What Went Wrong at Chelsea (Part 2)?

Why did Chelsea football club go from runaway English Premier League champions to relegation candidates within 16 games in 2015?

Here was a collapse that no one foresaw.  In 2014-15, Chelsea won the English championship by eight points having lost just 3 games over a 38-game season.  But 16 games into the 2015-16 season Chelsea were only one point above the relegation zone, having already lost 9 games.  Experienced commentators said they’d never seen anything like it before in professional football.  So what happened?  This three-part post explores the possible system story behind the club’s on-field collapse which led to Jose Mourinho’s sacking … and what leaders can learn from it.

Yesterday I posted part 1 and defined both a system and a system story.  Part 2, in which I tell the Chelsea system story, follows today.  Tomorrow in part 3 we’ll analyse the story to see what leaders can learn from it.

Imagine This Story…

Just remember, as I said in part 1, this story isn’t the absolute truth – it’s simply a plausible system-story explanation of what happened . .. or may have happened.  It may be true – and it does fit the facts reported by the media at the time – but it may not be (and probably isn’t) the whole truth…

The story starts in early 2015 as Chelsea’s performances start to look laboured even though they are still winning matches.  Their performances are in stark contrast to the first half of the 2014-15 season when they weren’t just winning, they were playing dazzling football.
In April 2015, the father of Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea team manager, suffers a brain haemorrhage.  He is operated on in Portugal, but afterwards suffers two strokes and develops a lung infection.  His condition worries his family, including Jose, who flies back from the UK to see him whenever he can.  This period of concern lasts until September-October 2015, placing prolonged emotional strain on Jose Mourinho who is close to his father.
Meanwhile we move on to May 2015 as Chelsea ease over the finish line to end the 2014-15 season as Premier League champions.  The trouble is, the players look tired.
Tired or not, Chelsea become champions with three games to spare, ending up eight points ahead of their nearest rivals.  Here the seeds of complacency are sown.  The younger, less experienced players think next season will be easy.  Members of the board and Chelsea’s backroom staff are similarly convinced of their superiority.  This will soon have negative knock-on effects on the new players that Chelsea sign – and don’t sign – and early 2015-16 performances.
Jose Mourinho, noticing how tired his players are, gives them extra time off at the end of the 2014-15 season so they start new-season training later than everyone else.  This well-intentioned decision will mean the players aren’t as fit as their rivals when the 2015-16 season begins.
The pre-season build-up goes badly. Of their five games, Chelsea lose three and draw two.  One of their losses is to the New York Red Bulls who play with several young academy players.  Mourinho is furious with his men.
Meanwhile, talented and experienced players leave the club, including two outstanding players of the previous decade who were clear leaders in the squad – Petr Cech and Didier Drogba.  With the departure of them and – in the previous season – Frank Lampard, Chelsea lack on-field and dressing room leaders apart from their ageing captain, John Terry.  In parallel, the Chelsea board fail to buy any of the players that Mourinho wants and make some strange signings just before the transfer window closes.  Experts judge Chelsea’s signings to be below par, especially compared to those of their competitors.  Confidence among players and fans begins to wobble.  Mourinho is frustrated and feels let down, but says nothing in public.
In the background, all Premier League opposition teams in 2015-16 are better funded than before and buy superior players, reducing the gap between them and Chelsea.
In the new season’s first league game in August 2015, Chelsea face Swansea.  Chelsea’s poor pre-season form continues and Swansea pour forward, looking confident.  Mourinho’s tension increases even though his team take a 2-1 lead.  His frustration rises another notch when his goalkeeper is sent off soon after half-time, reducing his team to 10 men.  The sending-off was debatable, fuelling Jose Mourinho’s old pattern of seeing injustice and unfairness towards Chelsea.  Swansea immediately equalise and look the likelier winners.  But there’s more trouble ahead.  Near the end, Chelsea’s star player, Eden Hazard, goes down and the Chelsea doctor (Eva Carneiro) and physiotherapist (Jon Fearn) run onto the field to treat him although Mourinho doesn’t think he’s really injured.  Mourinho’s anger turns to rage because this means the player must come off the pitch, reducing Chelsea to 9 men while trying to score an unlikely winner.  He’s seen shouting at Carneiro as she returns to the team bench.  The game ends in a 2-2 draw and Mourinho is visibly upset.
