Massive Clearout?: Chelsea at It Again

As another summer approaches it is clear Chelsea are just going to go out and spend millions of pounds on new players.

The funny thing about these "clearouts" is that, most of the time the players we buy don't ever fulfil their footballing potential (e.g Shevchenko, Wright-Phillips, Malouda, Kezman, Veron, Del horno, Boularouz etc.). Chelsea waste millions of pounds overpaying players who we don't even play that much. We're are just going to go on spending and spending until we actually win things again.

It's ridiculous that we aren't already the best team in the world judging by how much we've spent on players.

What we need is not another "clearout," but a manager who knows what he's doing. Avram Grant neither has the personality, profile, tactical nous or charisma to carry this club forward. In my time supporting this club, I have never seen such a negative opinion towards a Chelsea manager.

Regardless of whether sacking Grant at the end of the season is the right thing to do, I believe he has to go for the following reasons. He's probably lost Roman's backing (a likely trophyless season playing mostly dour football) isn't acceptable, he's lost the dressing room, particularly his senior players, and he has definitely lost the CFC supporters (one has to wonder whether he ever really had them!!). This pretty much makes his position untenable in my view. I think that we can expect a busy summer in the transfer market, but it will be even busier if Avram stays on. Players will want out. Forget the fact that he's been found out tactically, that he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, that he cannot seem to inspire or motivate his team and that he hasn't really improved Chelsea's style of play, if Avram doesn't have anyone's backing, he needs to go at the end of the season.

This begs another question. What is it that our board really wants?

Silverware or sexy football?

Because sometimes (in our case, it seems) you can't have both, and look no further than the fortunes of Arsenal & Rangers. You have Arsenal lauded for their slick style but no trophies in three seasons, and Rangers 4-5-1 functional approach on the verge of a quadruple. Then there is Manchester United who have managed to combine both and to a devastating effect. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are now struggling to keep with them.

What we need is a coach that can bring the best out of our players and commands respect.

Hope we get it sorted sooner rather than later...