Why Chelsea’s temporary vision has led to shopping in the Championship aisle

Analysis: Perhaps it should be no surprise the club has started signing managers like they sign players. Enzo Maresca knows his fate

HANDS UP WHO'S NEXT?" Enzo Maresca, who Chelsea have appointed as their new head coach on a five-year contract, the club have announced. Pic:read Nick Potts/PA Wire.

Seriously, Behdad: it’s going fine. Don’t worry, Todd. Everyone knew the plan from the start. Sack the guy who won you the Champions League, sack the promising young coach you hired to replace him, sack the experienced blue-chip coach you hired to replace him, hire a guy from the Championship, raise ticket prices for the first time in 13 years. This is the process. We get it. We see it working. Meanwhile, all the best in next season’s Conference League.

And as sure as night follows day, eventually Enzo Maresca will be sacked too. Eventually. Even as he unfurls his club-shop scarf and smiles for the photographers, even as he moves his belongings into his new office at Cobham, a whispering shadow follows him through the corridors and across the training pitches. It may not happen next season. It may not happen the season after that. It may even be dressed up for the website as “mutual consent”. But it’s the fate that awaits them all in the end.