For very different reasons no one will forget milestones in a hurry. For Boehly and Co, the century will be remembered for how it coincided with their first Chelsea sacking. For Tuchel, a ton of games in charge was where his reign at Chelsea came to a seemingly abrupt end. New owner-in-charge Todd Boehly (right) waited just 100 days before changing managers Chelsea fans stunned by news that club have sacked Thomas Tuchel His ruthlessness – just seven competitive games into this season and their reign, a dismissal delivered face-to-face yesterday morning and described as “swift” – comes hours after Chelsea’s shock Champions League defeat at Dinamo Zagreb, may appear prematurely. Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali were among those in the Chelsea hierarchy in Zagreb to watch Tuchel’s last game, but his departure was far from purely results-related. Long-standing tensions build up behind the scenes and have led to the irreparable breakdown of relationships. And with no good results, appearances and having his players in the side to return to, Tuchel has finally run out of reasons to stay. Given how it started, it’s incredible to see how quickly things unfolded. New to football, Chelsea’s new owners were initially very keen to work with the manager they inherited upon their arrival, build the team off the pitch to take the club forward and support him in any way they could. The nearly £300m they spent on transfers over the summer underlines this. In those early days a new contract for Tuchel was one of the topics they wanted to approach. But as the summer progressed, Chelsea’s new owners picked up warning signs that made them feel that their partnership with Tuchel was not going to work in the long term, that there was no bright future ahead and that he was not the ‘team player’ manager they were looking for. Senior executives at Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, where Tochel has also had disagreements, may recognize the conclusion Chelsea chiefs reached and why. Chelsea’s pre-season campaign was when cracks began to appear and become visible to a wider audience. Tuchel, unfortunately having to deal more with transfers after losing the trusted network that included director Marina Granovskaia and much-appreciated and missed technical and performance advisor Petr Cech, cut a noticeably dejected figure while Chelsea were in America. The wisdom of the new regime trying to navigate a first transfer window without adequately replacing its expertise and instead trying to learn on the job can, of course, be questioned. The true extent of Tuchel’s frustration was known behind the scenes by his visibly agitated mood and demeanor and then crystallized in public after Chelsea’s 4-0 hammering by Arsenal in Orlando in July. The Blues made the decision following their 1-0 defeat by Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night Tuchel had a blast with his players, painting a bleak picture of Chelsea’s readiness for next season and highlighting the number of players their rivals had managed to sign in London, which would not have gone unnoticed by the new hierarchy he had a disability. they were able to give him because of their late arrival after the takeover. His harsh post-match press conference and strong words, particularly his harsh criticism of his strikers and lack of threat – ‘they are the same players [as last season]so why change anything? – he raised his team’s eyebrows and was noticed by those above him. Tuchel has also openly questioned the commitment of some of his star players. A number wanted to leave at this stage, a situation that affected their mood and that around the camp. Chelsea losing players to Barcelona such as Rafinha and later Jules Conte was a source of annoyance for Tuchel, along with two of his team, Cesar Azpilicueta at the time and Marcos Alonso looking to follow Andreas Christensen to the La Liga giants. Graham Potter (left) and Mauricio Pochettino (right) are both front-runners to fill the role At one point, Tuchel is said to have pointedly asked his players who wanted to stay and who wanted to leave, and was unhappy with the answer he received and the number he wanted to leave. This was a continuation of the situation that had been reversed from the previous season, when sources described towards the end of last campaign that the number of players with whom he had a strong bond was dwindling, with his behavior towards some of them feeling ill-handled. big factor. Already in the pre-season questions were raised about the impact a poor start to 2022/23 would have for Tuchel. At the time Tuchel appeared to be in better spirits, admitting that “seeing that we are doing well in the market” helped calm him after Marc Cucurella joined Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly as key additions and captain Azpilicueta was retained. But in a roller-coaster ride once the action got underway, the blame game the owners felt Tuchel played, especially after the defeat, set in. To be fair, he sometimes held his hands up and included himself. But in their view, he often targeted others, including his own players, “aggressively negatively” and painted an image diametrically opposed to what they wanted from a team. Pointing out that Chelsea’s coaching staff had to travel to Leeds by bus while the players flew in was among those digs that attracted attention. Serious cracks emerged during Chelsea’s US tour, particularly after the 4-0 drubbing by Arsenal And now things had fallen to the point where there was surprise from above that Tuchel had spoken openly and encouragingly about the prospect of a contract extension with Chelsea. It was no longer prominently on the agenda. While there was hope expressed by some close to the Chelsea squad that the transfer window could sort things out once the focus was removed from inside and outside, much of the damage had already been done. Willing to be on the same page as Tuchel, the opposite was increasingly the case. During the summer he was concerned by Boehly’s talks with super agent Jorge Mendes about Cristiano Ronaldo. Tuchel also wanted Romelu Lukaku to stay until a replacement was found before Boehly went ahead with a quick loan deal with Inter Milan before that point so everyone could move on. Tuchel was concerned by owner Boehly’s communications with Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent Chelsea owner Todd Boehly decided to sack the German manager before Tuesday afternoon Chelsea’s sacking of manager Thomas Tuchel is set to cost the club around £15m In many cases they felt that Tuchel was just making decisions on his own and decisions that a club should be involved in and not just the manager. Billy Gilmour and Armando Broja were two more players they had differences of opinion about. Tuchel was happy to let both move on, which eventually happened in the former’s case, but the club wanted them to stay. His former Borussia Dortmund talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived last week, but that was as much due to Barcelona finally agreeing to accept the amount Chelsea were willing to pay at the start of those talks as Tuchel’s influence. As his reign under the Boehly-Clearlake partnership progressed communication between Tuchel and his bosses became another growing problem. Tuchel is said to have found out on TV that Callum Hudson-Odoi was in Germany to finalize his move to Bayer Leverkusen. Chelsea suffered back-to-back away defeats against Leeds, Southampton and Dinamo Zagreb Tuchel’s backroom staff are set to follow the German – who was on wages in the region of £13million a year – out the door Meanwhile, for their part, the owners have struggled to get through to Tuchel at times and sources have warned that the lack of contact was a sign of where things were going. So was Tuchel’s job security as decisions were made on the players’ futures last month – in short, the sense that some were weighing the call they are making in the context that the manager may not be around for much longer. Chelsea’s results and performances also showed the problems Tuchel had with his team and that the dressing room was lost, adding to all the other issues. Many managers available at a club like Chelsea can coach and impress on the training pitch, as, it must be pointed out, Tuchel has done it successfully, winning the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup. But not everyone has the human touch, people and relationship-building skills and willingness to work with them that the club’s new owners want. This, more than anything else, contributed to the downfall of Tuchel’s Chelsea.
