Chelsea FC needs to shut out the media

Tabloids survive on sensationalism. It is clear that for them to achieve a large readership, secret leaks of training ground rows, transfers, club policies and personal life problems of players need to be published. Human nature forces us to be curious about  these ‘secrets’. Hence, we can’t blame the media for spreading wrong, inaccurate and sensational news. They publish what we find interesting.

Unfortunately, for Chelsea FC, the club has become the prime source for filling the front pages in the last decade.

Mourinho’s antics, his sacking, big money signings, overspending, Terry-Bridge saga, Terry and 9/11 saga, Ashley Cole and his gun, frequent managerial changes, Mikel transfer saga, Mutu and drugs, Terry Racism scandal, player power ousting AVB, hiring of Benitez, taking on the refs with Clattenberg and Ovrebo, Hazard and Charlie Morgan, Frank without contact, Abramovich visiting the training ground for ‘checking the progress’ and training ground clashes – Team Terry vs Manager. That, pretty much summaries the last decade of Chelsea’s moment in the spotlight.

Now, it is important for the management, players and owner to understand that a club simply cannot run like this. It is amazing that The Blues have managed to find regular success through such torrid and unstable times. However, stopgap solutions leading to short-term success works for a few years. As time progresses, the lack of stability and increased controversy  results in the decline of the club.

For the second consecutive year, Chelsea might fail to finish in the top 4.  Even after such worrying performances, the attention is on all the wrong things. Instead of talking about football and tactics, the fans talk about signing big players, Lampard’s contract, sacking the manager, off-field controversies and training ground rows, which are all initiated by the media. The Chelsea official website went to the extent of posting an apology from The Sun, who posted a false news of a dressing room row between John Terry and Rafa Benitez.

Apology

That was a great act by The Sun (who need to apologize for a lot of articles), but does it really matter? The harm has been done. Chelsea have allowed the media to stir up yet another controversy. There are hundreds of other media outlets out there who post the same rumours and never apologize.

The pressure on the manager and players after such news increases tenfold. Who can perform when the whole world is saying that the next game is going to be your last. Who can perform when each argument with your manager, or each mistake is highlighted on the front pages of the next edition? The players are constantly fighting  to preserve their integrity. When media says that the team morale is down, all that the players try to do is prove it wrong by hugging the manager while celebrating, instead to trying to achieve better results.

‘Close Source’ again! Media doing its part in the mind-games against Chelsea

When Andre Villas-Boas was in-charge of the club, the start was good. The fans loved him and expected him to be ‘The Special One V2?. But within a few months, AVB became the most hated figure among the fans. The credit for this swift change in opinion of the fans goes to the media. Bad results and immature treatment of Nicolas Anelka and Alex just helped the media’s cause. One moment, the media is praising him, the next they are calling him arrogant. After the sacking, media again took AVB’s side, portraying him as the victim. Reports that AVB was sleeping in the training ground were published only after the sacking.

The agencies got their readers and money, but at a heavy cost to the club.

AVB the Villain

 

The Villain again

 

Now the good hardworking guy

As fans and as a club, we give too much reason to the media to speculate. There are secret leaks, the manager decides to highlight the problem by saying-’XYZ is unhappy on the bench’, and Abramovich decides to visit the training ground during bad times. It just becomes easier for the reporters to write sensational news.

Why does he need to tell it to the media?!

With the recent reports of a training ground bust-up, one cannot expect Rafa to win over any supporters. His already unstable position is further threatened.

Now, we cannot expect the media to stop their work. What we can do is prevent these training ground leaks. When the players are at the training grounds, they should be kept completely isolated from the outside world. One must look at Manchester United’s training ground – Carrington, which is ideal and prevents any prying reporters. Even searching the images of Carrington is really difficult. On the other hand, there are thousands of images of players at Chelsea’s Cobham Training Centre. There is no need to be media friendly when it is causing more harm than good. ”Fortress Carrington” is not affecting Man Utd’s popularity in any manner.

Even the manager needs to protect the club and their players from unnecessary media speculation. It is really admirable how Arsene Wenger quickly lost his temper, when the media tried to put unnecessary pressure on Arsenal before their Champions League game vs Bayern Munich. Sir Alex is also quite unpopular among the media because of his refusal to answer any ‘silly’ questions which put pressure on his players. In the end, both managers keep their players and club safe.

Without any permanent manager, such things can’t be expected at Chelsea FC, but this is needed. It is high time that the media is stopped from portraying Chelsea as Team Terry (literally). Players and managers have to be protected.

Chelsea must learn from how they dealt with the Terry scandals and how Man Utd dealt with the Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney scandals. In the end, a club and its players should be known for football, not for scandals, bust-ups and racism. The club website should stop acknowledging or giving comments on minor issues, which should be handled internally. It is time to disconnect the Club from the media. A little privacy in this rebuilding time will do the club a lot of good.