Micah Richards and Alan Shearer can’t believe one decision Chelsea’s owners have made.
The Blues had a terrible first half of the 2023/24 campaign. It genuinely looked like another season where they would finish in the bottom half of the table.
However, a strong 2024 helped Chelsea secure a sixth-place finish, which is not bad at all when you consider where they were at the turn of the year.
That, however, wasn’t enough for Mauricio Pochettino to keep his job.
Alan Shearer and Micah Richards react to Mauricio Pochettino leaving Chelsea
Just a couple of days after the end of the 2023/24 Premier League season, Chelsea announced that they had parted ways with Pochettino.
The Argentine only spent one season at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino’s future was up in the air for months, but some felt he would’ve been given the chance to continue after a very strong end to the season.
However, both parties decided to go their separate ways, and there will be yet another managerial change at Chelsea now.
Alan Shearer and Micah Richards both delivered their verdicts on Pochettino’s departure.
The former claimed that he was really surprised by the decision, while Richards admitted that he was ‘flabbergasted’ to hear that Pochettino had left.
On the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “It’s a massive surprise that Pochettino loses his job for whatever reason.”
Richards added: “Chaos, wasn’t it? Chaotic at Chelsea. Flabbergasted that the manager has left. We’ve talked about it many times and how good we think he is.”
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The real reason why Chelsea did not want Pochettino to stay
Pochettino really does deserve praise for the work he did at Chelsea in 2024.
The Blues were a mess when he took over the club, and it was always going to be extremely difficult to hit the ground running. Injuries didn’t help Pochettino either.
A sixth-place finish is a very good achievement considering the way they started the season, but that wasn’t enough to convince the Chelsea board to keep him.
Journalist Ben Jacobs revealed after the separation that people in the Blues board really respected Pochettino, but they felt their relationship with him would’ve gotten worse had they kept hold of him.
That’s why the decision was made to part ways.
Jacobs said: “The manager can be the right fit but not the right fit for the senior leadership team.
“It got to the point where there was a respect for Pochettino, but the feeling from all parties was that if they continued the relationship might deteriorate.”