When i was younger, on FM i used to take charge of Chelsea or Man City and deliberately overspend on terrible players to see just how bad I could make the club when i left. This current Chelsea team is presently performing way worse than any of my attempts at intentionally tanking the club.

You think Man Utd are bad and then you look at Chelsea and it's a whole other level of terrible

To spend over a billion pounds to get worse is actually quite impressive in a weird/peverted kind of way. It's phenomenal how Chelsea have been able to achieve so little with so many resources 😂😂

I was wondering when Alfie would do a video on Chelsea. It's truly impressive how badly they've done and just how poorly their recruitment has seemingly been.

I remember on FM16 seeing Chelsea get relegated by 2031 and thinking that was the craziest and most unrealistic thing id seen on the game. Turns out it could actually happen if they keep on like this.

The worst thing is we're not in a transitional period. The rebuild is pretty much complete and pretty much every player we have is worse than the previous squad. The recruitment has been absolutely crazy. The whole squad has at most 2 experienced players who are fit in Silva and Sterling

For me, the biggest red flags came in the club's investment in the goalkeeping department. We let go of two decent but not elite goalkeepers in Mendy and Kepa, and downgraded to the 3rd choice keeper for Brighton and an anonymous MLS keeper for a total of 50 million euros. If we compare them to Onana, Pope, Pickford, Ederson, Alisson, Vicario, Raya, and Ramsdale, it makes me sad to say that we might never see them play champions league football for the next 3 seasons.

Being a Sporting CP fan and hearing about Chelsea's interest in our top striker Gyokeres, I can easily believe that even if they go for the 100M clause, the player wouldn't be that excited to join them

I remember I wrote a post on Reddit or Twitter or something like that during last season. Claiming we were one of the worst ever Premier League sides. No, we did not finish with 11 points, like Derby. But in terms of expectations, money spent, quality of the squad etc. we really were awful. But I got scrutinized on that post. Not a single person had some sort of agreement with me. Well look at us now. More money spent, not gotten any better. We really are a joke. It’s in times like this I kinda regret being so emotionally invested in Chelsea. They really take a toll on my everyday life. Great video as well, Alfie.

Even as a Chelsea fan I can admit that we are a horror show right now. The way it’s going we will be fighting for relegation if we’re not careful. You know something is wrong when fans are celebrating Everton’s point loss because they would’ve been ahead of us otherwise

It's funny that you say "deluded Chelsea fans" would've been expecting a similar turnaround to 16-17 this season when (in my experience) that's what 99% of other fans were telling themselves this summer & it was the Chelsea fans trying to assure everyone that no, we are that bad, this ownership is that clueless, and we won't be getting significantly better anytime soon. It shows what a remarkable legacy Abramovich left behind, a fear factor that lingered against all rational explanation - NEVER underestimate Chelsea. Perhaps the most insane thing this ownership have done which set the tone right from the beginning was takeover one of the most stable clubs in world football (which might as well be a unicorn for a club actively up for sale) & thought to themselves "yeah this needs total revolution". Board members, directors, the manager, the squad, scouts, physios, kit man, dinner ladies, all of it needs replacing within the next 12 months! It's not like the club over the past 25 years didn't have this cerebral mentality of continuously winning despite themselves, nah we need to rip that stupidity out root & stem. Truly unbelievable to me. The really scary thing is I do believe this owners care, they are Roman's spiritual successors, they're just that woefully incompetent.

Honestly could see Chelsea fighting a relegation battle in the next 3 seasons, current ownership have no idea how to run a club.

The list of "could have bought" players at 7:19 is incredible. To think what the Chelsea First XI could have looked like and where they might be instead... not to mention having over 400 million still to spend... mindblowing

Abramovich leaving was the beginning of the end. Firing tuchel was the final nail in the coffin

When it comes to spending money for a football team, it’s not how much you spend, it’s how smart you spend. Chelsea spend money for the sake of it with no plan. Also I think Reece James will be one of those players to retire at a young age, as he’s far too injury prone for a long career.

