The Athletic's Liam Twomey and Dom Fifield join Matt Davies-Adams for a special xmas edition of the podcast, where the guys pick their Top 5 trophy wins, managers and signings of the last decade! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Straight out of COBHAM, the Chelsea FC podc from the Athletic on this, the final episode of 2019, we're taking a look back at the past decade and celebrating some of Chelsea's most memorable successes over the last 10 years. We're going to run through our top five trophies, signings and managers from 2010 to the present day. There'll be plenty of debate, conjecture and downright disagreements. It's going to be fun. Make sure you subscribe to the Athletic to read great articles and get access to all 11 of our brand new podcasts. And just by listening to this show, you you can subscribe now with a 40% discount by going to TheAthletic.com and using the code CHELSEAPOD. I'm Matt Davis Adams. As well as being a podcaster, I'm also a commentator for Chelsea TV, a role I started in 2011. So I've seen the majority of Chelsea games this decade. I can't get these top fives in order by myself, though.
I'll need a panel of experts to help me, which is handy because I've got two such fellas poised and ready to make their case for who and what goes where. Liam Toomey is one of the Athletic's dedicated Chelsea correspondents. He's been Covering the club for four years, so we'll see how that colours his opin the past decade. How are you doing, Liam?
Pretty good, pretty good. I'm looking forward to some quite conte centric discussion. I think that's what I'm bringing to the table.
Nice. So if Liam is a relatively fresh faced team member, my next guest is a veritable veteran, having first covered Chelsea in 2007. He's long overdue a testimonial but is the go to man to talk blues in the tens, assuming that's what we call this decade. He's the one and only Dominic Fifield.
The issue I've got is I've got a memory of a goldfish, so I can't remember what happened last week, let alone 10 years ago.
I always call you a veritable veteran. You're only getting one year contracts at this stage, aren't you?
Definitely graying as this podcast proceeds.
Okay, now everybody knows who everybody is, let's get stuck into these lists, starting with the top five trophies of the last decade as won by Chelsea Football Club. Okay, so I wanted to start with our trophies chat because it'll inform some of the discussion in our other countdowns. The way we're going to do this is to reveal our list in reverse order. There's an honourable mention in each category too. In this section, the honourable mention goes to the 2012 FA Cup, a less well remembered trophy given the one that followed it a few weeks later. But it's worth pointing out that The Blues hammered Spurs 51 in the semi before beating Liverpool in the final five. The most recent triumph, the 2019 Europa League. Dom, why does this one make the opposition in the final? The ease with which Chelsea got there.
Just because it was such an awkward campaign generally, I think summed up by the fact that we all had to trek off to Baku for the final itself. A campaign that obviously Europa League wins don't carry the same kudos, possibly as Champions League ones, quite rightly so. But from a personal point of view, some of the tales from the group stages going to deepest darkest Belarus where we that's outside Minsk I think for one of the One of the journalists got accosted by a wolf I think on that particular trip. And then there's the intrigue of Maurizio Sarri, who I suspect will get a mention in terms of the managers, but had basically been a dead man walking for about six months by the time we got to the final itself. And then the moment where he actually betrayed some emotion and the supporters and press PAC sort of gave him some affection, the sort of look of delight on his face when he realized that he'd finally won a major trophy.
And you could just see there was a man that was dying for a cigarette to celebrate down on the touchline in Baku. But that was a sort of touching moment, the little smile that he got and felt happy for him then, because we all know that he was likely to be leaving any day after that. But other than that, it was a pretty forgettable campaign and one that Chelsea would rather have been in the Champions League for.
Yeah, that's true, Liam, but I think you look at the final and there's this weird postscript to Petr Cech's career that, you know, his last game was for Arsenal. He finished it in tears. Weeks later, he's back at Chelsea. And that's the kind of quirk that's going to stand out about this particular triumph, if not much else does. Oh, and it was Edding Hazard's last game.
Exactly. Yeah. Cech didn't stop in the mix zone, surprisingly, and he looked appropriately downcast. Yeah. It's a strange one for his legacy. Also for Olivier Giroud scoring against Arsenal in a European final, and that run.
And the number of goals he scored on that campaign was astonishing. He was a leading goal scorer in the competition.
He was, yeah. I mean, for me, it was some of the most emphatic proof of the decade that trophies will just find Chelsea. Whatever happens, however the season has gone, however bizarre it's been, however toxic it's been at times, they always find a way to win. That's why I always describe them as the most successful basket case in European football. But the other thing I remember from that final, apart from the six flights that was just tobacco, is the Hazard final. I mean, it was one of those where this is what the great players do where possible, they write their own endings. And he knew going in this was going to be the end of his Chelsea career. He scored the winning penalty in the semi final against Eintracht Frankfurt to set it all up. And I think as soon as it got to that point, he was like, I'm not going to lose. And I didn't think there was a huge amount to separate Chelsea and Arsenal on the day apart from him.
He decided in the second half to be the difference and scored two goals overall. Just terrorized the Arsenal defense every time he got the ball. And it was a fitting end to a career that I'm sure will come on to him in the signings of the decade. But you know, that saw him be sort of the engine of Chelsea success for all that time.
