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Which is the right word to use now – ‘panic’ or ‘transition’? I’m sure Roman would have thought of the collateral damage of sacking Jose. In a time where we will be quite happy to cling on to a top 4 finish, Drogba has publicly stated that he wants to leave Chelsea. He just signed a 4-year contract last season. Though Chelsea FC has said that Drogba, as a professional, is expected to see out his contract. Professional contract is one thing and the willingness, hunger and desire to perform is another.

Players wanting to leave their club is as common as Robinson’s screwed parries. The words that Drogba has uttered on why he wants to leave Chelsea is what is worrisome. Clearly, he does not have the desire and he wants Roman and Avram to know that. He does not want to score 30+ goals only to see Avram/Roman seeing their point proven. Simply, he does not want to contribute to combined forces of Roman and Avram.

The sole reason for Drogba’s outburst has been the way Jose and his departure were handled. Drogba also claims that Jose called him over the phone to convey the news of his leaving and told him the precise reason why he was sacked. Drogba would not share that though.

We now know exactly what happened and also who caused Jose’s departure. During the days that immediately followed I found it hard to look certain players in the eye without getting angry. When you give your backing to a coach [as the Chelsea board did at the end of last season], you have to then give him until December unless there is a major crisis. But it seems that Abramovich has since altered his philosophy.

Certain things were done that went against everything that this group had stood for before. I can understand that some players wanted to see the coach get sacked because they hoped to play a little more under a new manager. But some of the behaviour in this case went well beyond the classic scenario. Things went much too far. It is perhaps too strong to talk of treasons, but these were real human deceptions. And I can now understand much better why the coach, who was very close to many of his players, told us when he left, ‘I want you to know that I am very happy to be leaving this place’.

‘Some players wanted to see the coach sacked’ – He is talking about his own colleague that he would be training and playing with. It’s not difficult to guess who these players are. Having said such a statement, I don’t see how he can work with them any more with co-operation.

The bottomline from Drogba is this:

I want to leave Chelsea. Something is broken with Chelsea. The damage is big in the dressing room. I know that Ronaldinho and Kaka are linked to come next season but even that won’t change my mind.

That says it all. He is paid big money. He is a big star in England and Europe. He is a darling of the fans. He is always sure to start when he is fit. He has some high profile, high quality colleagues and could have even bigger players around him. He still wants to leave. I’m not surprised. There is always this thing called job satisfaction which is a product of various things including respect, freedom, justice etc.

Roman wanted to sack Jose and that was within his rights, well everything in Chelsea is within his rights. But what he failed to realise or discounted is the fact that there is this ‘people factor’ which is as important as players, coach, money, stadium, academy etc. He should have comforted his players (and may be fans too) by explaining why Jose was sacked and what is the plan B. That way, he could have wiped away players’ disappointment, but atleast they would be looking forward to the future.

Roman has the money to sell all 11 players and get a fresh and equal replacements. But I’m not sure when again the set of 11 players would make us feel that they are a team and have the spirit that Jose’s teams have always showed. Never once under Jose, I had this feeling that our players are in Chelsea just for money.

Also such uncertainties are not really helping our chances to our ‘charge’ to the top 4 finish. If one thing is certain, that is Chelse would gear up for some serious shopping, which if done in January last season, we might have even won the title!

In the last three seasons, Chelsea never faced a crisis. There was no crisis when we lost the champions league semi finals twice and there was no crisis when we could not win the premier league title for a third time in a row. Drogba wants to leave, Malouda is unhappy, Ashley Cole is frustrated, Shevchenko sees no future here, Ballack is unsure of his decision, Carvalho is rocked, Lampard doesn’t want to sign another contract, Terry didn’t sign one until Jose had confirmed of his stay, Clarke looks to leave – whatever happened to the ‘happy family’!

{democracy:77}

[tags]Chelsea, Drogba, Didier Drogba, Jose Mourinho, Roman Abramovich, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Avram Grant[/tags]