Chelsea’s spine has eroded and their foundation is looking shaky for the first time under Roman Abramovich
Blues have always chopped and changed their manager but now they face a mass exodus of senior stars that could derail them for years
NEXT year is odd-numbered and so, judging by the formbook, Chelsea should be crowned champions again.
We’ve grown very used to Roman Abramovich’s dysfunctional club veering between triumph and disaster and back again on an annual basis.
And so the virtual confirmation Chelsea will not be playing Champions League football next season might not seem a reason for long-term concern at Stamford Bridge.
Sunday’s home draw with West Ham made it one win in seven matches and only six in 20 this calendar year.
But that is just par for the course in an even-numbered season.
Antonio Conte will walk the plank and the Abramovich super-yacht will sail on regardless. Right?
Well perhaps not, because it feels different this time.
For the first time in the Abramovich era, Chelsea’s team does not seem to be built on firm foundations.
WE'RE NO HAZ-BEENS Eden Hazard reckons Chelsea missing out on top four could be spark for title tilt next season
Of course, Old Father Time did for John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
But the spine of last season’s title- winning team has already been seriously eroded — Diego Costa gone, Nemanja Matic gone, David Luiz and Gary Cahill out of favour, Thibaut Courtois wanting away.
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Those who have been brought in since last year’s success have failed to inspire, including Alvaro Morata, Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Ross Barkley.
And for the first time since their Russian owner’s arrival transformed them into serious global players 15 years ago, Chelsea might now end up selling a star player against their basic footballing will.
At 27, and after six years at the Bridge, Eden Hazard is believed to fancy a new challenge elsewhere, with Real Madrid poised.
Conte’s successor will face a hellish challenge trying to persuade the Belgian his future remains at the Bridge, and to extend a contract which expires in 2020.
Hazard was understandably peeved to find himself operating as an isolated false-nine in a Chelsea team which travelled to Manchester City with an extraordinary lack of ambition last month.
That performance, more than any other this season, suggested that Chelsea’s status as an elite club was under threat.
To lose to the best teams is one thing. To not even believe you can win is quite another.
Chelsea are now being out-spent by both Manchester clubs and out-thought by long-term planning at Tottenham and Liverpool. Perhaps even Arsenal will get their act together if Arsene Wenger leaves.
So there is no guarantee Chelsea can simply slip back into the top four after one year in the Europa.
And while Juventus boss Max Allegri and former Barcelona chief Luis Enrique are seemingly keen to succeed Conte, Chelsea doesn’t feel like an A-list managerial job now, in terms of anything other than the salary.
Meanwhile, there is still no permanent replacement for technical director Michael Emenalo, who quit last autumn. While the Nigerian became a scapegoat for supporters when things went badly, he enjoyed a decent reputation within the industry.
And he provided stability on the football side of a club where any manager making long-term plans would deliver the definition of futility.
None of this is to suggest Abramovich will look to cut and run, or that his funds will dry up.
He is the second longest-serving owner in the Premier League, he is committed to a new stadium and, however much Conte has moaned, he continues to invest heavily on the playing side.
And, of course, all the Liverpool-inspired noise about Chelsea having no history is so bunkum.
They were title winners in 1955, they gave Jimmy Greaves his footballing education, they won the FA Cup in 1970 with Hudson, Osgood and Cooke.
Then came Ray Wilkins, so splendidly commemorated at the Bridge last Sunday, and then several more trophies when Gianfranco Zola was in his pomp and Chelsea were at the vanguard of the Premier League’s foreign takeover. All before Abramovich.
But now the future seems less certain for Chelsea than at any time in 15 years.
Abramovich has got away with a chop-and-change managerial philosophy, knowing his plans were always underpinned by a settled squad of players.
Suddenly, that is no longer the case.
The Russian intends to fully re-build Stamford Bridge. First he must do likewise with his team.
PHONEY WAR
NEIL WARNOCK was ridiculed for repeatedly telling Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo to ‘f*** off’.
But his crime was not the ranting after Cardiff missed two injury-time penalties — more his insistence on ‘class and manners’ on the touchline.
Sadly, Nuno responded with a heartfelt apology for instinctively celebrating a vital win at the whistle, rather than shaking Warnock’s hand.
But why the hell should he have?
Zinedine Zidane struck a welcome blow against phony football etiquette.
The Real Madrid boss is refusing to give a guard of honour to champions-elect Barcelona before El Clasico.
Perhaps that contrived nonsense can be done away with in England. Like the tedious ‘controversies’ we endure whenever bosses don’t shake hands.
IT'S ALL ABOUT HARRY
FEW would have doubted that Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino were a “one for all, and all for one” sort of team.
At least until the club launched an official appeal to the Premier League to have their winning goal at Stoke awarded to Harry Kane rather than Christian Eriksen, in aid of their forward’s quest for the Golden Boot.
Then you had to wonder whether Pep Guardiola might have been on to something when he described Tottenham as “the Harry Kane team”.
CHEAP CHEAT
WE have endured much weeping and wailing and outrage at the cheating overseen by Steve Smith.
But now the the English cricketing fraternity seems to have performed an about-turn.
Suddenly some of the counties, spotting the opportunity to snap up a world-class player on the cheap, are making discreet enquiries about recruiting the axed Aussie captain.
So a good few months of practice in English conditions before Smith returns to the international fray for next summer’s Ashes? That’ll teach him, eh?
BURN OUT FEAR
BURNLEY can almost ensure their first return to European football since the 1966-67 season by beating Leicester on Saturday.
So let’s hope they block out any suggestions that the Europa League will be an unwelcome distraction which will sentence them to a relegation fight.
Supporters of both Middlesbrough and Fulham can tell them about the thrills of once-in-a-lifetime journeys to the competition’s final — both achieved by teams sitting safely in mid-table in the Premier League.
SAM EXIT GIFT
WATCHING Wayne Rooney stomp off and swear at Everton boss Sam Allardyce after being substituted in a grim old Merseyside derby, a thought struck me.
But for an outbreak of jerky-knee syndrome at the FA — after a couple of pints of wine and a few meaningless comments from Big Sam to undercover journalists — this is what we would have been looking forward to at the World Cup this summer.
Under Gareth Southgate, we have an England side which is fresh, forward-thinking and might not embarrass us.
Allardyce’s exit was a happy mistake.