After the Swansea game Mourinho complains to the media about the behaviour of the Chelsea doctor and physiotherapist, calling them naïve.  He bans both from front bench duties.  Fearn says nothing, but Carneiro reacts negatively and is supported by two professional medical associations and, later on, FIFA.  Mourinho’s behaviour towards her is universally denounced.  The tension at Chelsea rises.  Remember that throughout this time Mourinho’s father is ill.
Chelsea’s poor form continues, as does the fallout from the Carneiro incident.  She puts in a formal complaint and effectively stops working for the club, citing constructive dismissal and unfair treatment by Mourinho.  Mourinho’s attitude towards the popular doctor antagonises the Chelsea players who appreciate her expertise.  An ex-pro, Robbie Savage, warns Mourinho that he faces a backlash because players and medics form close bonds when players are recovering from injuries.  Rumours grow that Eden Hazard and other players resent Mourinho’s attitude and behaviour towards Carneiro.
This resentment feeds an unconscious dip in on-field commitment by those closest to Eva Carneiro, leading to worsening performances (which are already mediocre).  Meanwhile, with Chelsea weaker in attack and more porous in defence than last season, the mass media is full of articles debating Chelsea’s extraordinary loss of form versus the previous season.  This loss of form is particularly acute in key Chelsea players: Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic and Branislav Ivanovic.  These men were outstanding in the previous season, but now their performances are notably poor.
Meanwhile other teams have lost their fear of playing Chelsea.  Last year they entered the field nervous of Chelsea, but now they approach games confidently and aggressively.  Also, their desire to claim they’ve “beaten the champions” brings extra intensity to their performances against Chelsea.  These forces – together with opposition teams’ greater strength as noted earlier – combine to hurt the Chelsea players’ in-match confidence and resilience, which shows as lower energy, reduced discipline under pressure … and losses.
Chelsea’s losing streak continues.  The players notice they are often on the end of unlucky close calls that go against them (equalisers flagged for offside, shots that hit the post, harsh sendings off).  They start believing that everything is against them, that nothing will go their way.  Subtly but gradually this drags their self-belief downwards and their resilience in tough matches goes down a notch, adding to the problems caused by individual losses of form.
In parallel, Jose Mourinho’s frustration rises to a new level, fuelled by his fear of failure (so strong that his stated goal is to never lose a match).  This triggers old behavioural defence mechanisms – he sees injustice, he believes he and his players are victims and he starts criticising outsiders like referees and the football authorities.  One of his past team-building methods has been to create a siege mentality, but this time, with everything else going on, it backfires.  It so overheats the atmosphere that it hurts morale and, eventually, on-field performance.
Media criticism rains in on Chelsea, the players and Mourinho as their poor results continue. Mourinho has never been in a situation like this as Chelsea sink towards the relegation zone.  Even though the Chelsea fans remain supportive, his self-esteem is under pressure as never before in his professional life and he starts criticising his players in public.  But he doesn’t get the reaction he wants – indeed it seems that some players’ commitment slips further.  Certainly, the players suffering confidence dips after losing their form aren’t helped by his criticism.
A loss at West Ham in October is followed by a Mourinho outburst which leads to FA sanctions. This only fuels his sense of injustice … and his tension around his players.  His players wonder if he’s “losing it”.  Unconsciously, they start hoping for a new manager, which lowers their on-field resilience under pressure.
By now, the media are openly talking about Mourinho’s likely dismissal, which only adds to his irritation and aggression.  Mourinho tries to handle the situation by openly admitting the pressure he’s under and describing what he’s going through as a good learning experience.  But everyone can see he’s in pain.  His ability to connect with and motivate his players slips further.
After losing their 16th game of the 2015-16 season (their 9th loss in all), Chelsea – the previous season’s runaway champions – are one point above the relegation zone.  Mourinho is now talking about “betrayal” by his players.  He believes they ignored his briefings on the opposition’s tactics in the four-day build-up to the game.  His bond with them weakens further.
That’s when the board steps in and Jose Mourinho – one of the world’s greatest-ever football managers – loses his job.

So there’s the story.  Now we need to see what we can learn from it.  That will be our focus tomorrow in part 3, the final part.

The author is James Scouller, an executive coach.  His book, The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skill, was published in May 2011.  You can learn more about it at www.three-levels-of-leadership.com. If you want to see its reviews, click here: leadership book reviews.  If you want to know where to buy it, click HERE.  You can read more about his executive coaching services at The Scouller Partnership’s website.