It was also such a shame that there were so few people there to watch it. I mean that, that really. I think that took a lot from, from the achievement. I remember hanging around the old town in Baku on the day of the game and you. And there were more Arsenal fans than Chelsea fans there but, but not that many. I mean it was just ridiculous and what a decision by UEFA to, to stage that game there and then to have two London clubs, I mean the, the intransigence of, of the governing body to, to realize that possibly that wasn't the, the brightest thing to do. Maybe they could have come to another arrangement and put it somewhere vaguely closer. Would have, would have been better and it would have, it would have added to the sense of occasion. But I was, yeah, please for sari.
But well, I am. I almost missed my connection flight from Tbilisi to Baku on the way there. Ended up having a 15 minute connection in Georgia. So apparently Georgia's very nice. I don't know, I'll have to go back. But I was on the same flight as a few Chelsea and Arsenal fans and there were. The only alternative if we actually missed that flight was a 10 hour cab across the border from a few and a few did that. I know, I know a couple that did it and while it's admirable, you know the lengths that they'd go to to get to that game, it was ridiculous that people were forced to those, those lengths or fans that have been to every big Chelsea game for the last 20, 30 years didn't actually go to that one. I think that's a bit of a shame.
Yeah.
Well done if you're one of those who did make it. And hard luck if you're a Welsh Chelsea fan and you're going to Baku for the Euros in the summer as well.
4.
It's another Europa League triumph. This time the class of 2013. A much more easy to access venue in Amsterdam. Rafa Benitez only trophy in his brief spell as interim manager. A thrilling final against Benfica. And, and like you were saying, Liam, about, about Chelsea attracting trophies. They become the first team to win the Champions League, then go out the group stage in the next campaign. Everybody's up in arms, oh, they've sacked the manager or they don't play any of the youth players. There's no long term planning. Meanwhile the people at Chelsea say can you just pass me the brasso? I've got another Trophy that I need to, to shine up. And this was a final full of stories, not least the one you wrote about recently with Branislav Ivanovic getting his redemption for having missed the Champions League final the year before by scoring a dramatic late winner.
Yeah, definitely. Certainly the centerpiece of his Chelsea legacy, I think. And also Fernando Torres actually fulfilled the sort of Olivier Giroud role that season and scored quite a lot of goals, including in the final. And you do see some pretty big parallels actually between both Europa League runs. Both times Chelsea kind of sleepwalked to the final, playing almost, you know, no one really, until they finally decided to take it seriously once the trophy was in sight. And both were overseen by pretty toxic unpopular managers. And the reason why I think the Benitez one gets the nod over the Sarri one is because I think that season was just such an ordeal. They played 69 games in all competitions, which was more than any other season in the decade. You had the 10,000 mile sojourn to Japan that ended in complete disappointment and Chelsea looked exhausted about halfway through that season.
That's why I actually think at the end of that season that was borne out in the, in the way that they were able to come up in the 93rd minute of the 69th game with, with the winning goal against a pretty good Benfica side.
I thought that was one of the occasions where we traveled with the team and they handed the trophy to the back of the plane. Everybody had their photograph taken with a trophy by one person who refused to, shamefully. I definitely picked it up. It's quite big. It's quite significantly heavy as well.
One of the cooler looking trophies.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. You're right. That season was astonishing in its own way. Like every season in that period of Chelsea's history was. But you know, from the humiliation of Juventus away in the Champions League, Di Matteo's last game and coming back post match there and walking across the concourse at Gatwick at 3, 3 in the morning and just seeing Di Matteo absolutely shell shocked, all the colours drained from him. Knowing that he was driving or being driven from there to Cobham to be sac mean, he, he knew that was going to happen. To then think that they actually ended up with a European trophy at the end of that, that campaign is astonishing. And, and yeah, the, the, the toxicity connected with the. Beneath his appointment, the fact that the fans never really accepted him, apart from a little sort of wavering support as he lifted the trophy in Amsterdam and went over to the support scene. He did it reluctantly. He didn't.
He didn't look as if he wanted to be there necessarily, but he, you know, this is a European trophy. It's another thing to put on his cv. It meant something to him and obviously it meant quite a lot to the supporters. And that was a nice moment and probably the overriding memory of the Europa League campaign.
We asked him when I wrote a piece about a month or two ago about that final, we asked Rafa sort of about his memories of the final. And he was like, well, I was really pleased with the winning goal because it was exactly what we'd worked on in training. There's no mention of the emotion or anything. I don't think he likes to dwell on that. But it was clearly meant a lot to me, him at the time. And I think it was quite a nice moment for him and obviously a nice end to what really had been a proper ordeal of a season for Chelsea.
We'll speak a bit more about Rafa later on.
Three for me.
Next up, taking the number three position in our greatest trophies of the decade is the 2015 Premier League title, the third and final of Jose's Premier League triumphs with Chelsea. What made this one memorable, Liam? I was kind of looking back on it and it wasn't routine, but it was workman like, maybe a good way to describe it.
