Maresca knew exactly what Chelsea was when he joined. He accepted the chaos, but no serious manager prefers limited control over being the main decision maker. He tolerated it, not embraced it.

He delivered results quickly. Conference League. Club World Cup. Then he changed his agent. That move screams ambition. Not necessarily a desire to leave immediately, but readiness to move if a better situation appears. Chelsea could have rewarded that success with more authority. They didn’t. That likely explains the frustration and the “worst 48 hours” comments.

Then Ornstein drops the Man City link. Maresca and Pep are very close. If Pep is planning an exit and wants Maresca as his successor, there is zero chance Maresca turns that down. City offers status, stability, and CONTROL. Things that Chelsea don’t give you.

The problem is the contract. Chelsea won’t release him easily. So what do managers do in this situation? They force the issue. Create pressure, make separation inevitable

Timing matters. If he did this at the season’s end it’ll look obvious. Do it now, step away for a few months, and by summer the narrative resets. Fans forget. Media moves on. He arrives at City “fresh,” not “poached.” That’s how the game is played.

Chelsea didn’t betray him. They acted exactly like Chelsea. The real issue is the structure. No stable core. Limited managerial power. Any young manager who succeeds here will eventually look elsewhere when a club offering control comes calling.

So I don’t blame Maresca. This is the consequence of how the club is run. If Chelsea want to stop this cycle, they need to make the job worth staying in.

(Via Vince on X)

Ooh. ... Wait till you see "Mate" walking in 😁. You just don't know our SD....

I wouldn't even be surprised if Southgate "brings vast amounts of experience locally and internationally from North to South"

Crazy times.

Given how the club is run, Chelsea has basically become a stepping stone for managers.

A manager comes in, overachieves with a young and inexperienced squad, boosts his CV, then moves on to a better job where he has real control.

We saw it with Pochettino. We’re watching it happen again with Maresca.

If nothing changes at the top, this cycle will never end.

It’s jarring.

Just a month ago we beat Barcelona

Played with ten men against Arsenal and drew

Maresca won November manager of the month and we are here

As Chelsea fans we are used to managers changing but it likely wasn't the plan under the “project” to keep having to change.

Maresca can see that the best he can hope for at Chelsea is top 4 and a Carabao cup. I don't think world class players will stand for this nonsense either especially with the low wages we're paying. Wouldn't be surprised if they handed in transfer requests come the end of the season.

Enzo Fernandez will now have six managers in three years at Chelsea, embarrassing!

❗️Signings at Chelsea since Maresca took charge:

Tosin
Kellyman
Estevao
Kellyman
Guiu
Dewsbury-Hall
Veiga
Caleb Wiley
Jorgensen
Anselmino
Pedro Neto
Joao Felix
Mike Penders
Sancho
Delap
Essugo
Gittens
Hato
Joao Pedro
Paez
Sarr
Buonanotte

1.74 - Under Enzo Maresca, Chelsea averaged 1.74 points-per-game in the Premier League. Among managers with 30+ league games in charge of the club in the 21st century, only Frank Lampard (1.52) and Mauricio Pochettino (1.66) have a lower rate. Departing.

Enzo Maresca's 'worst 48 hours' comments were to do with the medical advice he was receiving over how many minutes certain players returning from injury could play. There was some surprise inside #Chelsea when Maresca was ignoring said advice.

[via Kieran Gill]

🚨🔵 Maresca believed the pressure on him was unfair given what he felt were difficult working conditions, and that a line had been crossed in terms of attempts to influence his team selection.

While he was not angry about overseeing a young squad, he felt supporters' expectations needed to be managed regarding what was achievable - especially given key injuries to Colwill and attacker Cole Palmer.

(Nizaar Kinsella) #CFC

🚨 A Chelsea move for Rosenior will also depend on the quality of replacement Strasbourg can find for the 41-year-old. Eric Ramsay, the manager of Minnesota United, is under consideration.

Via Guardian

Now they’ll try to flip the story and claim Maresca caused problems behind the scenes to force a move .
If Maresca leaves Chelsea, it won’t be failure, it’ll be another project the club refused to protect.
Never trust the media.

So its

Tosin - bum
Kellyman - C team
Estevao - potential
Guiu - potential
Dewsbury-Hall - ok, gone
Veiga - potential, gone
Caleb Wiley - C team
Jorgensen - bum
Anselmino - potential
Pedro Neto - ok
Joao Felix - bum, gone
Mike Penders - potential
Sancho - bum, gone
Delap - bum
Essugo - potential
Gittens - bum
Hato - probably bum
Joao Pedro - ok
Paez - bum
Sarr- potential
Buonanotte - bum
Garnacho - ok

3 ok players and 5 maybes from more than 20 transfers and a billion spent in the last 3 windows,

You can't make this up, they've bought him absolutely nothing while other top clubs get Cherki we get nothing but 007 agents.

If we had Bohley spending 2 billion instead of Egbahli we'd be champions league favourites right now

Which Manager does this in the middle of the season??

This is clearly a hit piece against Maresca by the owners. Why are they telling us now?

These useless SDs do this after every sacking its routine at this point, trying to make it seem like they don't have a negative IQ.

Ornstien, Romano, Matt Law, Simon Johnson all of them post whatever the club tells them. You should know at this point.

FireSide

#Chaos

There are so many statements being put out that it's difficult taking sides currently.

The thing is, I personally hoped Maresca would adjust some of his stubborn tactics but he stuck to his balls, and his balls have now been crashed and aired publicly.

I was also hoping the board would give him better players but they didn't.

At strasbourg, they have done some whacky chop and change with the line up and recruitment with Rosenior. You'd say almost to some stupid levels of perfection.

So I am fully expecting him to take over and survive through the bull shit of our boards' micro management and shitty recruitment policy.

But we must accept going from Relegating Hull cIty to managing a club of our stature is quite a jump.

But what have we become anyway?

Maybe it's time we embrace the shitty club we have become and have our peace.