It has been a memorable fourteen days for Chelsea Football Club and Andre Villas-Boas, albeit for the wrong reasons, with a number of other reputations also tarnished to some degree along the way, with others awaiting police investigation in the coming week – as in the case of John Terry. The club owner, Roman Abramovich, entered the limelight as his high profile legal case brought extensive revelations on the lifestyle of Russian Oligarchs with the case at the High Court revealing dealings with Boris Berezovsky – which have filled the London newspaper columns. Which on the foot of the defeat at Queens Park Rangers and the home hammering to Arsenal offered little respite to all involved at Stamford Bridge.
All not helped either when some of the club’s own fans threw out Abramovich’s bid to buy control of Stamford Bridge recently.
In the off the pitch meeting, Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, and Ron Gourlay, the chief executive, endured two hours of jeering and denunciation from 700 shareholders of Chelsea Pitch Owners [CPO] amid claims the club had attempted to rig the vote on whether CPO should be bought by Abramovich ahead of a move to a new ground. In the end the bid was defeated after receiving 3,569 votes in favour and 2,227 against At the meeting a shareholder revolt broke out when it became clear that more than 2,500 shares had been sold in the weeks preceding the meeting, adding up to more than had been sold in the previous seven years – raising much suspicion.
The hope then was that an Arsenal visit might help things somewhat at the club allowing some normality to return to the sense of turbulence. But that was not to be a history shows and the 3-5 home defeat records. With the midweek Champions League trip to Genk, a team that the Blues had demolished 5-0 at Stamford Bridge some weeks ago. It was a much improved KRC Genk that held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw, albeit David Luiz had a possible match winning penalty saved.
For manager Andre Villas Boas the sense of frustration was starting to show as he spoke after the draw:
“First half, we were very good and we managed to get the goal we wanted. Second half, in the first 20 minutes our level of performance dropped and we lost control of the game. Then we came back and had fantastic opportunities to make it 2-1. We need to get the opportunities we are getting into the back of the net.”
“We will get back the momentum we had before the defeat to Queens Park Rangers. At the moment it is not happening for us, it was a point away from home but it is a game we wanted to win. Not everything is negative but we wanted to win.
“Two-nil up before half-time is always the ideal situation. We couldn't convert the penalty. Raul [Meireles] came close with his shot and we were close to one more goal. When we chased the game we created opportunities but not enough to score. We defended well but with every goal you concede you can do better and we need to get back the momentum we have lost
At a club that has seen Christmas as a good time to assess the performance of their manager’s, the former Porto coach and Europa League Cup winner, might want to look at his notes from his last time at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho, and draw some much needed inspiration. Or recall the demise of Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti as ample reminder that Chelsea Football Club is not a very forgiving place. With 8 wins in 12 games the rate of return of 66% percent gives him some time, but one imagines not much leeway should the away trip to Ewood Park on Saturday not earn Villas-Boas a convincing victory.
History shows that these darker days are never good for any manager and at Chelsea even less as the number of departed Gaffers with poorer reputations – albeit bigger bank accounts – is significant.
With the exception of Guus Hiddink, and probably Jose Mourinho.
For Villas-Boas the start of the season has exercised every word in his extensive knowledge of the English language, which he has fully utilised delivering a varied number of excuses after the recent defeats - that might even make his mentor, Mourinho, very proud. For the most part it has been the referees that have been the target, even if against Arsenal Villas-Boas recognised that his team were very inferior. Two weeks ago though, a nine man Chelsea were left defenceless against QPR and as a result another three points went a begging, with the ongoing allegations of racist remarks between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand a constant new story ever since.
For the trip to Blackburn Rovers Villas-Boas plans to stick to his attacking style, seeking solace in the supportive messages received from Roman Abramovich in the wake of a run of just one win in four games.
"I have had conversations with the owner and they have been supportive," said Villas-Boas.
"Our responsibilities are to win every game. When things don't go our way, we can't be happy with what's passing. "But this week that we have gone through, and the results we have been getting, haven't collided with our confidence.
"There's a good spirit in the group. There's a negative momentum we are passing by, and if we can do it sooner it will be better for us.
"The owner is happy with our attacking philosophy, but we won't avoid our responsibilities to win titles.
"We will defend this philosophy to death, but what is expected of us is to win titles."
Villas-Boas confirmed John Terry would captain the team at Blackburn on Saturday.
