Gus Poyet is a bit of a controversial player at Chelsea.
He scored some important goals for us, but also blotted his copybook by joining Spurs.
Certainly there are some mixed feelings about him around Stamford Bridge.
But in an interesting interview on Goal.com, the Uruguayan revealed that his influence in West London went beyond just his time on the pitch. He told the story of a time he had helped push the club in the right direction:
“It was around the time Chelsea had Ancelotti, who was a fantastic coach but he didn’t have Chelsea players around him as a core,” Poyet explained.
“I met some of the board and chairman at the time. They were listening to me and I think they thought I wanted a coaching role. That wasn’t my idea. My idea was to see more ex-players around at Cobham. I am sure it wasn’t down to me but it was great that Chelsea started bringing people back.”
They certainly took his advice alright. There really can’t be many clubs with a coaching staff more closely connected to the club than us right now. We’ve got an authentic legend as manager, and a staff full of ex-players and academy coaches.
How much of that was down to Poyet’s words to the board we will never know – but it can’t have hurt.
