What a buzz.
Its a bit like the fourth or fifth date with a girl you are massively attracted to (maybe the only one you’ve ever really, truly been in love with), and you are cooking her dinner at her place. You know its on. You know its coming. You know what is going to happen. The hand-dived scallops sauteed in butter with a sweetcorn and maple syrup puree and black pudding slip down slowly. The crispy pork belly cooked in pear cider with braised beans and Dauphinoise potato cooked with your own-made garlic olive oil take an age. The blueberry pannacotta with cinder toffee tuisle and popping candy dust takes forever. The two bottles of ice cold 2009 Sancerre take an eternity. She looks unbelievable. She loves the food. She keeps playing with her hair. And then kisses on the sofa… you’ve waited and waited and waited for this. She takes you to the bedroom. The kissing starts again in earnest. She wants you. She smells amazing. Then the bra comes off. Her hands are everywhere. She loves you as much as you love her…
And it is good.
Its so so so much better than you remember.
It is fackin’ excellent actually.
Its as if the waiting has actually made the act itself better. And its been a LONG wait.
So now its official, what a buzz.
I dont think there are many of us not deliriously happy that Jose is back. Twitter went absolutely mental when it was announced.
My favourite reaction tweets were:
‘So happy Jose is coming back. Just woken the Mrs up she works night shifts – WAKE UP TREACLE YOURE GETTING IT’
and
‘Gonna bounce in a minute in the office’
I think that sums it up. 🙂
A few days ago i remarked in an SOTN that I thought Chelsea were in a much more solid position now then when Jose was last here. That even though we’ve had the greatest ever Premiership title win and the small matter of a European Cup win amongst many others, the real progress for the club has come off the field. I think its interesting, hence my SOTN today.
2007 was not long ago, and yet it seems so far away. We’ve had Grant, Scolari, Hiddink, Villas-Boas, Di Matteo and Benitez since then. Can you believe that? I still cant.
The club in 2007 was four years post-Roman takeover and in state of flux. The training ground complex had just been partially completed but the youth system was struggling. Arnesen had come in from Sp*rs and our brightest youth prospects were Michael Mancienne and a youthful Scott Sinclair who you may remember Jose rated very highly in his last season.
We had a larger squad but it was nowhere near as deep as the smaller one we have today. Scrape away the powerful veneer of the likes of Lampard, Essien, Makelele, Ballack, Carvalho, Drogba, Cole and the like, and the gap in quality was noticeable. During Jose’s reign last time we had the ‘untouchables’ propped up by the likes of Quique De Lucas, Asier Del Horno, Jiri Jarosik, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Mateja Kezman and Tal Ben-Haim. (stand to be corrected on those)
I’d contend the squad now is a dramatically more capable beast even it clearly lacks the power and athleticism of Jose’s Chelsea. With a lot of players heading out of the exit door at Chelsea and a few coming in, this Summer will only strengthen the squad we have.
We’re certainly better going forward. And we have much better kids.
Its very tempting to imagine what Jose might do with a squad containing such absolutely Rolls Royces of players as Mata, Ramires, Hazard, Oscar, Luiz and the like, none of whom are anywhere near their prime yet. Factor in one of the finest keepers in the world, probably the two finest fullbacks in the Premiership in Cole and Dave Azpi, and a sprinkling of experienced born winners such as Terry, Lamps, Essien and the rest. Then you’ve got a crop of absolutely world-beating kids coming through in Chalobah, Ake, Baker, Romeu, McEachran, Loftus-Cheek and the rest.
I think the current squad needs more power and athleticism and Jose will address that. A major reason why the club is in a much better position than it was is someone who knows what he is talking about actually buying the players. Michael Emenalo is a divisive figure amongst some at the Bridge, but we have the best hit rate amongst the top Premiership clubs in buying in talent. He knows his stuff, I don’t think anyone could argue that. Emenalo uses the scouting reports intelligently and brings in players who fit in a certain role for the team. He doesn’t buy many duds does he? We didn’t have that under Jose. We’re spending less but getting an awful lot more for our money than we were. Progress.
So what other areas has the club progressed since Jose left?
Well we’re not the poor kid with his nose pressed up against the window of the ‘big clubs’ in Europe anymore. We’re a European heavyweight now and have a squad every bit as good as any other top team in Europe. We’re not ‘the enemy of football’ any more – that mantle has been taken up in spectacular fashion by Monaco, PSG and to some extent Man City. We still get the usual rash of dodgy penalties and mystifying ref decisions in Europe against us, but they are fewer now and less damaging than they were. People don’t hate us as much as they did, despite Wapping’s finest doing their daily best to rabble-rouse. People are more accepting of us as a big club that wins things. You don’t hear many people trying to take the piss out of us being a small club with a tiny fanbase any more, do you? (Not that they ever could, but that’s a different SOTN).
Player power is another much-discussed factor in Chelsea’s recent fortunes and my view is that the club has come a long way from the Grant days of the team literally picking itself. The private fiefdoms within the squad, even extending as far as Captain Leader Legend John Terry are very much on the wane. What AVB and RdM have instilled into the squad is a need to take personal responsibility and player power has, it would seem, been much reduced as a result. The only player with a reasonably intact power base at the club is Frank Lampard and one wonders whether the club drew out his contract talks as long as they did for exactly this reason. We will probably never know.
The club’s medical staff and infrastructure is light years more advanced than it was, and rehabilitation from injuries is faster, smoother and better managed than it was.
Probably the biggest advancement since Jose left is our financial situation. We were, in 2007, big spenders with deep pockets and no possibility of having to take any kind of responsibility for our spending, for good or bad. That’s not a criticism, its just how it was. Now, with FFP looming, the club has been roughly at break even for a couple of years and we’ll be financially self-sufficient within a couple of years. Sponsorship deals, money made on overseas tours and a huge rise in the club’s brand awareness globally, especially in under-developed markets, is far ahead of what it was when Jose was last here. Whatever you feel about Ron Gourlay (and most including me are not keen) you cannot argue we’re financially much more successful then when Kenyon was here even if Kenyon was probably a superior CEO and club helmsman than Gourlay in sporting/footballing terms. We are much less likely to hear about a PR gaffe involving Gourlay than we were about Kenyon, who tended to rub people up the wrong way in some respects.
If we’ve fallen off the pace a bit in the Premiership in the last few years, that’s what Jose has been brought back for. The club is in order, and although flashpoints remain with the CPO and ground move issues, we’re well positioned. The proof is in the net outlay for this summer – we’ll shed a lot of players and bring only a few in, using a lot more of our talented kids in the squad than we were. Mega signings will be a feature of course, but I bet our total summer outlay once sales are deducted is less than fifty million squid. Sp*rs will spend more than that, the Goons pretty much have to or they’ll be nowhere next season, and Man City probably have already as I write this. United will. Liverpool don’t have that kind of money but will spend as much as they can on a Suarez replacement for them to idolise (and then ultimately come sixth).
There’s a lot for Jose to appreciate and be thankful for on his first day back at work – the club has come on leaps and bounds since he left.
Over to you Jose, lets see if you can bring the title back to Stamford Bridge.
CAREFREE.
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