Certainly in the second half of the season, it was kind of Mourinho reverting to type in the second half of the season, particularly after that 53 loss to Spurs. But I think if you look back a bit further, the football Chelsea actually played in the first three, four months of that year to put themselves in position to win the title was really, really impressive. And, you know, with Fabregas and Matic, that midfield axis was perfectly balanced. Diego Costa was the perfect striker for that kind of Mourinho team. It just all seemed to suddenly click into place just with those two new players and an emerging Thibaut Courtois, obviously as well. And I think the thing I remember from the second half of the season is Eden Hazard really coming up big down the stretch when Costa was getting hamstring injuries and Chelsea were lacking a little bit in the final third.
That was the first time, I think, in Hazard's career that he really took on the responsibility as Chelsea's main man, which he held from that point on. And I think that he still rates that as his best season at Chelsea in terms of performance, if not maybe stats. And I'd be inclined to agree with him. I think it was an impressive achievement for him and clearly one that bolstered Mourinho's legacy which has maybe come under scrutiny since he left Chelsea. But Judas is still number one.
There were some memorable games Dom. The 6:3 at Everton is one that stands out but really it was about that spine of the team which was essentially new. Courtois, obviously a contracted Chelsea player but had spent three seasons out on loan. Atletico, Fabregas and Costa. And it was kind of nicely illustrated in that first game at Burnley the Monday night. Costa scored and that ludicrous Fabregas assist for Schurler which kind of gave us a glimpse of things to come that season.
Yeah, absolutely. And look, I'd actually go back a bit further than that. There was a game the previous season at Sellers park where Hazard got attacked by an eagle and palace won 1 nil. And Jose walked into his post match press conference and asked what his team lacked at the time. And this was the period where their three strikers were Samuel ETO sort of fading force. Torres who never really set the world alight in terms of the Premier League at Chelsea and Denver Bar, who had some moments but again wasn't the long term answer. And he said he wouldn't talk, he wouldn't say it out loud but he wrote it on a piece of paper and he just wrote down the word Bulls. And what they did that summer by signing Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas was they gave the team that sort of streetwise edge that set them apart.
I was wondering how you'd handle the end.
Fabregas gave cost of the ball.
But that was the reality that made the difference, that suddenly made Chelsea real. Yeah, really street wise and okay, they dazzled for the first six months of that season. The 6:3 win Goodison park, arguably the best football that, that Chelsea have played for in the, arguably the best performance of this decade actually in terms of. Because I mean there were some great moments in Mourinho first time but you know we're going further back but that only got them so far. That got them level points effectively with Manchester City because that, that lead had been eroded by the turn of the year. And then Mourinho lent upon, yeah balls on that team and made them work hard. That axis, they, they, they, they ground out results for the second half of the season and they won the league so comfortably. And I can see why he looks back at it as a sense of pride.
I don't think there was any sort of long termism to any of it and I think the following season probably proved that. But as an achievement to make the difference from what they'd been the previous year. That was a fantastic title win.
Two just missing out on top spot. Our number two trophy of the decades. Another Premier League title win. This time the 2017 triumph under Antonio Conte. Heart, eyes emoji. The most unlikely title in the Premier League. Chelsea have won, Liam, I would suggest absolutely, yeah.
Especially when you consider that the, the place was a flaming mess by the time Mourinho was, was sacked in, in 2015. And okay, they'd had about you know, a sort of six month palate cleanser under Gus Hiddink. About six months of draws as I recall in the Premier League. But this was a really big job for Conte and I think what impressed me most, it was probably still the most fun I've had covering a season because you saw Conte thinking his way through all the time and I really like that approach to management where he came in, assessed what he had and thought right now what system works best and he actually came in wanting to play 4, 2, 4 and that's what Chelsea played in pre season. As you can imagine, fabregas in a two man midfield in a 4, 2, 4 was wide open. So quickly changed to 4, 3, 3. Playing Kante in the sort of Makalele role which he's never played. But then once they lose to Liverpool, they lose to Arsenal, he thinks again.
And that September international break is maybe the most consequential international break Chelsea have ever had. He drills the 3, 4, 3 in what seems like no time at all and he gives the rest of the Premier League a problem they can't solve because the way Chelsea implemented that system, they basically had a front five when they had the ball and it forced teams to either match up and sacrifice their own attack or try and play with the back four and get overrun. And by the time anyone developed any sort of counters to it, Chelsea had won 13 games in a row and won the league. It was so impressive to me. The single biggest coaching achievement I've seen I think at Chelsea just for the creativity of it, the versatility of it and the way he put otherwise fairly limited players. Particularly, you know, you're thinking of like Marcus Alonso who's not a fullback but excellent wing back.
Victor Moses reinvents him as a wing back in positions to succeed and he also freed up his best players, Hazard, Costa, to play some of the best football of their Chelsea careers. I thought it was a brilliant achievement.
There's a slight caveat Dom, in that Chelsea didn't have European football to deal with that season. But given where they were the season before, for somebody new to the league to lead them to the titles, quite extraordinary.
Yeah, A.B. absolutely. And as Liam says, it says a, a lot about his coaching ability. And, and there were, there were two defeats in that, in that season. The recoveries from those defeats summed up his brilliance. Half time, the dressing room against arsenal when they're 30 down in September and he decides he's going to make this switch. You know, by all accounts he was a very emotional man, Antonio Conte. And there were suggestions that he was like stomping around that dressing room saying, this is me, I'm done, I'm not having this, I'm not suited for this. And yet the rationality eventually kicks in, he changes it, focusing. And the run subsequently after that was this takes your breath away. And that's turned a team that looked as if they were sort of emulating the previous season's sort of, I don't know, going nowhere and suddenly becomes a title winning team.