0:29 Imagine how much Chelsea's next owner will spend,maybe around 5 billion in the first period of transfers. 😂😂😂

Alfie, a bit curious but a video about Lebanon's struggling situation with football is needed. Despite football being the most played sport in every West Asian nations, this doesn't seem to be the case of Lebanon. In fact, Lebanon may have one of the worst football development record in West Asia, their U17 and U23 teams have never been to an U17 or U23 Asian Cups, while the U20 have only qualified twice for the U20 Asian Cup. Simultaneously, Lebanon has performed very poor in Asian Cup for senior nations. This is even more shocking when, by the irony, Lebanon has the oldest continuing football league in Asia, the Lebanese Premier League, which has been running since 1932 and even far older than the more successful J.League or K-League.

Trust me I am under no illusions about how bad Chelsea are

Remember when Chelsea first started giving out long contracts and everyone said it was ridiculous and risky and Chelsea fans said everyone was just mad because their genius owners had found a way around FFP? Good times.

Correct me if Im wrong, but I believe Chelsea were objectively the most successful English club during Roman's tenure at the club. They literally just won the champion's league, and he was immediately forced out of the club. Having such a drastic organizational and cultural change forced upon the club so suddenly is obviously going to destroy it without a miracle. The money is a bandaid. PS: the fact that Roman had to go, but City and Newcastle are fine is a sick joke. I guess the rivals don't have to worry about Chelsea anymore. Congratulations, you won.

Everton: "Watch, we're gonna blow 500M pounds over 3-4 years and have absolutely nothing to show for it." Chelsea: "Hold my beer."

"And Saudi Arabian Town squares its all about execution" I think I just pissed myself

Chelsea fan here, I oddly like the chaos as I get to experience the thrills of surviving relegation (hopefully). In all seriousness, I think or rather hope, Boehly and Co. realize reckless spending on young potential is not the answer to points. Even pre-Abramovich Chelsea between 96/97 and 02/03 finished in the top4 3 times and 4 other times in the top 6 with a couple of cup victories and runner up medals because those were teams built on experienced players (Zola, LaBeouf, DiMateo, Vialli, Flo, Hasselbaink). The 98/99 team especially had a thrilling season in a 3 way race for the title with ManU and Arsenal finishing 4 points off the top. Regardless of how much they would actually improve the team, I’d much rather have Giroud, Kova, RLC, and Pulisic (when healthy) back on the team, guys that would make that extra run and give you their all. And despite the low output, I also saw Felix put in actual effort. Chelsea will get it right eventually, but strap in boys, it may take a couple of seasons.

I'm still desperate to see you making this video about Santos FC, the club that brought the football icons like Pele and Neymar who were recently being relegated for the first time in 111 years of the club's history.

The two red flags for Chelsea for me are: a) signing Cucurella, who I was never convinced about even when he was at Brighton and b) persisting with a club captain who is made of glass. One of the best players I’ve seen play for Wigan, and has the potential to be an all time RB, but he has so many injuries how he can possibly be club captain is a mystery

The only tiny glimmer of joy from Chelsea's 04 takeover was the fact that Damien Duff got medals, Irish legend

I think they could do a Leeds in a few years. I’ve never seen a club run so haphazardly

who could’ve thought a team captained by a different person every week with a 39 year old center back and no real striker would be heavily struggling in the premier league

Hey Alfie am a huge fan of your football essays. Thank you for being so consistent and informative. I have a question that has been bothering me for a while, Please discuss; Whatever happens when a reserve team plays in the second tier and gets promoted. Is it possible for Barcelona and Barcelona B to play in the same competition or a Ajax and Jong Ajax for instance? What about if Ajax gets relegated, can they play in the same league as their reserve team? What are the rules and aren't there conflicts of interest ?? Thanks for being awesome. Love from Kenya

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the teams that spend recklessly/over the top for players do end up having the same fate. Sure, they may get lucky. But owners can get bored and those who do so often get bored with the projects. Some delay that inevitable downfall better than others. And the clubs who have had to constantly replace personnel not on their terms end up being better off only in that they've had to learn to really build toward what matters and knowing what they actually wanted or needed in markets and communities where theoretically many, many players, scouts, managers, etc.. could fill those roles. I'm the Chelsea supporter who lost motivation to support them once I got a glimpse of what Boehly and company were doing. I figured I'll wait for them to fall down the English football ladder so that things wouldn't be as pretentious there.

Trust me we know, so many bad decisions in terms of recruitment already it's unbelievable; weakening our goalkeeper position somehow, no good left back, a right back that can't stay fit, no creativity in midfield, striker that can't score & I could go on...

