Tuchel: New Chelsea owners rekindle Abramovich's hire-and-fire culture

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Chelsea are still adjusting to life under their new regime, but the ruthless sacking of manager Thomas Tuchel shows the change in ownership has not ushered in an era of patience at Stamford Bridge.

The German was well aware of the fate that befalls stumbling managers from the day he joined the Premier League club, initially handing over a contract of just 18 months despite his pedigree.

"What difference does it make?" said Tuchel during his reveal in January 2021. "If they are not happy with me, they will fire me anyway."

A culture of hire and fire became the norm during Roman Abramovich's spectacularly successful reign, which ended in May when Todd Boehly's Consortium took over.

Tuchel earned himself a two-year contract extension after winning the Champions League in May 2021, a triumph that came just four months after inheriting an underperforming squad under Frank Lampard.

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But less than 16 months after Chelsea beat Manchester City at Porto, and after a spendthrift transfer window at Stamford Bridge, he finds himself out of a job.

Boehly's group spent a world record 4.25 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) to buy Chelsea in May after Russian billionaire Abramovich announced he was selling the club shortly after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The following week, Abramovich was hit with British sanctions, with the government describing him as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

The new regime has spent over £200m on a list of top players, including Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

And Tuchel seemed to have won the trust of the new owners.

He pushed for the signing of Aubameyang after their time together at Borussia Dortmund and reportedly cooled Boehly's interest in Cristiano Ronaldo, who wanted to leave Manchester United.

– Erratic –

However, just seven games into the new season, the 49-year-old was released after damaging defeats to Leeds, Southampton and Dinamo Zagreb.

In line with his spell at Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, results fell after a brilliant start.

Chelsea won the Club World Cup, reached two domestic cup finals and finished in the Premier League top four last season despite struggling with Abramovich's sanctions which affected operations of the club.

Yet the expected challenge for the Premier League title after the club-record £97million signing of striker Romelu Lukaku never materialized.

Lukaku publicly complained that he struggled to fit into Tuchel's preferred system and was sent back to Inter Milan on loan at a huge cost to the Blues.

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that other attacking players were unhappy with Tuchel's methods, frustrated at not having the freedom to shine.

Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech all struggled to meet the hefty transfer fee, while Timo Werner returned to RB Leipzig last month.

Scoring goals has been a persistent problem and the defensive solidity that was a hallmark of Tuchel's early success at the club has been absent this season.

Tuchel can point to an early injury to midfielder N'Golo Kante, a loss of form for goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and the need for time for the club's new signings to lie down.

But his own behavior had become more erratic as the pressure mounted.

He was sent off for two physical confrontations with Tottenham boss Antonio Conte in a 2-2 draw last month and lambasted his players for a 'soft mentality' in losing at Southampton.

A soft 1-0 loss on Tuesday to a Zagreb side with a surprisingly poor Champions League record was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"We are clearly not where we need to be and where we can be," Tuchel said after the match.

Boehly boldly said a man who reached two Champions League finals with two different clubs in the last three seasons was the problem.

Now the pressure is on the American to make the right hire to turn his investment into results on the pitch.

AFP