Eleven months into the first year of the Roman Abramovich ownership, Claudio Ranieri had Chelsea in a title race.
In fact, 19 years ago this week, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s winner saw off Tottenham with a Champions League last-eight win over Arsenal to come. Although Chelsea wouldn’t win any silverware that season - with Jose Mourinho replacing Ranieri - the direction of travel was there for all to see.
Eleven months into the supposed brave new world under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, decisiveness and clear-eyed thinking under Abramovich has been replaced by chaos, carnage and complications behind the scenes that suggest hiring an elite replacement for Graham Potter will be far from easy.
Out in America last summer during pre-season, there seemed to be clarity about the Blues’ masterplan. Although links with the Abramovich regime had been severed, there was surprise that neither chief negotiator Marina Granovskaia nor Technical Director Petr Cech had been replaced.
Instead Thomas Tuchel told us journalists on the tour at the time that he’d been splitting his time between coaching and helping to recruit players. His shock sacking last September, six Premier League games in, was the start of the collapse.
No wonder, as Tuchel revealed at the weekend, he got out of there as quickly as he could. As Bayern coach he could easily win a title and another Champions League this season. By the time soundings were taken over Potter from Chelsea’s senior players at a hastily-convened meeting on Saturday night, the Blues and their lofty ambitions had melted into a mess.
Nobody could understand why experienced striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was not starting when Chelsea had failed to score in nine of Potter’s final 22 games - with wins in only seven of them. Nobody could understand why Mason Mount, indispensable under Tuchel, remained on the bench for the defeat to Villa with Chelsea chasing a goal.
The only conclusion to draw was that decisions were being taken above Potter’s head - just as they were to bring in around half a billion pounds’ worth of talent in January. And yes, players need time to gel but so much of it all just made no sense.
Sunday night’s statement to confirm Potter’s departure, stated the former Brighton boss would “collaborate to facilitate a smooth transition”.
Asked at Monday’s press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Liverpool game what on earth that meant, assistant coach Bruno Saltor said: “It probably means I’m here right now to keep the process going.”
Few in the room knew what he was on about. Don’t kid yourself that their search for the new man, led by the two Sporting Directors Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart (because why not?) will be easy.
Chelsea need to offload over £120million worth of talent by June 30 to keep their losses below the permitted £105m limit over three years. It means the likes of classy Mateo Kovacic, keeper Edouard Mendy, wingers Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic and homegrown England midfielder Mount will all be available this summer.
And even then, the pain could continue next season as Chelsea’s losses total £274million over the past two campaigns with next season’s year's to include the £545m spending spree since last year’s £4.25bn takeover.
Add that to the, shall we say - hands-on approach at Stamford Bridge - and you can see why the likes of hot favourite Julian Nagelsmann and the other elite bosses are heeding the words of Tuchel.
Chelsea may have a star-studded squad at the moment but all that glitters is not gold.
