Kieran CANNING
Wed, September 7, 2022
Chelsea are still adjusting to life under their new regime but the ruthless sacking of manager Thomas Tuchel shows the change of ownership has not ushered in an era of patience at Stamford Bridge.
The German was well aware of the fate that befalls managers who stumble from the day he walked into the Premier League club, initially handed a contract for just 18 months despite his pedigree.
"What does it change?" said Tuchel as he was unveiled in January 2021. "If they are not happy with me, they will sack me anyway."
A hire-and-fire culture became the norm during Roman Abramovich's spectacularly successful reign, which ended in May when Todd Boehly's consortium took over.
Tuchel earned himself a two-year contract extension after winning the Champions League in May 2021, a triumph that came just four months after he inherited a squad that was under-performing under Frank Lampard.
But less than 16 months after Chelsea overcame Manchester City in Porto, and after a big-spending transfer window at Stamford Bridge, he finds himself out of a job.
Boehly's group spent a world-record £4.25 billion ($4.9 billion) to buy Chelsea in May after Russian billionaire Abramovich announced he was selling the club shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The following week Abramovich was hit with UK sanctions, with the government describing him as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
The new regime splashed out more than £200 million on a list of high-profile players including Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
And Tuchel appeared to have earned the trust of the new owners.
He pushed for the signing of Aubameyang after their time together at Borussia Dortmund and reportedly cooled Boehly's interest in Cristiano Ronaldo, who wanted to leave Manchester United.
- Erratic -
Yet, just seven games into the new season, the 49-year-old has been cut loose after damaging defeats to Leeds, Southampton and Dinamo Zagreb.
In keeping with his time at Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, results have dipped after a bright start.
Chelsea won the Club World Cup, reached two domestic cup finals and finished in the top four of the Premier League last season despite the difficulties caused by the sanctions imposed on Abramovich, which affected the club's operations.
Yet the expected Premier League title challenge following the club-record £97-million signing of forward Romelu Lukaku never materialised.
Lukaku complained publicly of struggling to fit into Tuchel's preferred system and has been shipped back to Inter Milan on loan at huge cost to the Blues.
Reports in recent weeks suggested other attacking players were unhappy with Tuchel's methods, frustrated that they were not given the freedom to shine.
Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech have all struggled to deliver on big transfer fees, while Timo Werner returned to RB Leipzig last month.
Scoring goals has been a persistent problem and the defensive solidity that was the hallmark of Tuchel's early success at the club has been absent this season.
Tuchel can point to an untimely injury to midfielder N'Golo Kante, a loss of form for goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and the need for time for the club's new signings to bed in.
But his own behaviour had grown more erratic as the pressure increased.
He was sent off for two physical confrontations with Tottenham boss Antonio Conte in a 2-2 draw last month and lambasted his players for a "soft mentality" in losing at Southampton.
A limp 1-0 defeat on Tuesday to a Zagreb side with a strikingly poor Champions League record was the final straw.
"We are clearly not where we need to be and where we can be," said Tuchel after the match.
Boehly has made the bold call that a man who has reached two Champions League finals with two different clubs in the past three seasons was the problem.
Now the pressure is on the American to make the right hire to turn his investment into results on the pitch.
kca/jw/dmc
Tuchel fired by Chelsea in ruthless call by US ownership
By STEVE DOUGLAS
By STEVE DOUGLAS
today
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Chelsea's head coach Thomas Tuchel leaves after the Champions League group E soccer match between Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea at the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb, Croatia, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. Thomas Tuchel has been fired by Chelsea only one month into the season. The decision by Chelsea’s new ownership comes a day after the team lost to Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 in its first group match in the Champions League. Chelsea has lost two of its first six games in the Premier League.
(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Chelsea’s new American owners are proving to be just as ruthless as the man they replaced.
Thomas Tuchel was fired by the Premier League club on Wednesday, only one month into the season and just days after Chelsea’s recently installed ownership — fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly — concluded a Europe-high spending spree of nearly $300 million in the transfer window.
Chelsea was renowned for regularly changing managers in the 19-year tenure of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who had to sell the London club after being sanctioned by the British government for what it called his enabling of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal and barbaric invasion” of Ukraine.
Boehly was the face of the consortium that bought Chelsea for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) in May and, despite having little soccer experience, quickly made himself chairman as well as interim sporting director in charge of transfers.
Not only has he overseen a record splurge on new players, Boehly has now decided Tuchel — the coach who led Chelsea to the Champions League title last year — is no longer the right person to lead the team in the new era.
The decision to fire Tuchel, who was manager for 20 months, came a day after Chelsea surprisingly lost to Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 in its first group match of the Champions League. Chelsea has also lost two of its first six games — to Leeds and Southampton — in an underwhelming start to the Premier League that has seen the team’s new signings fail to gel.
