Chelsea fans turn on Todd Boehly as players left ‘devastated’ – pundit
Chelsea fans have begun to turn on Todd Boehly as the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino left players disappointed.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson explained that the decision to sack the boss has caused fans to lose faith and trust in the club’s ownership.
Chelsea’s post-Christmas form saw them win 18 of their 29 games before the end of the season, including each of their final five, finishing sixth and securing a place in the Europa Conference League.
This inspired hope that the manager would be kept on to continue his work and progress with the squad, with the players also keen to continue working with him.
Football Insider reported that the race to replace Pochettino has now come down to a two-horse race between Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna and Leicester’s Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea fans and players unhappy with Mauricio Pochettino sacking
Given the turnaround in form under Pochettino, many had expected him to remain in the job, and Bohely’s decision was met with anger from both within and outside the club.
With the search for the manager’s replacement underway, Robinson insisted Boehly has already messed up the club’s progress, with uncertainty returning to Stamford Bridge.
“If they’d have sacked him halfway through the season, a lot of fans wanted him gone and a lot of them would have understood that,” he told Football Insider.
“As soon as things started going right, they said ‘Let’s mess it up and sack the manager’.
“I think you can see in the social media activity after from players, the relationship they had with Pochettino.
“The players respected him, wanted to work with him, and are disappointed, in some cases devastated, that he’s left.
“He’s built that rapport up with the dressing room he had at Chelsea and he could finally get a tune out of that team, to finish with a European place was almost unthinkable.
“Todd Boehly and the Chelsea ownership are losing the fanbase and losing the faith of the fanbase.
“You’ll lose the faith and lose the trust of supporters and that’s what they’ve done. All of a sudden it just looks uncertain again.”
In other news, four first-XI players are set to be sold immediately at Chelsea.
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