Between 2003 and 2022 it was often clear who was at fault when Chelsea slid down the table or crashed out of the Champions League. At least, it became clear who was feeling the brunt of the strain and the attention. As ever in football, it was the managers.
After all, when John Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba (along with Ashley Cole and Michael Essien for a while) are winning trophies all the time and performances picked up with a new figure on the sideline, it must have been the coaches getting things wrong, right?
That's the approach Roman Abramovich took. It was quick and for the paying fans in the stands a simple process. One manager out, next one in. Easy as you like. The club's decline in stability over that period has been a by-product of this success but also largely ignored until it was too late.
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It's hard to be too critical of a team getting to cup finals and winning the Champions League. Two European titles, six domestic finals, a Club World Cup and UEFA Sup Cup in six years is quite the record. Meanwhile, in the league the points went from a high of 93 to a low (until this season) of 66. This is the final years of Abramovich's Chelsea and the start of the decline that has only fallen even further this term.
Over three years there was nearly a drop of 30 points. Albeit the standards for winning the league went up in that period, the totals of 99, 98 and 100 points for the champions is an unprecedented level of good, but Chelsea were so far off it was hard to see progression or even stability despite the trophies continuing to flow.
Up steps Todd Boehly. The self-proclaimed gradual improver. Over the next five years Chelsea's revenue will likely increase drastically, the stadium experience (once a final decision over where or how that new home will look) will improve and the club will operate, at least off the field, like a modern club.
The league results will also have to improve too because if they get worse, then a genuine relegation battle will be on the hands. But here is a stage that Chelsea have not been in for decades.
For all the anger that was directed towards Chelsea figures throughout Abramovich's 19 years it was almost never aimed at him. Managers felt the hit, players have been exciled, booed and their heads called for. Banners have shown discontent towards even the stars of a team; with an insatiable desire to win comes extreme frustration at anything but that.
On social media critics of even the most influential directors has spread but never did that attention go the way of the man at the top. The shadowy face sat at the highest of chairs at the grandest of tables with the largest of stakes in the biggest of castles. Abramovich was Chelsea's untouchable man.
How dare anyone criticise someone noble enough to waiver £1.5bn of debt owed to him by the club. When spending is high but cups come in, so what if it doesn't follow the trendy model of elite level football clubs in the 2010s. It's a Catch-22 because Chelsea may have failed had they tried to implement another approach anyway. It's better to have the good years than not.
This is, as with Graham Potter and most of the culprits below Boehly and Co in their first ten months, more to do with who they aren't than who they are. No, making bold 3-0 predictions over the serial Champions League winners on the night of a true humbling isn't a great look. Nor is proclaiming a game to be s*** on camera.
Sacking a manager that had the fans onside and - once again - united against a squad of underperforming, characterless, players to then rid themselves embarrassingly of the 'chosen one' seven months later after spending £20m to secure said manager is an extremely bad look. There is little denying this. Boehly and his co-owners haven't made the best decisions to ensure that they get people onside.
A summer of bad transfers, a PR caretaker appointment and now speaking to the dressing room after another defeat don't really matter to the fans in the short-run. What matters is winning and a feeling of togetherness. Abramovich had that, it didn't really matter who he was, what he did or didn't do and especially what he did or didn't say (at least not until the end.) Chelsea are so far from this now it's hard to see where the next popular figure comes from.
For Chelsea fans there was no desire to change so the hurt of the past 12 months has been added to with emotional fatigue and puzzlement. Unlike Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool or Manchester United there had been no protests against Abramovich. Boehly isn't Russian, an Oligarch or being successful. His biggest downfall is being the next one in line. How do you follow the unfollowable?
That doesn't mean things can't change. The right appointment for the next head coach here and there is a chance Chelsea get themselves going again quickly. With the infrastructure, academy, quality of players and youth system in place its not hard to see a relatively quick turnaround. Until then Boehly is rapdily approaching a revolt that Abramovich never had.
Images of fans in the east stand peering down over the director's box against Brighton told the story. Chelsea don't do patience, that's the biggest challenge facing the men under the microscope. Changing the culture of the club is achievable over time but only if there are signs of what is to come. Right now there aren't.
This isn't a team to rally behind, Lampard is a coach to support but he has seven league games left and likely just the one European tie remaining. The squad are confused, tired and lacking leaders and direction. When there's nobody to complain to or about then it comes to those at the top of the tree.
Attention usually diverted away from Abramovich quickly because a new manager would be in place before his choices were questioned seriously. It's hard to argue with winning trophies. Boehly has nowhere to hide right now. Questions are coming his way fast and it's only right that they do. It's a turn that hasn't been seen in a generation of fans.
When the wide-spread view is that nothing was wrong with the club in the first place - though the aforementioned league results and subsequent overhaul of staff suggest that issues very much existed - how do you correct that? Boehly is not Abramovich. This ownership have no desire to hemorrhage money in the attempts to win. They will and have invested heavily, that at least has been proven, but their plans will not revolve around continuing this trend.
Putting the structure in place to get consistent results over time is hard, but in the meantime they need to find a way to balance getting things done otherwise are risking entering a dark, unknown hole here if things don't come around quickly.
They're unlikely to panic because improvement from the ground up and over time is their thing. The longer that takes to bare fruit will only add to the understandable narrative right now that maybe in football it can't be done.
That's only going to damage them even more. Pressure is building at Chelsea right now and the owners are at the centre of it.
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