In terms of points per game, chelsea have actually improved marginally, and they have done a decent job of trimming the wage bill. I think the issue is of course the recruitment, 1. signing players who have poor injury records, 2. signing players based on potential, which may not be realised. Signing young players with potential is a perfectly good strategy, just not when such inflated fees are being payed

Had to put a like in after your observation about football, high end restaurants and Saudi town squares. Absolutely brilliant!

Can we have just a few more of those visual puns pls Alfie. I really enjoyed "on balance" this time bug you missed "Bayern Large" and of course a couple of Dennis Wise. Cheers!

If I were the Premier League, I would be quite insulted by the assumption of Chelsea's new owners that there would be financial rather than sporting sanctions, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have a points deduction.

From winning the international cup treble (ucl, supercup and club world cup) and constant top 4 finishes plus in the 21-22 they finished 3rd with a ten plus lead. To now being in the bottom ten after spending more than £1 billion

The funny thing is Newcastle have done the complete opposite and have taken their place in Europe

This is the video that I have been waiting for so long. For me as a Chelsea fan it is often very frustrating how other Chelsea fans and especially Chelsea KZfaqrs view the current situation. They have so many excuses why it is not Bohleys fault instead of just agreeing on the fact that Bohley is a really bad owner. Cheers

My brain had completely wiped Crespo being at Chelsea. Huh.

That line at 19:15... "Just like in high end Resturants, or Saudi Arabian town squares it's all about execution" Jesus christ man, brutal.

As i said before about the club i follow, Manchester Utd. You cant just buy players are good, you need to see if they will work in the system. Though when the club doesn't have a clear vision on how to play and where manages get sacked ebery 1 - 3 years you will start getting different type of players from different coaches over the years who have different vision of playing.

As a Chelsea fan I’ve hated the new ownership since the day they sacked Tuchel. Clueless overspending on players in the first window with players like Wesley Fofana who was a known injury risk and Cucurella who was average at best to anyone who watched Brighton. Putting faith in an inexperienced Potter at a big club and then making him work with an oversized group of 30+ players! Like his job wasn’t hard enough ffs. And then in summer even with a proper manager & sporting directors appointed we sign an unproven centre forward which felt like a massive gamble but the recruitment genius’s Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart thought it was one worth taking and just disregard Lukaku with his 100+ PL goals. On the positive side we have a good bunch of players that I believe will gel together and we will turn in to a serious team eventually.

I will never tire of the "What's more" Watmore gag

What an excellent and data driven video. Bravo brother

I don’t think football will ever shake away the system of rich club dominance. but I do think the dynamic is shifting towards clubs creating smart management and player portfolios with that money. The money can put you in Europe without any effort: but it’s up to the actual management to maintain that position or you will slip just as easily

I keep hearing and I heard it on Radio 4, that Chelsea "have a billionaire owner". They do not. They have two rich minority owners and are owned mostly by a private equity fund Clearlake. These PE companies are ruthless and do not give soft loans like Roman did to a football club. That money is hard debt and before the PE exit Chelsea in 7 years time (as PE does with a handsome profit) they will want that money back. The fact is the future is bleak for Chelsea. As a supporter since 1978, I would rather than a local business man with shallow pockets brought Chelsea and that they just bumped along with the second tier London Clubs. This ownership could destroy the club with debt.

Great video as always, Alfie I was wondering if you could do a video about Real Madrid, on basically anything Thanks and keep up with the work ^^

If nothing else, I'm really happy to see the two players that binned off Liverpool for Chelsea rue their decision. It's easy to forget how many people thought that this double gazump on Liverpool had many people thinking Liverpool would be in big trouble this season.

I remember when Chelsea fans were laughing at us Liverpool fans and constantly trolling us after Chelsea snatched Caicedo and Lavia from Liverpool. Fast forward to now, Liverpool are in the top 4 (1st at the moment, but I don't think this will last) and Chelsea are 11th. Looks like we got the last laugh in the end. (still doesn't change the fact that we still need to find a proper No. 6)

Spent so much on defensive midfielders to block Liverpool and they don’t even have a striker

Sculpted out of poppadoms is my new favourite phrase

26:22 I swear Luke Steele is retired now, do you not mean Jason Steele?

that town square joke was out of pocket 😂😂😂

Can we please have a video about Maltese Football? Thank You & Happy New Year

Alfie please do a video on Nigeria, why is the squad underperforming and can't score goals, despite having so much good and excellent attacking players, what exactly is the problem with the squad

19:10 that line literally made me spit out my coffee

A second video highlighting Chelsea's shortcomings in a short space of time from this channel. Thank you for a lovely Christmas present!

