Chelsea parted ways with Thomas Tuchel last week after Chelsea’s shocking defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
Thomas Tuchel was seen as one of the most successful coaches in Chelsea’s history since Jose Mourinho. The only trophy that eluded the German was the Premier League, FA cup, and the Carabao Cup. He won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
There are reports that the new Chelsea owners had been planning of sacking Thomas Tuchel as part of their complete overhaul of the club and used the defeat to Dinamo Zagreb as a cover.
However, Rio Ferdinand claims the relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Todd Boehly deteriorated after America started interfering with the Team and even recommended Edouard Mendy be a drop from the starting eleven.
What did Rio Ferdinand say?
The Manchester United and England Icon revealed on his YouTube channel Vibe with Five, saying: “Especially when there are a lot of wild opinions and wild things being said behind the scenes, like with formations and with certain individual players that the new owners want out of the team.
“I think Mendy would be one of them in terms of kicking the ball and his distribution. And talking about tactics things—I don’t know if an owner should be talking about things like that. Your manager is there to deal with that. You let him manage it.”
There were also claims that the new owners had suggested a change in formation from a 3-5- to a 4-3-3.
Reacting to those claims, Rio Ferdinand said: “[It’s a good formation] if you can get away with one extra player on the pitch! They’re the kind of stories that I’m hearing as well, trying to influence even player selection.
“And when you get to that point you can understand why a manager would have some pushback and go, “Woah Woah Woah, what’s going on here?”
“I think Tuchel, the personality, and character that he is, would have looked at that and gone, “Woah, I’m not accepting that!” Some other managers might have thought, “It’s new owners, so I’ll do as they say and I’ll dance to their tune”, but I don’t think Thomas Tuchel is that guy.
“The old management team, from what I’m hearing, they were quite okay at the beginning with having conversations [with Boehly] and talking and dialogue and giving the information over.
“But then it became a bit draining and then a couple of weeks before the sacking happened, there was a clear, distinct change in the way that the new ownership approached them.
“They weren’t as engaging, I don’t think there was any real contact, any dialogue, for a couple of weeks. So I think they knew the writing was on the wall behind the scenes.”
“I think the big issue a lot of people behind the scenes at Chelsea have is: why let him have the money if you knew you were going to get rid of him?, “Rio Ferdinand added.
“It’s a clear lack of understanding of football. It has to be. This guy understands how to run American sports teams, but it’s very different how they transfer and recruit players, very different model.
“So I think there’s been a lack of understanding in that area because I don’t know any businesses in any other industry—including football—that allow somebody at the helm to spend a quarter of a billion pounds and then say, “But you’re not going to run it for us” and get someone else in.”
