CHELSEA and Tottenham are two historically great clubs. But it’s clear right now that they are not trying to build ‘winning’ teams.
Instead, they are too focused on building their brand. They are becoming PR FC.
Who’s that person that can build our brand in certain areas, build a social media following with a younger audience?
Well, do you know what the younger generation really likes watching? A team that f*****g wins!
That’s why Manchester United and Liverpool remain popular, because they won the big trophies over prolonged periods.
I find myself watching Chelsea and Spurs and thinking: What’s the goal here? What are you trying to do?
And even worse: They are playing each other this weekend and does anyone even care? That smacks of being irrelevant, which is utterly damning.
Chelsea have spent nearly £1.5billion under the current regime and are a million miles away.
Are they any closer to winning the league? No. Are they in anyone’s discussions to win the league? No. Do we think they have the slightest chance of winning the Champions League? No.
It’s the same for Spurs. I do like Thomas Frank. He’s a really cool guy. But have you seen a dramatic change in them?
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They are definitely better than what they were with Ange Postecoglou, but that’s not hard.
Everything they are doing right now is what I would expect them to do.
I expected them to beat Everton. Do I expect them to be competitive against and even beat Arsenal soon?
Possibly, but not likely. You’re having to convince yourself of why they COULD win that game.
Would I put money on them making the top four? I don’t think so. It becomes this continuing theme of: What are they actually doing and where are they going? What’s their ceiling?
It sounds mad to say after they both won the European competitions they were in last season, but they are becoming the ‘best of the rest’, which is not a compliment.
If I am a Chelsea fan and I’ve seen my club spend nearly £1.5bn to win the Conference League — something that West Ham won — I’d be questioning whether we’re on the right track.
And they will be in a position soon where they will have to persuade players like Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo to stay. Money won’t be enough. They need to be winning the top titles.
Cole does not want to be competing for Carabao Cups. He may now be looking at teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich thinking: I want a bit of that.
He left Manchester City to showcase to everyone he could be the man and kick on, and as it stands that could be with Chelsea in the future or someone else now.
I know he’s injured right now, but is he watching Chelsea from the sidelines and seeing a team, a club, a manager that can compete for the Premier League?
He more than most knows what that looks like from during his time at City.
After co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali spent all that money, do they have a Vincent Kompany, a Sergio Aguero or Ederson? No.
Chelsea are not doing badly, they are doing ‘okay’, and ‘okay’ isn’t good enough.
They’re behind their rivals and need to get better, but their current model doesn’t lend itself to being better, and that includes Spurs too.
All the blame was previously put on former chairman Daniel Levy, but history tells us Tottenham don’t spend, they don’t go after it, so why should we believe it will suddenly change now?
With the money they do spend, it is on the wrong players, ones that don’t make them better in the slightest. The £65m on Dominic Solanke stands out.
How is it that we can go back to their 2019 Champions League final team under Mauricio Pochettino and conclude that, in my opinion, only ONE current Spurs player gets into that starting XI? It’s Micky van de Ven, a centre-back.
What makes me laugh is that both Liverpool and Manchester City are going through a transition and yet Chelsea are STILL labouring behind them in the Prem table, while Spurs may be third but they definitely won’t stay there.
Chelsea and Tottenham have been building for years with talented young players but are not even favourites to finish in the top four? Make that make sense.
For me, both these clubs — massive clubs — are stuck where they are and I see no signs of that changing any time soon. It’s pitiful.
