The Evening Standard’s Nick Purewal’s report today claims that Chelsea have “sounded out” representatives of Kieran McKenna and Ruben Amorim in “recent weeks.” The pair are clearly their top options as new manager if Mauricio Pochettino were to be sacked.
It’s yet another hint that the Argentine could go, despite making it into the European places with a run of 5 wins on the spin to close out the season.
Amorim is described as a top candidate who “impressed” the owners, while McKenna’s star continues to rise after completing a double promotion with Ipswich.
Pochettino has swung between darkly hinting that he and his staff could walk away, and then actively saying he hopes to stay and expects to still be in place next season. The lack of clarity still hanging over the team is really becoming damaging now.
Stability should be prioritised
At this stage, the strong end to Chelsea’s season has convinced the vast majority of fans that Pochettino should be given at least the start of next season to have another go.
Even those who are big fans of Amorim and McKenna would argue that keeping some stability is more important to this team than anything else. Firing a manager because they’ve done a terrible job is one thing. Firing a manager because they’ve done an average job is quite different. There is such a thing as having standards which are too high if it actively hurts your long term progress by constantly producing short term disruption.
After a flurry of coaches in the last few years, we’re crying out for stability at the moment, and we would still be surprised if that’s not the direction that the sporting directors and owners decide to go in, despite these hints that they may shock us all with another early termination.