Xabi Alonso appointment proves Chelsea mean business again as club hit the reset button
Chelsea have confirmed the appointment of Xabi Alonso as their new boss, becoming the sixth permanent manager of the Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly era at Stamford Bridge
Xabi Alonso is Chelsea’s new manager(Image: Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
The “period of self-reflection” has resulted in a complete change of direction. Chelsea issued a statement last month after sacking Liam Rosenior and pledged to bring “stability” and the “right long-term appointment.”
In fairness, Xabi Alonso is actually a far bigger statement than anything Chelsea could say to their fed-up fans. Former Liverpool midfielder Alonso is a huge coup because of his impressive time in charge of Bayer Leverkusen.
It did not work out for him at Real Madrid but to bring in a coach of that stature shows Chelsea mean business again. Chelsea believe Alonso can get them back to the top of the English game and re-establish themselves as a European force because he is a proven winner.
Alonso impressed Chelsea with his standards, vision for long-term success and also a desire to implement a complete culture reset after a season which the hierarchy accept has fallen well below the standards they expect. Ex-Spain international Alonso won the Bundesliga with Leverkusen and knows English football inside out from his successful time at Liverpool.
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Alonso has already proven himself to be a smart tactician who connects with players and will embrace working at a club alongside sporting directors in a modern structure. Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart head up Chelsea’s team of five sporting directors.
This is also about learning from mistakes. Incredibly, Alonso will be the SIXTH permanent manager of the Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly era. Alonso follows in the footsteps of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Rosenior.
England boss Tuchel, who was already in charge when Eghbali and Boehly bought the club, is perhaps the biggest name of those managers with Pochettino. But, clearly, Chelsea had decided to move in a different direction after Pochettino because Maresca was hardly a stellar appointment when he left Leicester to take over at Stamford Bridge.
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Maresca did a good job overall – guiding the club back into the Champions League, winning a European trophy and the Club World Cup – but he was hired to work with Chelsea’s young players. Rosenior was transferred across from another BlueCo club, Strasbourg, as if he was moving from a supermarket branch in Staines to the London head office.
The Chelsea hierarchy wanted managers they could control, to oversee their “project” of buying and selling young players rather than signing established names to win the sort of trophies they collected for fun under former owner Roman Abramovich. Even caretaker boss Calum McFarlane, brought in for the rest of the season, looks as if he should be managing a branch of Fitness First in his unflattering pale green tracksuit rather than Chelsea Football Club.
The Chelsea fans have been fed up. And no wonder. When you are spoiled with Premier League titles and European Cups, you get frustrated when they dry up. After losing the FA Cup final to Manchester City, Chelsea are facing the very real prospect of a season out of Europe next season. That is unthinkable for a team which was so keen to boast they are world champions.
Look how the mighty have fallen. No wonder fans from the protest group, Not A Project CFC, marched down Wembley Way before the game on Saturday. They are not happy.
It is not just Eghbali and Boehly but also the club’s army of sporting directors who seem to make endless signings who you have never heard of. They spent big again last summer but in reality Joao Pedro is the only one who looks half decent. Long contracts, lower basic salary and a failing system. Something had to give.
That is why Alonso represents a clear admission from the owners that it was not working – and they had to change. Alonso will inherit a talented squad – Cole Palmer, Reece James, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are all top players – but they accept they will have to improve and bring in proven quality to get back to challenging for the biggest trophies.
Alonso is also super smart and – knowing there were likely to be some big jobs up for grabs this summer – the fact that Chelsea have convinced him to join shows that he has bought into their vision for success.
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