'I have a lot to offer' - Chelsea legend pleas to help new owners

James Shearman

• 20 Apr 2023 12:30 CDT
• 2 min read

There is a reason clubs like Bayern Munich and Ajax have a policy of bringing their former players back in to oversee the next generation.

There are some things that you only know from having experienced them.

The new ownership of Chelsea, led by the consortium co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, have recognised the need for investment.

They want the club to be a success, and know that they have big shoes in which to walk after the previous 20 years.

Yet there is no harm in borrowing in the long-term from that era of which Frank, me and many others were a part.

Who are they listening to the most? I can only assume that Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Christopher Vivell and Joe Shields, the four recruitment directors, can assess the market as well as anyone in that position.

But who might tell them about the other aspects of what it takes to play for this club? And also, the signs that suggest a player might not be capable?

I have to agree with the suggestion made by Thiago Silva after the game that the squad is too big. Too many players creates problems of its own.

Chelsea has an identity of its own. Not quite the history of Liverpool and Manchester United going back decades but pressure in other ways.

It is a west London club, with a strong sense of its place in the world – a bit of glitz and glamour, built on working-class roots.

When Petr Cech was part of the last Roman Abramovich administration I felt sure that there was a connection with the days of the most successful teams of the previous decades. Who provides that now?

I supported Chelsea as a boy. I was signed 20 years ago in the first Roman Abramovich summer. I played there for seven years through some of the most successful seasons in its history. I coached in the academy. I watch every game.

I know that myself and many others like me from that era, including Frank and Ashley Cole, have a lot to offer the club in the long-term. We would love the opportunity to contribute.

Chelsea has something special – different to the great qualities of Real Madrid, or United, or Bayern, and it is the former players who can keep that alive and pass it on to the next generation.