Tuchel has been a frustrated and prickly figure after matches this season. In interviews after the loss to Dinamo, he said “everything is missing” when asked to sum up Chelsea’s performance and complained that his players “lacked hunger.”
In a feisty Premier League game against Tottenham, Tuchel was sent off — along with rival manager Antonio Conte — and later fined after they went head-to-head in a post-match scuffle because Tuchel failed to let go of his grip in the traditional handshake.
“As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition,” Chelsea said in a statement, which also said Tuchel “will rightly have a place” in the club’s history.
After all, the 49-year-old German guided Chelsea to the Champions League title less than six months after taking over as manager in January 2021, as the replacement for Frank Lampard. Tuchel only had one full season at the helm and that saw Chelsea eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League — to eventual champion Real Madrid — before finishing third in the Premier League, 19 points behind champion Manchester City.
A big reason why Chelsea faded in the second half of last season was the turbulence caused by the change of ownership and it was a wild offseason at Stamford Bridge, too, with dozens of players — including Cristiano Ronaldo — linked with a move to the London club as Boehly looked to make his presence felt in the transfer market.
Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella came in for big fees, before the final days of the transfer window saw Chelsea spend 75 million pounds ($87 million) on French center back Wesley Fofana and then bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona to plug a gap in its striker options.
Aubameyang cited playing under Tuchel before — at Borussia Dortmund — as a benefit of the move and was handed a debut against Dinamo. That proved to be Tuchel’s last game in charge, perhaps leaving Aubameyang’s long-term status uncertain.
That will depend who comes in to replace Tuchel. British media has already linked Graham Potter, currently manager of in-form Premier League club Brighton, and Mauricio Pochettino, with the vacancy.
Potter has no real experience of handling a squad of star players but is highly regarded for his tactical astuteness and entertaining style of play. Pochettino has experience of overseeing a locker room of egos — he was recently coach of a Paris Saint-Germain team containing Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar — and has been out of work since parting ways with the French champions in July.
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
Thomas Tuchel was fired by the Premier League club on Wednesday, only one month into the season and just days after Chelsea’s recently installed ownership — fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly — concluded a Europe-high spending spree of nearly $300 million in the transfer window.
Chelsea was renowned for regularly changing managers in the 19-year tenure of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who had to sell the London club after being sanctioned by the British government for what it called his enabling of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal and barbaric invasion” of Ukraine.
Boehly was the face of the consortium that bought Chelsea for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) in May and, despite having little soccer experience, quickly made himself chairman as well as interim sporting director in charge of transfers.
Not only has he overseen a record splurge on new players, Boehly has now decided Tuchel — the coach who led Chelsea to the Champions League title last year — is no longer the right person to lead the team in the new era.
The decision to fire Tuchel, who was manager for 20 months, came a day after Chelsea surprisingly lost to Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 in its first group match of the Champions League. Chelsea has also lost two of its first six games — to Leeds and Southampton — in an underwhelming start to the Premier League that has seen the team’s new signings fail to gel.
Tuchel has been a frustrated and prickly figure after matches this season. In interviews after the loss to Dinamo, he said “everything is missing” when asked to sum up Chelsea’s performance and complained that his players “lacked hunger.”
In a feisty Premier League game against Tottenham, Tuchel was sent off — along with rival manager Antonio Conte — and later fined after they went head-to-head in a post-match scuffle because Tuchel failed to let go of his grip in the traditional handshake.
“As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition,” Chelsea said in a statement, which also said Tuchel “will rightly have a place” in the club’s history.
After all, the 49-year-old German guided Chelsea to the Champions League title less than six months after taking over as manager in January 2021, as the replacement for Frank Lampard. Tuchel only had one full season at the helm and that saw Chelsea eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League — to eventual champion Real Madrid — before finishing third in the Premier League, 19 points behind champion Manchester City.
A big reason why Chelsea faded in the second half of last season was the turbulence caused by the change of ownership and it was a wild offseason at Stamford Bridge, too, with dozens of players — including Cristiano Ronaldo — linked with a move to the London club as Boehly looked to make his presence felt in the transfer market.
Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella came in for big fees, before the final days of the transfer window saw Chelsea spend 75 million pounds ($87 million) on French center back Wesley Fofana and then bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona to plug a gap in its striker options.
Aubameyang cited playing under Tuchel before — at Borussia Dortmund — as a benefit of the move and was handed a debut against Dinamo. That proved to be Tuchel’s last game in charge, perhaps leaving Aubameyang’s long-term status uncertain.
That will depend who comes in to replace Tuchel. British media has already linked Graham Potter, currently manager of in-form Premier League club Brighton, and Mauricio Pochettino, with the vacancy.
Potter has no real experience of handling a squad of star players but is highly regarded for his tactical astuteness and entertaining style of play. Pochettino has experience of overseeing a locker room of egos — he was recently coach of a Paris Saint-Germain team containing Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar — and has been out of work since parting ways with the French champions in July.
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
___
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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