What will happen at Chelsea if they fail to qualify for the Champions League?
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Published 26/02/2018 at 15:14 GMT
With Antonio Conte admitting Champions League qualification may be off-limits, Dan Levene looks at the summer consequences of that for him and for Chelsea.
Chelsea Manager, Antonio Conte looks on during a Chelsea FC Press Conference ahead of their Champions League last 16 match against FC Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on February 19, 2018 in London, England.
Image credit: Getty Images
It is a bold Chelsea manager who admits his side may not qualify for the Champions League.
The admission, or the merest hint of it transpiring, has done for a series of Blues bosses: from Luis Felipe Scolari, to Andre Villas-Boas, to Roberto Di Matteo, to Jose Mourinho.
(Mourinho, bless him, blamed Guus Hiddink's later exit from the Champions League for the side's failure to qualify for it – rather than the awful results that saw Chelsea among relegation battlers before Christmas).
And now, with Conte's men sitting in fifth place, that hard truth has been put out there: 'a possibility' in his words, at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Given that 'possibility' is a logical fact at the start of every season; and that Chelsea are presently only two points off fourth place; is this all a bit too alarmist an outcome to consider?
Well, it would be,were it not for the precedent set in dealing with previous managers.
Roman Abramovich won't have to order a whip-'round without Champions League cash.
But a club that is already greatly reigning-in transfer spending will have to cut its cloth accordingly, were it not there.
And that brings with it the fear of a spiral of decline, which could have a longer impact on the club.
All of which explains why Abramovich has been so quick to react once this risk has begun to look realistic in the past.
Plus there is the more short-tern impact that such a failure to qualify would have on the club's summer plans.
Fifth place, or an FA Cup win, would mean direct access to the Europa League group stages.
Sixth place, presently occupied by Arsenal (eight points behind with a game in hand), would see Chelsea's first qualifier take place on 26 July.
That would surely have an impact on their long-planned and lucrative friendly away at the new stadium of Australian side Perth Glory, three days earlier.
And word of a summer tour stopping off at Dublin, Warsaw and Stockholm would also be subject to a rethink.
These games offer not only commercial benefit (i.e. cash for players), but also an opportunity for the squad to be whipped into shape for the coming campaign.
All that considered, the immediate worry is the coming fixture list.
Having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Manchester's distant second-best side, Conte's Blues now have a trip to the city's champions elect in the next game.
There are only 10 days between that, and the Champions League second leg in Barcelona – a span which could all but see the end of both Chelsea's competitive season, and its manager's active employment.
It seems highly unlikely we will see any move for regime change before then.
But Conte's days are clearly numbered: and the only real question is whether or not the Stamford Bridge HR department will have to start drafting contacts for yet another 'interim', or whether he will be allowed to see out the season.
There are circumstances under which winning the FA Cup game at Leicester City could, suddenly, become a lot more important than it might seem from this vantage point.
Of course, the last two occasions on which Chelsea failed to make the top four culminated in minor miracles that are the stuff of legend within the club.
Those being its two most against-the-odds trophy wins: the 2012 Champions League and 2017 Premier League.
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Roberto Di Matteo interim manager of Chelsea lifts the trophy in celebration after their victory in the UEFA Champions League Final between FC Bayern Muenchen and Chelsea at the Fussball Arena München on May 19, 2012 in Munich, Germany.
Image credit: Getty Images
The cycle may be beginning to tire, for those who have watched it over the course of the last 15 years.
But all will be aware this is far from the first time the curtain's threatened drop on Chelsea's top-club status has looked imminent. And it will likely be far from the last, too.
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