Andoni Iraola would be mad *not* to accept Chelsea job thanks to BlueCo | OneFootball

The prevailing opinion following the sacking of Liam Rosenior is that no manager worth their salt would go anywhere near Chelsea. Absolute nonsense; it’s the perfect job for Andoni Iraola.

Rosenior was sacked after just 106 days at the helm in a fever dream of LinkedIn language, player disrespect and an alarming downturn in results and performances which made his job ‘untenable’.

He was doomed to fail. It may have been the worst appointment in Premier League history under a set of owners working tirelessly to attain matching status for their stewardship of a top-flight football club.

A four-year disasterclass which started with Champions League-winning Thomas Tuchel at the helm has seen BlueCo stumble from one mistake to the next to turn one of the biggest clubs in Europe into a laughing stock.

As Emmanuel Petit declared while warning fellow former Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas to steer clear of Stamford Bridge amid reports of his success at Como catching BlueCo eyes, “they’re a mess.”

But instead of that being the reason for managers to snub Chelsea advances – as has been widely suggested by fans and pundits alike – it’s precisely because BlueCo have very little idea what they’re doing and have turned a title-winning machine into a failed football experiment that makes Chelsea a hugely attractive proposition for upwardly mobile managers.

Antonio Conte’s return is indeed a ‘crazy idea’, and managers of a similar ilk who require the club to beat to the sound of their drum would need a 427 foot barge pole to touch Chelsea. But for managers (or rather coaches) with credit in the bank yet to experience life at a top-tier football club, like Fabregas but specifically Iraola, the BlueCo project represents an ideal opportunity.

Amid reports claiming Iraola – who’s leaving Bournemouth at the end of the season – is a ‘leading candidate’ for BlueCo this summer, Fabrizio Romano revealed on Sunday that the inclination is mutual.

“Iraola would be more than happy to continue in the Premier League,” Romano said. “Iraola would be keen on the possibility of becoming the new Chelsea manager.”

Of course he would. It’s the freest of free hits. Fail and he’s the latest and best example of an unworkable Chelsea project, and can leave with a very strong reputation built through his work at Rayo Vallecano and Bournemouth still very much intact.

Succeed and he will be hailed as a managerial messiah after miraculously cobbling together a mismatch of young players recruited on a whim with his hands tied behind his back by a set of owners who have already done him the service of ensuring that all blame from the fans at Chelsea will be firmly laid at their door.

For all Chelsea’s problems, he will have some very talented players to work with. If BlueCo had given Enzo Maresca the goalkeeper and centre-back he wanted in the summer, there’s a very good chance we would now be talking about further progress at Stamford Bridge.

After trophies arrived in their droves under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea fans will be sick of being told they’re ‘not far off’, but guys, you’re not far off.

They ripped the European champions apart in the Club World Cup final nine months ago and have just booked their place in yet another Wembley final with a performance of grit, determination and no little quality to show what this group of players are still capable of. Iraola will have watched that display and fancied his chances of getting a serious tune out of this group and the additions to come this summer.

Even without European football and the growing debt, more players will be signed. Chelsea can’t help themselves. And with BlueCo already changing tack by looking to hire a more experienced manager after Rosenior, perhaps a loosening of the age restriction on signings might also arrive following their ‘period of self-reflection’ to gift Iraola more much-needed leadership in the dressing room. They might even ask him who he wants.

Far from being a job he should avoid, Chelsea is a golden opportunity Iraola would be mad to turn down.