Chelsea after Jose Mourinho

I count myself as a Chelsea fan, even though I can’t accurately explain why. I also have some vagueness in my mind as to when precisely my allegiance to Chelsea commenced. Like most Nigerians of my generation (take that loosely to mean people currently aged somewhere between ages forty and fifty!), I started life knowing teams like Stationery Stores of Lagos, Mighty Jets of Jos, WNDC (later IICC) of Ibadan, Bendel Insurance of Benin and Enugu Rangers of Jos. The first club I regarded with affinity was of course Stores, but the one I first actively supported (curiously given the ethnic coloration of teams’ support bases) was actually Rangers.

In the famous Rangers and IICC Challenge Cup battles of 1977 (which almost degenerated into a threat to national unity prompting General Shehu Musa Yar’adua as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters to personally intervene), my team was Rangers. Initially I could not understand why virtually everyone around supported IICC when I thought it was apparent Rangers was a more purposeful team. I remember that thundering shot by Ogidi Ibeabuchi that won the game 1-0 for Rangers and the delight I felt then to the chagrin of neighbours watching the game in our house. They called me “Omo Ibo”-that was probably my first realization that Nigeria was a very complex society. I later developed other allegiances as Nigerian football evolved-Super Stores, Leventis United, Abiola Babes and New Nigerian Bank of Benin.

That was the situation until globalization, satellite broadcasting and big business caught up with football in Europe. The English league with which we had always being familiar was the flagship in this regard and the familiarity with English football which had for most Nigerians been at best a residual activity, now became an obsession for many. I would not class myself amongst those in that obsessive group, but gradually in the absence of a Nigerian outlet for our interest in football, I joined the English Premier League fans club. There was something purely white and British about Manchester United so I could not develop sufficient passion for the team even as I loved some individual players-Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Ruud van Nistelroy, Paul Scholes etc. Arsenal was more accommodating of black and African players and whenever there was a Man U-Arsenal clash, I gravitated towards Arsenal. But I never became a core Arsenal devotee in spite of my predilection for supporting teams with Nigerian players, and Kanu was in Arsenal.

I began to be interested in Chelsea when Ruud Gullit who was one of my all time greatest players (some others being Johan Cryuf, Zico, Frank Rijkaard) became involved as Coach. I also liked Celestine Babayaro but not until a constellation of factors-Roman Abramovich with the resources, Jose Mourinho with the strategy and tactics, and then a stream of African players-Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi-transformed Chelsea into a world-class club did I adopt the team. The fact that Chelsea never became the club of the establishment (like Man U) or that of the “holloi polloi” (like Arsenal) helped!

Few will dispute that Roman Abramovich’s money was important in transforming Chelsea from the back waters of English football to unequivocally one of the top three clubs in England and one of the world’s top sporting brands. Abramovich is reputed to have spent millions of pounds in the last four years in his efforts to radically change Chelsea’s fortunes. But it was not until he hired Mourinho from Porto that the world noticed Chelsea. Jose Mourinho came to the job with remarkable credentials. Porto was no where even in the Portuguese league when he took over, but he won the Portuguese league in his first year on the job, repeated the league victory the next year and then won the UEFA Cup same year. To crown it Porto then won the Europoean Champions League unambiguously establishing Jose Mourinho’s credentials as one of the best coaches in the world. His exploits in Porto could not be ascribed to resources, team pedigree or players’ quality. There was clearly something about Mourinho that tended to result in victory. It was thus not surprising that Roman Abramovich hungry for success in Chelsea fired Claudio Ranieri and hired Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho has not performed badly at Chelsea-he won the premier league back to back, won the FA Cup and Carling Cup and got to the semi-final of the Champions League, but unlike many I do not think the record is sparkling either. Given the level of resources committed by Abramovich, I thought we should have won the last Champions’ League, especially as the premier league title which Man-U eventually won was no longer realistic. The more substantial complaint about Chelsea however was the absence of rhythmic football-“fantasy football” as Abramovich demanded. As a Chelsea fan, one could not help but admire the sweet football of teams like Arsenal, Barcelona (my other favourite team), Lyon and Villareal. On the other hand, I understood Mourinho. His objective was not to entertain, but to win, and that he frequently did!

Mourinho’s real undoing however was neither his inability to win the Champions League nor the functional approach to the game. It was his insistence that he alone and no other-not even the gentleman bankrolling the club would be the star at Chelsea. In relation to the players, I understood and agreed with Mourinho’s basic approach. He did not want “galacticos”-people who were already superstars with huge egos before joining Chelsea. He wanted very good players-such as Drogba, Mikel Obi, Essien, Salomon Kalou who still had a point to prove, and who would subsume their egos and profile to Mourinho’s. It was consistent with Mourinho’s other style-he courted controversy, engaged in mind-games, was outspoken-but the basic intent was to for him to take on the pressure personally while leaving his players free to fight for victory on the pitch. While the “sole star” approach would work with the players, it was bound to get Jose in trouble with Abramovich, and it just did.

Andriy Shevshenko and Michael Ballack were clearly galacticos. They had nothing more to prove in football and therefore did not fit Mourinho’s employee profile. To make matters worse, “Sheva” was Ukrainian (meaning Slavic affinity and closeness to Abramovich) and appeared to have been forced on Mourinho. Mourinho then tried to sabotage Sheva’s Chelsea career and in the end gave Abramovich an “either me or Shevshenko” dilemma. Now Mourinho has been fired, will our Chelsea unravel? Chelsea fans sincerely hope not, but that remains a distinct possibility. Our fears are in no way assuaged by the appointment of Avram Grant as replacement-perhaps he would be an interim choice. Key players-Drogba, Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho etc could leave. And after a while perhaps fans could also leave. Meanwhile as billions of dollars chase world soccer, in Nigeria the NFA and NFL squabble, delaying the commencement of the local league while the whole country deceives it self that it has conquered the world by winning an under-17 tournament!