Without ‘The Special One’ we’re a club in turmoil

THE air of despondency around Stamford Bridge on Saturday was so thick that you could have cut it with the edge of a credit card, if you are that way inclined.

All bar the most ardent Mourinho-ists have accepted that he isn’t coming back. What we are left with is a club in total disarray.

As the boos rang out across the Bridge at the final whistle, the TV cameras panned to the owner’s box, obviously wishing to catch a glimpse of the man responsible for this fiasco. He wasn’t there, but Peter Kenyon was, looking more strained than I have ever seen him. You may or may not like the man and his methods, but stupid he is not. I imagine his CV is being updated as we speak.

Abramovich’s absence was because he had left his usual seat and gone into the Shed End for the second half. Why he felt the need to move from his ivory tower to the cheap seats (although I am loath to describe any seat at Stamford Bridge as “cheap”, but it’s all relative isn’t it) is beyond me. The football wouldn’t have looked any better from behind the goal than from his original vantage point.

Once again this was evidence of poor advice from his coterie. Did he expect the supporters to embrace him as one of our own? Was this an attempt at portraying himself as a regular guy? A man of the people? I was extremely disappointed to hear that most fans up there smiled (obviously taking their cue from him) and took pictures, and that an odd few screamed obscenities while chanting “José Mourinho” in his face. Personally I would have taken the opportunity to tell him some home truths in a calm, composed and respectful manner. Somebody needs to.

It’s not a popular view, but I have some sympathy for Shevchenko. This mess was not of his doing. True he was bought by the owner rather than the manager, but in Italy and Spain this is common practice. It certainly does not lead to the open hostilities that we have seen in SW6.

Problem is, that if Abramovich wants to buy players, then he has to take responsibility for their failure — and make no mistake, Shevchenko has been a failure. To watch what was once one of the best strikers in Europe lumbering around the pitch like Dean Windass wading through wet cement was a painfully sad spectacle.

Abramovich has also made a big mistake in appointing Grant as a seemingly “permanent” replacement for Mourinho. Our owner has obviously been convinced by those around him (who gain financially from a turnover of staff) that anyone could have won the league with the money spent. I hope that Abramovich does not try and prove this theory with Grant. To replace one of the most sought after managers in the world with a man whom no other Premiership club would accept as their head coach is folly in anyone’s book. The man is simply out of his depth. We know it and more importantly the players know it.

On the sick list Lampard has had another injury setback (remarkable that the player who has been the iron man of the Premiership for five seasons should suddenly develop this niggling problem) and Terry has a fractured cheek to add to his broken toe. Meanwhile Grant seems unable to accept that Alex is twice the defender that Ben Haim is.

And then tonight there’s the small matter of Valencia in the Mestalla. More dropped points and we will be on very shaky ground to qualify for the next stage. Will Grant still have Abramovich’s backing if we drop into the UEFA Cup? I can’t see our billionaire owner being overjoyed at having to schlep to some Lithuanian backwater just to see us knocked out by some team of part time goat-herders. But you reap what you sow, and this crop has been personally cultivated by Abramovich.

Lack of success and terrible football is no novelty to old time Chelsea fans, but it’s beyond Abramovich’s experience. Will he stand up, accept he has made a mistake, bring in a proper management team and allow them the personnel and the freedom to put things right? He’s rapidly approaching a crossroads which will determine whether his impact on world football is going to be totally transient and whether he will become a laughing stock. And somehow I don’t think that a Russian will like that.

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