Perspective

[BlueLion. 21,491]

It has been a season of contrasting emotions - from ecstasy to agony and back again, with frustration, anger and disappointment all woven in between. Yet it has been a campaign that ultimately leaves a Chelsea fan feeling downbeat. And, perhaps, with good reason.

Chelsea set the bar high last season with a deserved League and FA Cup double. It would seem that the bar was raised a little too high in retrospect, but the season nevertheless began in stunning fashion on the domestic front as well as in Europe, with a stunning blitz of our Champions League group. Enter Winter and its ensuing horrors, however, and we may now look back on the time where we all dared to dream that this could be the season we ended our European hoodoo and continued our domination of English football with the wryest of half-smiles. Sadly, it was not to be - and instead of contemplating silverware, some of us were anticipating tuning into Channel Five on a Thursday night to see us play on a sodden, freezing pitch in the middle of Lithuania against a team that only a handful of people will pretend to have heard of.

Fast forward to March and that looked a reality. Labouring in fifth place and looking nothing like a team that could pose a challenge either in the Premier League or in UEFA's premier competition, you could, in fairness, have been justified to wanting blood - namely that of Carlo Ancelotti. A horrific showing at home against Sunderland was what set about the rot, defeat to a combination of the crossbar and Ben Foster at St Andrews and then a Fernando Torres double at Anfield (which remains the only thing he's done this season...) saw the writing on the wall for Ancelotti and his men.

Move the clocks on a little further to early May and a disappointing performance has consigned Chelsea to the confines of second place - no mean feat considering their predicament just a couple of months beforehand. And yet, all of a sudden, Chelsea fans are disappointed. Memories come flooding back of 6-0 demolitions, thunderous freekicks that keep Arsenal in their rightful, tropyless place, stunning volleys in freezing cold Russia and a seemingly invincible Chelsea side that look to be cruising towards the title.

The romantic thought that Chelsea may well come full-circle and improbably pip Manchester United to the Premier League crown emerged out of nowhere. The Blues were fifteen points behind Manchester United in early March and most supporters would have given an arm, a leg, and a possibly a few other unnamed body parts to end up as runners-up to a side - though average for their own high standards and without at all playing well, one 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn aside - that will deservedly be crowned champions next week against the same Lancastrian opposition.

Add in the fact that United also rightfully dumped Ancelotti's charges out of the Champions League without really playing at the best indicates the best team has once again won this marathon war of attrition. Afterall, football is a game about winning, and not necessarily playing well. José Mourinho's Chelsea side was testament to that fact. Take note, Arsene Wenger - for your side have now gone more than three million minutes without lifting a trophy, or, in simple English, nearly exactly six years.

But how are we Chelsea supporters supposed to feel? Happy that we were able to claw a semblance of respectability back after a woeful mid-season capitulation, and proud that we were still ultimately in contention for silverware - and, theoretically, still are - come May, despite thoughts of Europa League mediocrity? Or instead disappointed after a beginning and end to a season filled with so much promise and possibility? One can argue that a combination of the two mindsets can be adopted here.

True, with the way in which Chelsea started out this season - scoring seventeen goals in four games as well as demonstrating the same defensive mettle that has personified the club since the days of Mourinho - you have the right to be disappointed that this side will end up trophyless, especially after experiencing the promising prelude that came before a devastating self-destruct sequence. With the squad of players we have at the club, and also the money paid out by Roman Abramovich on Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Ramires and Yossi Benayoun over the course of the season, you would certainly expect better than to end up without silverware, especially considering last year's Community Shield, FA Cup and Premier League triumphs.

And yet as I sit here, I don't feel disappointed. Nor, of course, do I feel elated.

I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction in again finishing above Arsenal despite vociferous claims that this would be 'their season,' to put the final nail in the coffin on Tottenham's Champions League hopes and to be the side that effectively relegated West Ham thanks to a 3-0 hammering (no pun intended). I feel satisfied that this team was able to claw its way out of nothingness and into semi-contention for league honours. Moreover, I feel moderately pleased that Chelsea, for once, were knocked out of the Champions League by virtue of the opposition being the better side, as opposed to fielding the referee as a second striker.

This season will end trophyless and quite probably with a scrappy win over Newcastle and possibly even a loss at Goodison Park, but I can guarantee that we will look back on it as the 'transitional season' some of us were predicting - but, more specifically, the season in which we began to build towards the future. Success after success has been won with the Drogbas, Terrys and Lampards of this world; our future triumphs will be won by the contributions of Luiz, Torres and Ramires, and - eventually - the Kakutas, McEachrans and Sturridges we all crave to see given a chance.

This season will be the precursor to future glories. The last dozen matches has shown Chelsea can still compete despite an ageing squad, but it has also shown more needs to be done in the transfer market to see us return to former highs. Like during the Hiddink 'era' (perhaps the wrong choice of word, considering he was caretaker manager for 23 matches only), this end to the season will be viewed as laying the foundations, the building blocks for next season. Exciting times lie ahead, and though things may seem all doom and gloom, at least we have emerged out of this with a bit of pride still intact, and a healthy synthesis of youth and experience in our squad that will no doubt be complimented in the summer by more young talent - as well as hopefully more chances for McEachran, Sturridge and Kakuta - and we may well see us regain the title at the first attempt next term.

