CHELSEA director Danny Finkelstein claims there is no statistical link between managers and results.
And in a foul-mouthed outburst, he told Blues fans at a secret meeting it was “f***ing obvious we’re building one of the best teams in the world”.
But supporters from the protest group NotAProjectCFC do not think it is obvious.
They broke the confidentiality agreement with Finkelstein to publish details of the encounter, which took place in February, and published their account of it online after last week’s Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.
The fans said: “We calmly explained that we do not see a direction of travel taking us towards seriously competing in the Premier League and Champions League while the current model is in place, and that the lack of proven experience and leadership in the squad will continue to harm us until this issue is addressed.
“The discussion became heated when the director responded by telling us players will mature as they get older and that, to them, it is ‘f***ing obvious we are building one of the best teams in the world’.”
According to the supporters, Finkelstein also said PSG boss Luis Enrique would not have been a good fit for the club.
And the Conservative member of the House of Lords added that in any case there was no statistical relationship between managers and results, they claimed.
When Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior was asked about that idea, he said: “I think the correlation between a manager or head coach over a team is stronger over time.
“If you were to speak about data and statistics in a one-off, 11v11 match, it wouldn’t be that big because football has always been about the players.
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“But if you speak about creating a club and a culture where the team knows they can win things in a consistent way, then all of a sudden that becomes a different conversation.
“Hopefully, my idea is that we have that conversation about me here.”
Chelsea and Finkelstein are furious the fans broke the agreement to keep the meeting private and chose to release the information after a disappointing defeat.
The meeting was arranged after the NotAProjectCFC group organised a protest before the Blues’ home match against Brentford on January 17, in the wake of the departure of Enzo Maresca and appointment of Rosenior.
The event was poorly attended and soon became a singalong of player chants.
But the protest did feature banners ridiculing Chelsea supremo Behdad Eghbali and calling for ownership consortium BlueCo to leave the club, with particular focus on majority shareholders Clearlake Capital, the firm co-founded by Eghbali.
It is unclear why Finkelstein decided it was worth engaging with fans directly after such a small-scale protest.
But it is certain he and club bosses will think twice before doing so again.
Meanwhile NotAProjectCFC are planning another protest in the coming weeks.