Makes me laugh how for the past 5 seasons our main issue has been strikers (goal scorers) and the only addition we've made is a striker who we knew can't score

Love your work, Alfie! Keep it up! Cheers from Brazil!

I'm a Preston fan and we've got them in the FA Cup in January so hope this slump continues!

Top 7 worst title defences would be a good video

It's hilarious, it's a tragedy and yes Chelsea have spent more money than some countries GDP however, this level of fluctuation from top to bottom is unprecedented. Sure teams have spent poorly in the past and lost managers but very rarely does the ownership, backroom staff and playing staff all change in the space of a few months. It's easy to laugh from the outside looking in however, if any person had faced the same conditions, along with moving to a new country altogether, it would be difficult to perform at your optimum best. I still remember when Chelsea signed Pedro ahead of Man United and they revelled in his poor performances, as well as "dodged a bullet" they said. He looked a shadow of his former self, however in the season that followed he became one of best performers. An experienced 28/29 year old who came from arguably the most demanding and accomplished Barca team in recent years, yet still failed dismally in his first season of EPL. That's just one player at the time taking a while to adapt....now imagine an entirely overhauled squad, new to the country/culture/customs, unfamiliar with each other and majority in their early twenties. That's cluster f*ck of note! Sadly the best thing this team is a fully fit squad and TIME! Recency bias blinds our need for time. Keep Poch, give him another year. As bad as he seems, he has been he still understands the clubs values and need to still integrate the academy. Gilchrist, Castledine and Golding would not make their debuts under any other coaches. Whoever we get will insist on his own players and scrap this crop ala Mourinho then the process starts again. Just give Poch and this team another season.

More HITC 7s dunking on Chelsea 😂

Fun fact: 90% of the star led projects, are given up on when they're on the verge of starting to perform as expected

Such a well made vid!!!

Abramovich was a type of sensible autocrat when he governed Chelsea. He was ruthless and distrustful of managers but he knew to make the good of club first. Sadly the moment his link with Putin was found, it was the beginning of the end. Dude should have abandoned Putin if possible.

Alfie, I'm not sure if if I've said this to you before but you have the cadence of Ringo Starr narrating Thomas the Tank engine.

Zola' Vialli, Flo, Desailly, De Matteo, Leboeuf, Terry, Lampard' Drogba' Essien, Poyet, Hazard etc it must be said that Chelsea haven't had a shortage of memorable players down the years

no way we have the second highest wage bill in the league, Im saying its at least 5th only ahead of spurs in the top 6. We did a real clear out last summer of players on high wages to bring in players on smaller one. For example koulibaly sold was on 300k and we brought in disease how is on less then 100k and there are many more examples

Watching this and Chelsea’s strategy sounds like my FIFA career mode strategy… buy them young with potential, grow them and sell them for 10fold! Think he’s been playing too much FIFA

I agree. They've managed to make almost every opponent of theirs look good this season, even when they were winning games. No cohesion whatsoever, many players appear to be playing with the knowledge that they'll be discarded soon when FFP bites. No progress from game to game, it's 1 win followed by 3-4 bad matches. Then you have a coach who somehow appears to believe he needs more transfer windows and spending instead of using the 100+ players already at his disposal.

Good managers with sound systems of coaching make some players look better than they actually are. Example Cocarella at Brighton had a hot season , but illness and family issues seem to have reduced him to very average. Like several ex Brighton players he’s seems lost without a system and guidance from the manager. In the past clubs spending big had to balance the hot season v long term performance.

Also they changed the way they played from counter attacking to build up.....while most of those players havent used that system......its a hard thing to do.Theyll be ok if they bring in 3-4 more players

It’s not how much you spend, but HOW you spend it. So many of the big clubs are highlighting that right now

can you do a video on players with the most similiar careers?

U did an amazing job. This made me laugh so hard. It was on point and so very funny. Well done. And yes chlesea do look bad but the future does look good.

You have to actually buy the right players, spending on any old hype shows the problems with Chelsea.