This season will soon be forgotten as soon as the whistle is blown after stoppage time up at Everton. But let us not forget the times when we were a mid-table club with aspirations of experiencing seasons like this, to be in the Champions League, to be in contention for silverware. That does little more than disguise the fact this has been a disappointing season considering the successful 2010 Chelsea had, but it is still naive to think that season after season, we could look to contest for honours in spite of an ageing squad. Every dog has its day, and the Chelsea jigsaw assembled by Signor 'the Tinkerman' Ranieri and the Special One - with Scolari, Grant, Hiddink and Ancelotti offering the final pieces - has been outdone by the ever-evolving dynamic of Manchester United, the spending power of Manchester City, the resurgence of Liverpool and the emergence of Tottenham as a Premier League force. As previously said, work must be done and must be done quickly.

Exciting times lie ahead for Chelsea Football Club. A new era is upon us, and once the dust has settled, plans for a stadium move have been announced and another £100 million has been spent by Mr Abramovich (possibly wishful thinking, though the gaffer will definitely open the chequebook up once again this close-season), we will look onwards and upwards. The future is a very bright one indeed... just remember to keep the faith even when things aren't going as we might envisage.

We will be back.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Good summarising article of our season Alex.

Like I said, we'll only properly move on after the mistakes are identified & learnt from. If we go from history, it's not looking likely, however, I hope I'm wrong

[Tomo 21,733]

Excellent post Alex, i aint actually too disappointed considering the predicament i thought we would be now after the night down at Fulham.

Every one has season like this (Man.Utd 01/02, Bayern 06/07, Barca 07/08) yet we (unlike those) will more than likely finish in the top 2, hopefully Roman gives Carlo a year to stamp his authority properly and next season we will be ready to battle on all fours again.

Considering the predicament after Fulham game i aint too disappointed at-all and would have bit your hand off is this was offered to me after that match.

[Laylabelle 9,357]

Exactly!! In January we looked in danager of finishing 5th..4th if we were lucky but we kept going and got there in the end.Yes it may not be the title but hey ho.Trophyless yeh but hey least we're not Arsenal!!!

Its a learning curve and all..and next season hopfully can be learnt from...and Carlo did say..its not play station and all and he werent bloody wrong about that!

[zolayes 14,489]

excellent post ...as Wenger said finishing second isnt a bad season ....we had our bad times this year but there were good days too.

If you can't take defeat with grace and vow to come back stronger then you should give up watching all sport

[Blueboy 14]

This season will end trophyless and quite probably with a scrappy win over Newcastle and possibly even a loss at Goodison Park, but I can guarantee that we will look back on it as the 'transitional season' some of us were predicting - but, more specifically, the season in which we began to build towards the future. Success after success has been won with the Drogbas, Terrys and Lampards of this world; our future triumphs will be won by the contributions of Luiz, Torres and Ramires, and - eventually - the Kakutas, McEachrans and Sturridges we all crave to see given a chance.

^This

[Shane 2,275]

Its only on loan guys, We wil be back.

[Sparkie 27]

Great article, can share the emotions talked about.

Have faith.

[caesarblues 51]

Very great article mate... Let the dust settled and we Mighty Chelsea will crawled back..ktbffh

[Krypt 241]

Well Said

I think all of us last month wouldn't have dreamed of finnishing 2nd/3rd it was a battle for 4th , i think we have shown in the last month no radical changes need to be made in the summer just a few creative players , one of the plus sides to this season is the emergence of Danny Studge and in a perfect world he will come back to the squad and Kalou wont get a sniff at first team football ( after yesterday he is just an impact sub at best).

Im looking forward to next season already every team goes through a season like this lets show the doubters next year

[steve5221 91]

Well Said

I think all of us last month wouldn't have dreamed of finnishing 2nd/3rd it was a battle for 4th , i think we have shown in the last month no radical changes need to be made in the summer just a few creative players , one of the plus sides to this season is the emergence of Danny Studge and in a perfect world he will come back to the squad and Kalou wont get a sniff at first team football ( after yesterday he is just an impact sub at best).

Im looking forward to next season already every team goes through a season like this lets show the doubters next year

I agree that personnel is not an issue and just needs tweaking. However the big decision to be made in the summer is the Drogba/Torres situation.

[erinblue 15]

great post------------------hopefully pre season we can combine the youth and the experience and get a more urgent way of playing in our game...also i hope in a way there is not the mad exodus of players like last summer, we seen how that affected us when the injuries occurred......in january i never thought we would make 4th never mind be sitting 2nd and within a game of going top again.------maybe carlo did get them playing for the club!!.....maybe his laid back style affected them since wilkins left??---maybe it was the easy start to the league that give us a false sense of things to come!!---still proud to say we are in the top two after a third of the season passed us by------onwards and upwards and lets get the youth in and have another team to be proud of for the next 10 years....

[YankinBlue42 72]

Excellent read. It captured my torn thoughts on this season as a whole perfectly.

[Lea-Michelle 10]

This season will end trophyless and quite probably with a scrappy win over Newcastle and possibly even a loss at Goodison Park, but I can guarantee that we will look back on it as the 'transitional season' some of us were predicting - but, more specifically, the season in which we began to build towards the future. Success after success has been won with the Drogbas, Terrys and Lampards of this world; our future triumphs will be won by the contributions of Luiz, Torres and Ramires, and - eventually - the Kakutas, McEachrans and Sturridges we all crave to see given a chance.

^This

Exactly. Also, this is just a great post in its entirety. While, as others mentioned, we were sorely lacking in form for a good part of the season, finishing second is something we should be proud of considering how much change was going on behind the scenes and on the pitch. We will punch forward next season, ktbffh.