But subsequently also in the run in, when they've been untouchable for such a long time, they played out of their skin in defeat at home to Palace. I mean, God knows how palace won that game. Chelsea were absolutely untouchable.
They were brilliant under Big Sam, that.
Was under Big Sam and even Allardy water into his post match press conference says, you didn't expect any of that, did you? And no, no one did. But at the time, I remember Conte coming in and it was like his world had imploded. I mean it was, you just lost one game. But again, the way he got them to refocus after that, I think they won eight of their last nine games after that match and the only defeat was at Manchester United, I think. But they were brilliant in that run in and there was no one going to stop them. And it's that ability to coax a recovery from a setback that sets him apart, I think. And in that season, obviously the following year it was a slightly different scenario and the politics kicked in. But yeah, I mean it was as a surprise title success that was something else.
I've never seen a Chelsea team that looked so secure on a back foot. They won so many of those games where they'd maybe be slow for the first 20 minutes, they'd lure the other team out and then score with their first attack. They were so, so ruthless, which is not something we associate with Chelsea in the last couple of years, but I think that's what really, really won Them that league was that every single chance they got it felt like they took. And you know, beating City home in a way the landscape of the Premier League maybe helped them a little bit. City weren't quite ready, spurs weren't quite ready. But someone had to step up and take that title. And I think it speaks volumes for Conte that Chelsea were the ones to do it.
So that's number two. No prizes for guessing what's number one in this particular chat one.
It all comes down to this one kick of the ball by Didier Drogba. Yeah. And it's the greatest night in Chelsea's history. Champions of Europe at last.
Has to be the 2012 Champions League. Chelsea the first and so far only team from London to win it. Beating Bayern Munich on their own pitch after a penalty shootout. Were you there Dom?
Yeah, yeah. Just, just. Sorry do I ever bring that up that cut run we shouldn't forget the 41 against Napoli was it 4 1.
So AVB got ditched after the away leg that they lost 3 1. Ashley Cole kicked one off the line to basically keep them in it near the end. And then by the time the second leg comes around Di Matteo's charge and then lift off.
Yeah and it reminded I was lucky enough to be on to be covering Liverpool back in 0405 when. When they did similar ridiculous things on that that routes to the. To winning the competition. I mean Olympiacos etc Juventus and But I've never heard Stamford Bridge like that. I mean it was feeble. The noise was incredible. The way that they ditched Napoli a good Napoli team as well. You know a team that was going place or certainly with players that were going places and then I mean Barcelona, Barcelona away in particular the Nou camp to conjure that result just took the breath away. Just, just a stunning performance with all, with all the things that appear to go against Chelsea that night.
From losing the players, losing Cahill early to injury, losing Terry to red car before half time to emerge from, from that Barcelona team with a two all draw and, and the drama of watching Torres break away for that, that second goal which okay wasn't actually decisive but it just, you know that was the end of the game and it was just a wonderful coup de grace for the entire tie. And then to go to go to Munich to play Bayern Munich as well. I mean on their home patch it was a fairly torrid occasion. I mean Cech had to be on his mettle. We had you know Drogba conceding penalties, heading last minute late equalizers and then the, the drama of the penalty shootout itself. Well, I think Chelsea were behind on in the actual shootout.
Yeah, Mata missed first.
There you go. I mean, just the stuff of dreams. And there were so many occasions on that night we just thought that actually this is, this is Chelsea's destiny that they're going to do this because whatever Bayern do, they're just not getting ahead. They're not, they're not, they're not, they're not taking their opportunities. And there was just something street wise and, and strong and the mentality of that, that Chelsea team, it was a, it was the sort of the crowning glory actually of probably the Mourinho team from, from 040556 and that was their moment and Mourinho wasn't there to share it with them, but he put that, help put that team together and the mentality and the strength of it all was it harped back to that previous era.
Some key moments along the way mentioned the Ashley Cole clearance, Messi missing a penalty in the semi final, second leg iron Robin missing a penalty against Chelsea in the final. You know, that kind of gets lost a little bit in the drama that was to come. And, and of course the player who took the winning spot kick, we thought that was the last time he was ever going to kick a ball for Chelsea in Didier Drogba. It's just kind of goosebumps just thinking about it now. Kind of thing that would be very, very difficult to ever replicate with those kind of circumstances. And the way that certainly the knockout stage went.
It was like a movie. It really was. And I think for drama, it rivals Istanbul in 2005 because maybe not, you know, you don't have the single game comeback that, that, that Liverpool victory was. But the drama extended over three matches, essentially both legs of the Barcelona tie. And then Bayern Munich beating, you know, the two best teams in Europe. Really, you know, that was Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and then a Bayern team that would win the treble the next year. The torturous memory of what had happened in their own stadium. It was, it was an amazing run. And Dom, you know, mentioned about destiny, but there were also so many moments, as you say, where you'd think, okay, their name's on the trophy. This is too spooky. And then something else would happen where you think, oh, it's over immediately, almost immediately, with the, you know, with the Messi and Robben penalties and so many different things that happened.
