If Thomas Tuchel wants to become the Chelsea boss with the most matches managed since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, he is over halfway there. The end goal is much bigger than that, but to achieve the long term goals, it's a good start.
There are currently only three names in front of him, which tells you a story in itself, as Tuchel has only been in London since February 2021, and barring a massive early season collapse, he will pass Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte by Christmas.
That would still only put him third in the list though, Jose Mourinho sits comfortably in first and second place for games in charge since June 2003. His first spell from June 2004 until September 2007 is the second longest at Chelsea since the 1980s.
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In one sense this is all Tuchel has to do, manage one more full season at Stamford Bridge and he'll be sitting pretty in second place with not much more to go until becoming the holder of that small record. The issue is that the only man to enter a third season at Chelsea in this same time frame, as Tuchel is doing, is Mourinho.
It's a fact that has failed to escape many: Abramovich's trigger happy nature in order to find success in European football worked. Between Mourinho's first appointment - June 2004 - and March 2022 - there were only four trophyless campaigns. With 21 trophies in that time, it's hard to argue against it.
However, the Todd Boehly-Clearlake ownership model promises to be different. The demand for success with Europe's elite and more consistent and sustained efforts to win the Premier League will be required, but the new regime is one that will likely be built on more sustainable grounds.
This once again looks like it should make it easy for Tuchel to overtake Mourinho at the top of this post Abramovich-revolution list. The twist is that Tuchel is already entering unchartered territory. Nobody that isn't named Jose Mourinho has made it into a third season at Chelsea since Claudio Ranieri. Only Mourinho made it that far under Abramovich. Fourteen took the hotseat for differing reasons and time lengths, but nobody could make it past the second term.
Ancelotti should have in 2010/11, but that's about it. The lack of sustained pressure on the top of the Premier League since Mourinho's 2013-2015 top three finishes has meant that ultimately, Chelsea have fallen short and given Tuchel hasn't managed to mount his own lengthy surge against Liverpool and Manchester City, it's not a given that he will in 2022/23.
Admittedly, even this is slightly skewed because Tuchel has only had one full season, but given this will be the third separate campaign he has played in at Chelsea, it still counts.
For Tuchel as well, this is uncharted waters. He hasn't always reached a third year at his previous clubs for varying reasons again, but perhaps the worrying thing is that he also hasn't always shown improvement after two years.
At Mainz, he saw his side drop from fifth to 13th after three years. His second, and final, season at Dortmund resulted in a third place finish after being second the year before, a drop off of six wins in a season. PSG followed a similar story. After winning the league, his team dropped to third by December, where he was sacked.
This doesn't tell the full Tuchel story. It ignores his rebuild at Mainz in the first place and the success he had in his final year, taking them from 13th to seventh in the Bundesliga. At Dortmund he was challenging Pep Guardiola's dominant Bayern Munich and picked up the German team from seventh to runners-up. At PSG he moved them to within a Kylian Mbappe miss of winning the Champions League.
These trends don't mean much for Chelsea historically. In 2021 they saw what they believed to be the best version of Tuchel, something that has rung true with his use of senior players, youth players and communication with directors at the club. But now he has to set something straight and overcome a 19-year long wait for someone to match, or even come close, to Mourinho.
The 48-year-old has shown why he could go on to be one of the best managers in the history of the club, and his challenge has been different to those before him which has gained him time to make the biggest decisions, but now it's time to prove that he has the staying power at Chelsea. That he can revert the club from its old ways and truly be the figurehead for the Boehly era.
The words coming from the club suggest they want him to be there in the long run. The actions and the backing he is receiving also paint a picture of trust, but now it will be over to Tuchel to deliver on his promise. He has been sterner than most with his words and decisions to shift things up, move on senior players, steer the club from cultural wars within. He has patched over the cracks in the squad and now wants his own shiny kitchen installed. The threat of this is the expectation that he will prepare better meals.
By acting as a supervisor for Boehly's interim sporting director excursions, the whole world now knows that Tuchel can't make the excuse of not having his players. If he doesn't get the best out of Raheem Sterling or Kalidou Koulibaly then there's not too much complaining he can do if the sweat around his collar starts to build.
The upside to this is that Tuchel is no stranger to these jobs and has managed over 100 games at each of his previous clubs - he is currently on 93 with Chelsea. He has also left each club in a better place then when he came in.
If he was to leave Chelsea now the same would still be said, but with the support he has received and the foundations laid for him, it would be a waste of talent not to capitalise on Tuchel, not just for this window and this season, but for the long term future of Chelsea.
He can be the flagship for the mystical dawn of 'new Chelsea', but first he must shake off the shackles of the previous management.
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