A mere eight days after the first managerial sacking of the season, a second has succumbed to the weight of expectation.
Chelsea Football Club have sacked Thomas Tuchel.
The club website has this statement:
*Chelsea Football Club has today parted company with Head Coach Thomas Tuchel.
On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the Club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the Club. Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea’s history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup and Club World Cup in his time here.
As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the Club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition.
Chelsea’s coaching staff will take charge of the team for training and the preparation of our upcoming matches as the Club moves swiftly to appoint a new head coach.
There will be no further comment until a new head coach appointment is made.*
I had Tuchel as a manager at risk after Bournemouth sacked Scott Parker but, in reality, did not expect a manager who has won three trophies in a twenty month tenure to be the next out the door - especially when taking into account the £255 million spent during the transfer window, which only closed a few days ago.
As sackings go this is a difficult one to work out. The club's new owners mention this being a hundred days since they took control which may sound a bit random to some but makes more sense when we consider co-owner Todd Boehly being American and, certainly in US politics, the hundred day mark has become a significant marker for achievment and laying out a vision of the way forward.
However, sacking a manager who has been succesful and who you have allowed to buy eight new players smacks less of a forward vision and more of desperstely seeking an excuse to dole out instead of telling the truth.
What that truth is we are unlikely to find out any time soon, though reoorts of a breakdown between Tuchel and the squad, and also Tuchel and the Boardroom would provide a better explanation.
In terms of Chelsea's recent form they, like a lot of teams, have had a patchy start. Three wins, two draws, and a loss in the EPL, and a narrow 0-1 loss away in the Champions League is not stellar, but good enough for sixth in the developing table, and with another five CL matches to come, no need to panic there.
But, panic there has been.
A new manager is now going to be expected to manage a team they can't alter. They have to bed in eight players purchased for another managers vision of the way forward.
Current reporting says Chelsea have been given permission by Brighton and Hove Albion to speak with their manager Graham Potter. Will he want to jump ship and move to a team below his current one, and outside the Champions League places?
Probably. The resources available to him will be considerable.
As a side note, seeing an English manager being first choice for a top EPL club is a good thing.
So, six games into the 2022/23 season and already ten percent of managers have been sacked.
Who's next?
Brendan Rodgers and David Moyes have to be the top two choices. Steven Gerard is surely only a smidgen behind them. Then it is likely that the man Tuchel replaced at Chelsea, Frank Lampard, must also be under scrutiny despite a fine game in the Mersyside derby.
Time will tell.