The Terry Red card of course as well at The NOU camp and for Drogba as well, it sort of completed a circle I think because I think he felt a personal debt in some ways after getting sent off in the 2008 final in Moscow when he would have been one of the penalty takers. And you know, whether he replaces Terry in that penalty shootout, we don't know. But he clearly felt personally that he had a role to play in that defeat. And for him to be able to step up six goals in eight matches on that run, every one of them absolutely vital to score the header that he did with I think Chelsea was that Chelsea's only attempt on goal in that final was crazy.
He was at the centerpiece of all the post match celebrations as well, wasn't he? There was this stuff about him almost singing to the trophy in the. I don't know whether it was a dressing room or back at the team hotel afterwards. And I know they had a. They stayed up all night by the pool, didn't they? And with, with the trophy with them and it, it just felt like the culmination of things and this is what we've been working for for so long together. You can throw in all the stuff about Peter Check and the studying of the, the penalties and knowing exactly which way all the buy. He got all the penalties right in that game, didn't he? Every single way he dived the right way.
Well, I read, I read a section in, in a book a few years ago where Chelsea's preparations for the 2008 final had been equally meticulous for that shootout. And Chelsea's takers knew what Van der Saal's preference was for diving and they all adhered to it perfectly. And then Van der Saal gradually began to suss it out. By the time Anelka misses, you see Van der Saal pointing to the direction he thinks Anelka is meant to go and he, he freaks him out. Chelsea lose. They would have won if Terry hadn't hadn't slipped and put that penalty because they executed that game plan to perfection. But it shows how luck plays role as well. And the odds are always against you when you're the first to miss in a shootout. So then that was another point where mata Mrs. In 2012 where you just think, right, Bayern are going to win it now. Especially with Neuer. I mean, he looked so big.
I remember Ashley Cole talking about it doing an interview and he's saying he just looked so big in that goal and he'd bang the crossbar and bang the posts and really try and psych you out. And Chelsea's penalties, aside from matters, were absolutely brilliant. And then Drogba said as he was walking up to take the winning penalty, his first thought was Panenka, which is so Drogba. But can you imagine how differently that moment would be remembered if he'd Panenka'd and missed?
Yeah, incredible achievement. Crowning achievement. And for those big names that we've spoken about. But also, let's not forget Ryan Bertrand made his European debut in that final. I don't think there's too much debate about the winner in that category. Let's see how we feel about the order of our next top five. We shall reveal it next. For the second of our three categories, let's discuss the top five managers of the decade, including caretakers. Chelsea have had 10 different men at the helm since 2010, though that does include Steve Holland, who took charge of one game, starting with Carlo Ancelotti, ending with Frank Lampard. Did either of those two make our list? We should say, by the way, that we're only focusing on the men's senior team here, otherwise Emma Hayes and Jody Morris could well have made the cut. As it is, our honorable mention in this category goes to Smokey Smokerson or Maurizio Sarri as he's better known.
He won a trophy and finished third in his only season. Good effort. Just a shame he was such a grump to the top five then. And first off we pick Rafael Benitez. Only an interim, as he was at pains to point out. Replaced Roberto de Matteo in November 2012, led the team to the Europa League triumph a few months later, and we've kind of chatted a lot about Rafa already, so we'll just go brief on this one. Liam, how do you think he's viewed by Chelsea supporters now?
Apathy, I think. More than more than active dislike. He's not there anymore, so they don't have to hate him. I think he handled himself really well. He made it clear from the start that he wasn't going to be sticking around. He did his best to diffuse that by about February March, and I think he did a really good job to manage the squad through an endless stretch of games in all competitions and ended up coming out of it with Champions League qualification and the Europa League trophy. So I think bottom line achievements were very good. He came in in highly difficult circumstances in a squad in transition and a club that was trying to sort of redefine itself post 2012, and I think he did pretty well.
Number four, Dom the man he replaced, Roberto Di Matteo, he was there for a good time, not a long time, but he definitely merits his place on the list because as we alluded to earlier, he didn't just win the Champions League, he won the FA cup as well.
Yeah, look, I think he lent heavily on a team with some big personalities with points to prove after what had happened with avb.
That's a skill as well, though.
Absolutely, absolutely. And he was the right man at that time. But to be honest, when I think of Di Matteo, there was a sense of shock on his face when he won that trophy. I think in the build up to that final. We've been talking about his future, what happens. And it was almost like he had to sort of wave the trophy at Roman Abramovich to convince him to give him a contract. Then there was a period of uncertainty after that triumph where we weren't quite sure whether he was going to be appointed full time. And it was almost like a reluctant move in the end by Chelsea to, to give him a longer term contract. And actually thinking about it, it would have been a better, it would have been better for him to have gone out on such a high or bit. The context wouldn't have worked at the time, but because everything in the autumn was painful and, and I, I don't want to have to remember him for, for what happened with the un. His tenure.
Let's just think about the, the great memories. He's, he was a great Chelsea player and he is the only Chelsea manager and indeed only manager of any London club that's ever brought the Champions League trophy.
Back in. At number three, we picked Carlo Ancelotti. Dom, this, this was your time covering the club. Two, what makes him a stick on for this list, do you think? Just, just that remarkable goal filled season.
