What a difference a year makes.
Chelsea’s win over Manchester United on Friday night may have moved them just three points clear (66) of the total achieved by former head coach Mauricio Pochettino last season (63) with one game remaining, but the mood within the club and around current head coach Enzo Maresca’s position is a complete contrast.
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To emphasise why, let’s first go back 12 months to when Pochettino took charge of Chelsea’s last fixture of the campaign at Stamford Bridge (which was also their final match of 2023-24). The doubts over whether Pochettino was going to remain at the helm, despite closing the season with five straight wins, were already very large.
It had come up in many press conferences before he led Chelsea to a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth on May 19 to end things on a high, and was the main thrust of the post-match exchange with the media as well.
The Chelsea hierarchy had sent out a pretty strong indication of their general dissatisfaction with how things had gone in the matchday programme that day. In a message to fans addressed from the ‘Chelsea ownership group’, some loaded things were said.
While it was not all negative or solely referring to the men’s team, it began in downbeat fashion. “This has been a season brimmed with challenge and change,” it said. “There have been some moments of frustration.” Among six bullet points stressing how they wanted to make supporters proud of the club, they made clear the need for Chelsea to be ‘consistently winning or contending for the Premier League and consistently playing in the Champions League and competing for domestic cups’. Chelsea may have finished strongly, but they ended up only sixth in the standings.
The atmosphere at Chelsea has changed significantly since the final home game of the 2023-24 season (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
All this took on even greater significance within 48 hours when the club confirmed Pochettino had left his post by mutual consent with one year (plus the option for another 12 months) remaining.
His successor, Maresca, has certainly not won all of the fanbase over, even though a win at Nottingham Forest next week should secure a top-five finish and Champions League football for the first time in three years.
That was all too obvious within minutes of his final home game of the season coming to an end on Friday night. Chelsea may have just secured a crucial 1-0 victory over Manchester United to move one step closer to achieving their goal, but the supporters did not stay around for the traditional ‘lap of appreciation’. The fact it was well after 10pm when it got underway has to be taken into account, but the players and staff still walked round the pitch to a pretty empty stadium. It looked like many people had decided to vote with their feet on the style of football they have witnessed over the past nine months.
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But unlike Pochettino, there has been no suggestion that Maresca’s position is in jeopardy as the campaign reaches its climax. The Athletic has consistently reported since he was appointed last June that due to the FIFA Club World Cup taking place this summer, this is being viewed as a ‘two-season season’ because of the short turnaround from the end of the tournament to the start of the next Premier League. The intent from day one was to have no uncertainty in the dugout and to keep Maresca in place.
There was another column penned from the hierarchy (this time by president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon, co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, plus Chelsea Women chief executive Aki Mandhar) to Chelsea supporters in the Manchester United programme, but unlike last May, there were no bleak undertones.
“We are in contention to qualify for the Champions League, which is where this club belongs,” it read. “We can assure you that everyone at Chelsea is working tirelessly to ensure we carry on progressing and improving, season after season. This group continues to grow together.”
(Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
With Chelsea also having a UEFA Conference League final against Real Betis on May 28 to look forward to, the column also said: “Enzo and his squad are seeking to add a new trophy to the Chelsea collection and we know many of our supporters are keen to reestablish the valid claim of having ‘won it all’ with victory at the end of our first UEFA Conference League campaign. It would be a great way to mark the club’s 120 years (anniversary).”
Even though few supporters were there to see it, the scenes on the pitch before the ‘lap of appreciation’ sent an even stronger message. Co-owner Behdad Eghbali was clearly delighted with what he had just seen and was involved in many upbeat exchanges with players. Marc Cucurella, scorer of the winning goal, was greeted particularly warmly. Winstanley and Stewart had big smiles on their faces, while soon after the final whistle, Maresca was greeting the crowd with a clenched fist and shouting ‘come on’.
(Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
Rather than ‘palpable discord’, they looked united. “We are used to having that moment inside, in the changing room,” Maresca said afterwards. “After all the games since I joined the club, all the games, too, they (senior hierarchy) are always in the changing room in the same way. But today the plan was to say goodbye to the fans, so the plan was also for them to be there.
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“Was everyone in good spirits? Yeah, because at this stage they know it’s important to win games. The focus has to be on us, because if we are able to win two (league) games — tonight and the next one — it depends on us. We don’t need to watch the other results. They knew it was a tough game and also for them, the reason why they were so happy is because it’s a nice win.”
Things could still go awry for Chelsea in the Nottingham Forest and Real Betis matches to dent his rapport with the crowd going into 2025-26, but Maresca’s standing with his employers certainly appears to be on solid ground.
(Top photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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