PLAYING THE BLUES
Discipline has long been one of the cornerstones of a successful dressing room in England. If John Eustace’s Birmingham City players did not wish the training ground reception staff “good morning” they were issued with a £250 penalty. Steven Gerrard implemented a variety of fines when manager of Aston Villa for players leaving flip-flops in the shower (£50), forgetting to bring a cake for a birthday (£50, Yaya Touré: look away now), leaving plates and cups on the dining table (£100 an item). When Frank Lampard replaced Maurizio Sarri in 2019-20, Lampard immediately introduced a series of internal disciplinary fines for first-team players. Late for training? That’s £20,000, guv. Failure to report knack or illness before a day off? That’s 10 large. Phone rings during a team meeting? One thousand English pounds, thank you very much.
Chelsea have again swapped an Italian for an Englishman and, while we’re not privy to the new disciplinary rules under Liam Rosenior, it turns out that “flirting with hacks over a move to Real Madrid” is not an unpunishable offence. Rosenior has had something of a PR problem since his appointment but for all his over-earnest, High Performance rhetoric in “protecting the culture” with his squad, Rosenior has managed the Enzo Fernández situation rather well. To recap: while on international duty with Argentina, Chelsea’s vice-captain teased that he “didn’t know” if he would be at the club next season (contract expiry 2032) and subtly elaborated: “I really like Madrid – it’s similar to Buenos Aires.” In what was potentially a very sticky situation, Rosenior’s strong reaction – publicly criticising (but not alienating) Fernández and dropping him for two matches – has since earned mostly praise from fans and the media, reasserted clear squad boundaries, and paved the way for both a productive one-to-one chat with Fernández (who was supportive of the team’s 7-0 FA Cup win last weekend) and now a full apology from the World Cup winner.
Fernández’s Mr 15%, former PSG maestro Javier Pastore, has previously been something of a nuisance, claiming Chelsea’s punishment was “completely unfair” and that his client “deserves much more than he’s currently earning”, but even he seems to have been brought back into line. “The media mixed things up and started saying he was going to leave Chelsea – there’s absolutely nothing to it,” he parped, innocently. “We made peace yesterday and the day before that, between Chelsea and the player. There were never really any problems. We cleared the air. We explained to the player that, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, he shouldn’t have said that. He’s only 25. He’s still young; he still has things to learn. We explained to the club that he said it without malice, that he made a mistake. He naturally apologised to the club, his teammates, the coach, the sporting director, and everyone.”
Happy families at Chelsea, then, except that the Blues remain sixth and will be missing Fernández for this weekend’s crunch game with in-form Manchester City. “He won’t play on Sunday, but hopefully after that he’ll be a massive part of the group moving forward,” roared Rosenior on Friday. “There are still a few hurdles that need to be overcome that I won’t go into, but at the same time I want every player really focused now on a huge run.” The first obstacle to a huge run is Pep Guardiola’s side – fresh from beating Arsenal at Wembley and thrashing Liverpool last weekend – with City hoping to dish out the same treatment that PSG administered to Chelsea just a few weeks ago, a result that set the whole situation in motion. Who’s to say what kind of disharmony and disquiet could be created in Rosenior’s side by another home shellacking?
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Thank you for your lovely email. Now go [eff] yourself” – Northern Premier League chairman Mark Harris has been stood down after allegedly sending this abusive reply to an FC United of Manchester fan over its decision to change the venue for an important end-of-season game. “Following a meeting of the board, the Northern Premier League can confirm that [he] has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect, pending a full disciplinary investigation,” read a statement on Friday afternoon.
Sheffield FC invented football (yesterday’s Quote of the Day)? A certain person on the other side of the Atlantic would no doubt dispute that” – Robert Pearce.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Robert Pearce. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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