Oh, I was going to say eyebrow. Yeah, that look, that. Again, two, memories of Ancelotti. The, the, the, the sheer number of goals that Chelsea scored in the 103.
Yeah, man, city beat it a couple.
Of years later, but it was astonishing. I remember going into the last game of that season at home to Wigan when I think Chelsea needed to win, to be assured of winning the title. And there was actually a certain amount of nervousness around the stadium even in the first half of that game. There was an anxiety around the place and they win the game 8 nil. It was an absolute cakewalk. And come the end, and that sort of summed up Carlo, there was a wonderful array of attacking talent in that, in that team again, especially if you're talking about the decade. His stewardship is somewhat tarnished by the bad moment of the following season and the reality that he couldn't raise a team that was struggling in mid season to reach the levels of the previous year.
And then obviously the sacking at Goodison park on the final day when you hear about him being told in the corridor thank you, good night type thing and that was a shame because he was a very personable man. He a lot of charisma, funny bloke. His English wasn't brilliant at the time but he absolutely, he held a room when he was talking to certainly with the media and I think there was a lot of affection amongst the supporters for him as well and some of the football they played in that first year was swashbuckling and exactly what Roman Abramovich wanted.
Liam, I've put Jose Mourinho in at number two Premier League and League cup in 2015. We're just looking at his first spell. You wanted him at number one, what makes you think that he should have been in that position?
I thought there was a decent case for Mourinho to be number one purely because we've spoken about the 2015 title win. But I think also his achievement in 1314 can't be overlooked either.
Little horse this season.
Exactly. Yeah. The little, albeit rich horse nearly, nearly beat a Liverpool and a Manchester City side that both broke the 100 goal barrier to the Premier League title without a striker. And I think if Chelsea had actually managed that it would have been the, maybe the most impressive coaching achievement of this decade. As it was, they just fell short. The, the home record at Stamford Bridge fell to Sunderland at just the wrong time. But Mourinho did a really good job for two seasons at Chelsea and then he did a really bad job for three, four months and he obviously deserves a demerit for the sort of historic mess that was generated in those last few months and just how toxic it all was. He also deserves a demerit for selling Kevin de Bruyne which I thought was a mistake at the time. This isn't hindsight and maybe not really managing other players very well. Ostracizing one matter, Chelsea lost Salah and Lukaku around that time as well.
So he was clearly building for the, for the now rather than the the longer term. And, and in the end I think that that lack of long term planning helped curtail that period of success for Chelsea.
Okay, so you probably guessed by now who we've picked as Chelsea's manager of the decade. Well done. If you've gone for Antonio Conte, we have to. I say we. I had the casting vote due to a long established tradition called presenter privilege. We've spoken a bit Dom about, about how he picked this team up off the floor. There's a great line that Daniel Taylor of this parish wrote during this season saying conte is a man who does a good impression of somebody whose shoes are on fire with the way that he dances along the touchline. He was a breath of fresh but kind of fiery air around the club. He almost immediately he was kind of saying, look, I want more players. This, this squad isn't good enough. We need to do this, that and the other. And it was a bit of a jolt, I think.
I think Conte was brilliant for Chelsea until the politics kicked in. He wasn't quite as political as a Benitez, but his sort of firebrand character was always going to. It was always going to end in tears. The relationship between club and head coach. Everybody loved his histrionics on the touchline, as you say. He tapped into the supporters passion in that first season in particular and, yeah, was great. You could watch him as much as he could watch the football. His tactical nails was second to none and the way he revived that team post Arsenal in the autumn was staggering. Yes, the timing was probably good in terms of. No Champions League football, no. No drain on his. On his resources in terms of clutter fixture lists. But didn't he use that well? He used that really well and was shrewd in that, in that respect. But again, as with every Chelsea manager out there, it become. It's tempered because that the second season under Conte was.
Was not a pleasant season to be watching the club or covering the club. The politics of it all, the whingeing, the. The fact that he wasn't happy and he wasn't happy from his sun lounger in the summer after winning the title. I mean, from that moment on, the discord comes back and he doesn't get his way. And rather than sort of getting on with things, he had the sort of air of somebody that was sulking and making life difficult for people. And the atmosphere on the training ground could not have been good, let's put it like that. And you know, you can't begrudge him two trophies in two seasons. Two major trophies in two seasons is a great achievement. Personally, I'd have gone with Mourinho, but the casting vote appears to have won two, one on this one. So there you go.
I'm guessing Liam, it was one of the most fun that you've covered. Have you got any good Conte stories? Because he was good value for you guys.
Took us to the pub. He was. He took us to the pub.
Was that that nice one in Cobham.
Near the chair, the Plough? Yes, yeah, both. Both Christmases he did that. He was certainly the most personable Chelsea manager I've covered away from sort of press conferences and so every time you'd see him around Cobham, he'd come and shake a hand and yeah, he was very, very polite. Joined in. I know he joined some of the Chelsea star five A side games with his game face on a couple of times. Yeah, he was, I think, a great coach, a terrible politician. That's just the way you surmise it. And I think what impressed me most in 1617 was when he had problems. He found creative coaching solutions on the pitch by changing systems, by reinventing players. In his second season, it felt like he deliberately stopped looking for solutions because he wanted to prove a political point that I don't have the players that I want in certain positions. And the moaning became everything rather than just an accompaniment to what was happening on the pitch.
