ended up supporting Chelsea). Remember, we ourselves had to live through Terry Brown, and Icelandic bankers. Well, it rhymes, anyway.
And I hate to have to wave a flag here, but hello, this guy Mourinho, is not actually who he is cracked up to be.
And I believe that when you come to see this, that you will be, and feel, better.
My Best Wishes, and Sincere Regards,
Michael
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I honestly don’t get all the obsession with “style” and “decency”. We are in a competition to win – that’s a full stop. Who cares how he gets there? Would you rather a “nice” and “stylistic” manager like Wenger and then proceed to go a decade without trophies?
I think people who criticize Mourinho for his gamesmanship ought to take a long hard look at their naive selves. This is a competition – we are in it to win it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Wake up, because only the people who use all methods possible to win – end up winning.
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Fine. That’s your view. I don’t share it.
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Gamesmanship is all well and good but when you publicly turn against members of your own staff how can you expect your other work colleagues to respect and work for you knowing your manager will never take responsibility for any failures and everything will be your fault.
Mourinho is the definition of a mersonary manager but gets over looked because of the success he brings due to his take no prisoners personality.
If fab is up for sale I’d still love to see him back at Arsenal.
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Incredible to be bringing Arsene Wenger into this debate as a manager who is somehow less than Mourinho..
Wenger sure is the anthisesis of Mourinho- He actually really cares about his club and has always worked for the long term stability of it.
We are seeing the fruits of Wenger’s work clearly now. To dismiss him like you did here is really shocking and sn unnecessary stab in my view.
He built a fantastic stadium and all the while inproved the players and the philosophy. The culture at Arsenal now surely must be bane of jealousy for some other clubs.
He gave the young players a proper go.
The foundation he built will keep Arsenal healthy for a very long time.
Unfortunately for United/Chelsea.. the future is far bleaker now.
These days more than ever- we should all appreciate and respect what Wenger has does.
In respect to the points above- ( really great insights from Ruth_NZ)
It is really interesting to read about the angle from the Chelsea core.
It is an angle deserving of great respect.
I however also think that Mourinho will be exposed for what he really appears to be. Self- Interested is one adjective I would use.
What will the core think if he moves to United and suddenly they are his special club??
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+ 42!!! 😀
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