It's a fun rollercoaster being a Chelsea fan. Always has been. You are bloody good, Alfie, keep the boot in. We're not allowed to chuck celery on the pitch these days. We'll be back, who knows when.

Alfie's videos are my highest quality tier. Which means I hold off watching them until I'm properly baked. Only the best gets that treatment 😉🔥🥦

For the season they finished 4th, Newcastle spent not much more than West Ham and Nottingham Forest. The main reason they did so well was Eddie Howe, half their team was relegation level ffs. And the half season they had with him, they rose from 19th to 11th with only two new players of note.

It’s a combinations of multitude of things. Careless spending with no planning, lack of structural stability (NO football club in the world had two guys being the head of sporting director and yet here we are), hiring yes man as the manager just to name a few. Chelsea under Roman wasn’t a stable footballing entity to begin with, but the results were there. Simply put, if Chelsea under Roman were operating under one leg, Chelsea under Boehly cut off the last leg that Chelsea were standing on and even chopping off both of the arms therefore making Chelsea limbless rn. And also, the fact that we all know by now that they’re only there for the money and we can’t force them to sell the club for the next 8 years means that it’s going to be a disastrous ride under this ownerships and this is only the beginning

Hahah man I forgot about Kezman. That guy looked like he sold tainted X at raves.

As a Chelsea fan, and before watching this video, I just want to say: we are shite

If ever there was an example of throwing money at a problem.

I’m a Chelsea fan. I bet on us to finish bottom half last season and have again this season. The squad building is poor and the club is terribly run. It’s embarrassing.

As a Fulham fan, the downfall of Chelsea is glorious to watch (even if we did end up losing to them).

It’s so strange because the Dodgers are known for their use of analytics in addition to their huge spending. You’d think Boehly would have learned a thing or two from their success

The transfer market can be divided into strata by age. In general, we have under-18, 18-21, developing first team players 21-26, players at their peak 26-32, players past their peak 32+. Obviously the age ranges are less rigid with players either developing earlier or staying at peak performance past 32. At any time, different ages groups offer value (not the same as price) and others not. Chelsea invested heavily in one of these age groups - developing first team players. It seems that this part of the transfer market does not offer value. It is better currently to either invest in younger players or established players in their prime despite the slightly higher price tags.

The James/poppadum description was priceless!

Spending More to become worse. This is legendary 🎉

could they use their other clubs (strasbourg for example) to not only stash players, but even potentially "buy' their cast-offs to balance the books?

It ain´t about spending money, its how well you spend it. In Man United´s case, they lack the propre structure to spend that money, things might change with Sir Jim with a decent CEO and Director of Football.

Little did we know that when Drogba was screaming "THIS IS A DISGRACE" at camer he was talking about 2023 Chelsea

Glad to see someone calling out how bad these new owners strategy is. People like me and Johnny Minerals have been calling this out but glad to see others see it now.

it just shows how important having a clinical striker is. Drogba, Costa we’re in a different class then the likes of Jackson and Werner. not to mention Hazard is the greatest player in premier league history and they’ve yet to come near replacing him

Brighton are magicians, making their players look like world beaters & pulling Chelseas pants down & banking a kings ransome for some bang average talent. Chelsea never seem to learn, once bitten, twice shy? 😊Lol.

The management have said that they are buying young players for the future, 2030 to be precise. Most of the players haven’t played in the Premier league before and so are taking time to settle down. Give it the time it needs and Chelsea will be back to winning titles.

as a chelsea fan we are a horror show, todd boeley does NOT know how to fun a football club, he has single handedly fucked up our club

I strongly disagree with the point. Even though the good comparisons with the beginning of the Abramovic era provided, the conclusions went in all another direction. 1. It took the Russian some time to figure the things out. The wrong hiring decisions still followed him till the last day. 2. Boehly has much less clue about football, so it may take him even longer to succeed. 3. The competition in EPL was nothing like it is today. 4. Everyone reminds about that 1 billion euros, not everyone remembers how many of those are actually available for the game. I mean, mostly Pochettino has only one out of 4 fullbacks available at the time. Nkunku debuted yesterday and Lavia still didn’t. The blues may have the strongest squad in the world, but only potentially, not at the moment. Still they need more experience and quality right now to realize that potential. I believe Osimhen may be a game changer.

One Luke Steele is a musician, and the other is a manager. I'm sure you mean Jason Steele