And it was clear by January, February, that second season that it was fundamentally broken between him and the board. He was lobbing grenades left and right in every press conferen and it was still a big achievement to win that FA cup. But you know, when you've got players cropping him out of pictures with emojis afterwards tells you something about what the atmosphere was like behind the scenes.
Well done then, Antonio. Top of the Pops in our my list of best Chelsea managers of the last 10 years. Right then, last but not least, in this special reflective edition of Straight Outta Cobham, we're going to go through the top five Chelsea signings of the past 10 years. And at number five, he could have been at number one. These are all brilliant buys. Gary Cahill, £7 million from Bolton in January 2012. By the end of that season he'd won the Champions League and the FA Cup. He added two Premier Leagues, another FA Cup, a League cup and two Europa Leagues as well. And to think, Liam, that AVB had him sat in the stands at Norwich for the first game that he was available for. He, Gary himself could not have predicted he'd have even maybe 20% of the success that he ended up having.
A good player who enjoyed a great career, an absolutely great career. I mean, to. To think that within two and a half years of joining he'd won Every major domestic and European trophy. I'm sure when he was, when he arrived he didn't expect it to go quite that well but. And he was a starter for a lot of those games. You know, with the, with the Champions League final, obviously Terry wasn't available and you know, there were injuries for certain things. Him and Louise manned the fort with I think one and a half working hamstrings between them and Munich and, and he just showed that he was whatever his limitations were as a player and he did have them, he was a solid defender who had a big game attitude and I think, you know, I think he almost is remembered less fondly by some Chelsea fans because he had a similar problem to what Jordan Henderson had in that he succeeded the most popular and greatest captain in the club's history and he wasn't John Terry.
But that shouldn't really be a criticism. He was a really good player for Chelsea for a long, long time and was absolutely central to all their successes.
I think he's a great player, to be honest. I think he's. Yeah, he made the most of his talent and has enjoyed an absolutely fantastic and glittering career.
Simon Johnson's not been the same since he's left.
No, that's why he's not here. He's crying in the corner somewhere.
Number four, n' golo kante. £30 million from Leicester. This was the one big signing that Antonio Conte did get. A player who's still pivotal to Chelsea now and somebody who they'll want to keep for a good few years yet. Although that might be difficult.
The one undeniable world class player in the current squad, isn't he? God bless release clauses. I think that, you know, that's the message really from that Leicester signing. Obviously burst onto the scene as part of that fairy tale, as the engine of that fairy tale and then became the first player since Eric Cantona to win back to back premier leagues with two different teams. That achievement says it all. He swept the individual awards as well at the end of that season, didn't he? Was so central to the way Conte set that team up as well because they were all geared around winning the ball and going in transition and him and Matic in midfield sort of springing those transitional opportunities were just absolutely pivotal. And Kante was amazing to watch that season. He's not the flariest player but he'd just turn up all over the pitch in different spots.
I think I saw him tackle two players at the same time once as well in a game against West Ham and also receive his own pass over by the time, just absolutely everywhere. I've never seen a player quite like him. And, and he's been absolutely pivotal to Chelsea from the day he arrived.
World cup winner, Dom, ridiculously humble to the point. I'm always amused when he scores a goal. There's like three seconds of him smiling and he thinks, oh no, everyone's looking at me now. And then he thinks, oh no, I'm gonna have to do post match after this. This is terrible. He just, he just wants to play football, get off the pitch and go home again.
Basically go home in his Mini. He's still driving the Mini, isn't he? Yeah. Let's look at a phenomenal play. Made Danny Drinkwater look like a world beater. He's two players in one and it says much that. Look, I think he actually has adapted pretty well to the roles that, that Sari and now Lampard have tried to let make him play. When everybody's saying that he's the best defensive midfielder pivot in the world, he's a complete midfielder. He is.
Conte and Sarri both called him that.
Yeah, and, and he probably is. And we probably made a bit too much of that because he can get forward, he's got the, he's got the lungs and the, and the legs to, to sprint up field and get box. To box as well. But yeah, an absolute pleasure. Very softly spoken, humble, modest man, but an absolute winner in everything he does.
Number three, we went for Diego Costa and we'll move on there because we've spoken a lot about Diego already on the show. Number two, Cesar Azpilicueta. I would put it to you, Dom, that he is the best value buy in Chelsea history at £7 million from Marseille.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. When he arrived, he looked like a bit part player, a sort of backup right back. His breakthrough was at left back, I think I'm right in saying. And then he obviously had the spell playing as a right sided center half and a three on a Conte. He's an absolute leader, but one of those leaders that doesn't inspire through, you know, hollering on the pitch in the, in the way that maybe John Terry did, but just through the, the sheer consistency of his, his performances, he's been a phenomenon. You know, he was a player at his peak who would just run and run and run. And a pleasant surprise how well he did considering that Marseille thought they were getting a good fee for him at the time and he wasn't even. I Don't think he was a regular even there in Ligue 1 so for him to have had the career that he's had at that price, just a proper stalwart.
