I do believe that John Obi Mikel’s heart is in the right place and his intentions are good. I also do agree with a lot of the concerns he raises about Chelsea right now, how we are operating, and some of the players not being good enough.
But he is extreme, too extreme in fact, and his opinions kind of get cancelled out when he does things like this.
So, back in December 2024, the owners were clearly trying to sweeten Mikel up and invited him to a game to try and get him on side. And for a while, a very short while in fact, they maybe did get him onside.
On the 19th of December, Mikel said:
“Lots of conversations in my meeting with Behdad that I cannot share but he loves the club, and he is also very knowledgeable on Football, we were talking about the game and tactics.”
Then just this week, Mikel jumped on his Podcast and was absolutely fuming with a lot of things and has had a real big dig at the owners.
“I dont know too much about these American owners, they call it Football or Soccer? Anyone who calls Football soccer, I don’t wanna talk to you, you clearly have no knowledge on the game. No but Roman was the guy, spending so much money, bringing the best, always making sure we’re at the top, every year we are winning trophies and competing. Even if we didn’t win, the next year we HAVE to win 1-2 trophies, for us roman was the guy.”
“I’ve met the owners a couple times, and when they call football “soccer” I dunno, it puts me off mate. They have spent a lot of money but its not just about throwing money around, they need to understand the culture, the heritage, they are not there yet, I hope we get back to where we belong.”
Wow, what a switch up from Mikel. This doesn’t paint him out too well to be honest. I think some of the criticism he has called has been spot on, but going at the owners in this way after praising them so much just a couple of months back is a bit silly. Especially the whole ‘soccer’ thing.
I do believe that Mikel just wants the best for his club, and I do rate that. I do rate the passion and how hard he works to just try and get the very best for our club again, because that is all we all want. But come on, mate, if you’re going to rant at least provide some context and some reasoning. I also think he should direct his anger at those who have built this squad and those who’s project we are following – The SDs.
He’s absolutely right to raise concerns, but I think hammering them away in this way is just not constructive.
In all honesty, I will never doubt the intentions and ambitions of our owners, I believe they want us to succeed. I keep going back to the fact that this is a business and it HAS to succeed to profit. So whether they understand the club culture or not, winning is what they must prioritise and that is why I believe they do have the ambitions and intentions to do that. It’s just the way they are going about it and the people they have handed the keys to run it.
Mikel would do well to add in a bit of thoughtful considerations and context to his rants! But I do agree with many of the other things he has called out, and it does take bravery for a former player to call things out in the way he has done whilst many others will just stay quiet.
Full show here:
Simon Phillips
Discussion about this post