Starting from scratch: Key changes Chelsea's new boss needs to make
The winds of change are blowing through Stamford Bridge once again with the firing of Chelsea manager Joe Mourinho.
The Blues are in dire straits this season, sitting just one point above relegation at the time of this writing. The 2015-16 season is basically a write-off at this point. So what does Chelsea have to do to restore the club to its glorious heights?
Here are some short-term and long-term changes the new Chelsea boss should install for the Blues to roar once again:
Restore the relationship between managers and players
Right away, Chelsea's new boss needs to have a sit-down with the team's veteran core and re-establish some respect for the managerial post. Yes, many a Chelsea player have publicly backed Mourinho, but no matter what was said behind the scenes, Mourinho's relationship with his players certainly must have been strained by circumstance alone.
His players have struggled to perform and, as a result, Mourinho dropped them from the starting XI. There has been no sign that those struggling stars have improved, either. and being dropped isn't exactly a show of good faith.
Restoring a positive relationship between manager and players will go a long way, and that starts with captain John Terry, within the locker rooms. But what the new boss says away from his team's company is also important.
End the off-field Chelsea drama
Mourinho brings with him a circus everywhere he goes. Love him or hate him, it's part of his charm and, perhaps, part of his management style. But it's a shtick that gets old fast, which is why there are suggestions, based on precedent, that Mourinho burns his teams out in three-year cycles.
The next boss needs to immediately bring back some humility and calmness. No more media press conferences that end with petty headlines, no more excuses or finger-pointing at the team's doctors. It's time for Chelsea to go back to the fundamentals and let its soccer do the talking.
Make a decision on Diego Costa and Eden Hazard
This is both a short and long-term decision. Will Eden Hazard remain the star player of Chelsea? And can Diego Costa be the top striker up top for the Blues?
If the answer is yes, then working with these two struggling stars to find their form again is the biggest mission any new boss has to accomplish. If the answer is no, then finding the right players for the job becomes the key priority.
But keeping these two players in particular in limbo for much longer will only hurt Chelsea, both for this season and the next. A definitive answer is needed.
Change the club's transfer policy
Over the last few years, Chelsea has given up on a few high-quality players that would have served the club well at the moment. Everton forward Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne are two of the more prominent examples.
At the moment, Chelsea has 33 players out on loan. That's a tremendous amount of talent dispersed around the world. Some of those players have the potential to play for the club, but most are being developed and then sold at a profit.
It's not an unorthodox system, but it hasn't worked for Chelsea. It took the Blues three separate transactions to finally secure Nemanja Matic, after all. Showing some faith in the players this team already owns could pay off better in the long term than selling them off would.
Build with a vision, not just a goal
Simply put, there has been too much turnover at Chelsea over the last 10 years. Mourinho's dismissal marks the 10th time that owner Roman Abramovich has to appoint a new boss since he purchased the club in 2003.
But the turnover is a symptom of a bigger problem: Chelsea sets goals without a vision. Abramovich dreams of a Champions League title and that goal is eventually accomplished, but the model remains unsustainable. It's why Chelsea, the champion of England last season, now sits precariously close to relegation.
Build with a plan. Build for the long term. It has worked tremendously for the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and it requires suffering, vision, consistency, (a bit of cash), and, above all, faith. If done right, that faith will be repaid in glory tenfold.