There was a period Liam where he just couldn't be beaten one on one. He was the best defender in the league by an absolute mile.
Yeah, I mean we talk about Kante being two players in one. Azpilicueta was three players in one, wasn't he? A left back, a right back, a center back, whatever you needed from him to be. And yeah, that one on one defensive ability is clearly his biggest strength. But he had such a phenomenal engine as well to play a Lampard esque number of consecutive games before I think the end of the run. He was rested, wasn't he? He wasn't injured. He didn't need to to not play in the Swansea at home. Yes. Yeah it was something like 74 games, wasn't it in a row? Yeah, phenomenal, phenomenal signing led by example on and off the pitch. Has adapted to it to a lot of different managers and everything that's been asked of him and he continues to be absolutely crucial.
People want to retire him for Rhys James and I understand why because Rhys James is a great young talent but Azpilicueta is going to have something to say about that because he's, you know, we've seen that throughout his career.
Another one who's a great ambassador for the club off the pitch. I spoke to him at Everton a couple of weeks ago and he said I've just done an interview in French and then one in Spanish and now I'm doing one in English and that makes people like me feel pretty stupid because I can't do that. Number one though maybe not quite the value in terms of the fee that Chelsea paid for Azpilicueta and for Cahill, but quite possibly the best player in Chelsea's history. Edin Hazard. Is that too big a shout? He's in the top five I would say without question surely.
Yeah.
Most talented maybe.
Yeah, not greatest but best.
Yeah and he was a pleasure to watch, wasn't he? And he was a player that had his. Had occasional issues and, and I suppose he got tainted a bit in the middle of the decade with the. In the sort of palpable discord period.
He had a season off, didn't he?
But he was injured, he was injured. The hip injury I think genuinely played on him and Mourinho couldn't rely on him because of that. But an absolutely thrilling player to watch he scored some of the greatest goals. I mean, there's one against Arsenal where he was it. Coquelain was trying to rugby tackle him. At one point he left him on the.
It looked like Coquelain was falling off a bike.
Good shout. But when he was in full flight, he was unstoppable and a lovely bloke. I mean, I remember I had the pleasure of interviewing him a couple of times.
He's incredibly the least starry star.
Absolutely. And just a genuinely nice man who. Family values were everything. I mean, I bumped into him once in. I was having a coffee, a pre press conference coffee in. In the Waitrose in Cobham and he was in there with. With about six kids. I'm not sure they're all his. I think he had his brothers, one of his brothers had kids over or something as well. And he was pushing the trolley around with all these kids in it and it was like bizarre scenario, but just, just, just humble. Albeit the humble people shop in Waitrose. I don't know. But yeah, look at this. A pleasure to talk to. And I think, I think what happened with Mourinho genuinely played on his mind. I think that text message that he sent to him to apologize for not being able to bail the team out and Mourinho out from the, from that period in the autumn of 2020, I think that was genuine. The sentiment was completely genuine. The.
The only thing that got to support us, I think, was this constant courting of Real Madrid and that. That played on our nerves a bit.
But he was too likable for it to overcome a massive issue.
In fairness, you know, the divorce, when it happened, was very amicable.
Look at the way Courtois left in the way.
Exactly. Absolutely. You're right. That's spot on. And he got, he got his move in the end, but my word, didn't he give Chelsea supporters plenty to. To look back on? With pleasure.
Favorite Hazard goal in Liverpool away in the League Cup.
Yes, that's the one. I think three nutmegs in that move beat Alberto Moreno twice, which is maybe not the biggest achievement in that run. But yeah, a phenomenal player and the mentality of a showman, I think as well. A bit of a throwback in that way when, you know, we're in an age where it's all about numbers, about goals, about assists and these astronomical scorers. And Hazard had the talent to be one of those players, I think. And you know, the biggest criticism of him in the wider world is that he didn't have that killer drive of a Messi or Ronaldo, despite being probably, as you know, at least comparably talented to some of those. But I almost feel like that makes him a more romantic figure in a way that he was. He wanted to entertain every single week and he was happy if that ended up being just one goal or one assist.
He was happy to be clearly the best player on any pitch he ever walked on and give people a few moments of oohs and ahs to take home with them, preferably with a Chelsea win. But he also came up big in big games. You know, I think a lot of people don't remember that well enough, but you look at his record against all of Chelsea's domestic rivals in the league, and it's really, really good. And he scored big goals in finals as well. And I think he may not have, in terms of his production, the most impressive resume of any Chelsea player ever or any huge player of this modern era. But clearly the player that Chelsea built everything around post 2012 and they're still trying to find a new identity without him now. He's left a massive hole.
All right, well, that was enjoyable. I think other than the managers, there wasn't too much palpable discord in the room.
I believe. Papi Jill Labodgy didn't get a mention.
In terms of value sales. If we were doing that one then.
6 million profit in a minute.
Make sure you subscribe to the Athletic to read great articles and get access to all 11 of our brand new podcasts just by listening to this show. You can subscribe now with a 40% discount by going to TheAthletic.com and using the code CHELSEAPOD. Okay, that's it for this special edition of Straight out of Cobham. We'll be back in 2020 to help you see clearly through another year of blues news. Until then, from Liam, Dom and myself. Have a great Christmas and a happy new Year.
Sam.
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