There comes a time when all Chelsea fans have to stand up and be Chelsea fans.
That means putting aside all the negative feelings and disgust at the Groundhog Day-endless mistakes made by the CFC board and providing a positive way forward.
Like many here on VC, I am not for firing Antonio Conte.
World-class managers capable of winning consistently do not grow on trees.
At Juventus (where Conte lost fewer games in three consecutive championship winning seasons than he already has at his time with Chelsea) among other successes, Conte was brilliant at bringing along and developing younger players like Paul Pogba.
If that was Mr Abramovich`s wish for Chelsea, then that should have been made clear to the incoming manager.
Nobody but nobody would have done a better job than The Don.
Clearly, Conte wasn`t given any clear directives about anything. If he had he would have no reason to dissent now.
My last word about that is that, when you hire a world-class manager in a league among other world-class managers, and those other managers are allowed to bring in precisely who they wish for whatever money, then you can’t expect your world-class manager to sit by twiddling his thumbs and saying oh well never mind.
All that manager can do is try and squeeze more out of what he`s got.
Apparently the Chelsea players are fed up with that; the Bournemouth defeat is clear evidence.
Unless Roman Abramovich comes down from his pedestal and belatedly empowers Antonio Conte, then the Italian maestro is gone.
He could even be gone imminently, or at least before the end of the season.
My guess is that The Don is indeed done at CFC. This is a tragedy – particularly for the fact that nobody on earth would have been a better fit for developing our gilded youth. But life goes on.
Luis Enrique comes from probably the most smoothly transitioning and powerful football culture in the word – in terms of management, that is: this season they`ve already spent £292 million on players!
Quite opposite to Chelsea, it`s almost impossible for the manager to fail at the Nou Camp because all the systems in place guarantee success as much as anywhere.
For all that, Enrique was no Guardiola – so why would he beat Guardiola? He`s no Conte either.
As one commentator said yesterday: who cares?
Managers are disposable, interchangeable puppets at the Bridge.
That`s true – but only for managers at the very top of their game who refuse to take any nonsense from lesser footballing brains.
If I were CFC I would absolutely not go anywhere near a serially-winning so-called top manager: we`ve found out empirically that they simply don’t work at CFC. Such managers expect to be treated with respect, their experience and knowledge pre-eminent.
Abramovich`s CFC doesn’t do that.
End of.
Thus my recommendation is to get a top upcoming manager, one with smarts and chops, nearer the players` age, one who would develop along with the team.
That very man is now available in Marco Silva.
The fact that Silva couldn’t survive the brouhaha surrounding Everton`s interest says more about Watford than Silva – as does the fact that the club supported veteran player Troy Deeney over him.
I can’t see the CFC board going that far.
Silva is one of the most highly-regarded football minds and motivators around today; he`s had a good grounding in the English game; he`s a guaranteed success at a big club that takes a chance on him.
CFC has proven itself 100% unable to handle mature football coaching talents.
In Silva they will get a humbler but maybe even hungrier man.