By Simon Johnson

Now, finally, you can say the Mauricio Pochettino era at Chelsea is truly underway.

The Argentinian, who signed a three-year contract in May, officially began his tenure at the club’s Cobham training ground on Monday. It was a gentle introduction to life at Chelsea — he even hosted a barbecue for all the staff, to help everyone get to know each other better. Those players who have reported for pre-season so far have begun to be put through their first training drills, too.

But there is something about a first press conference for a Chelsea head coach or manager which always feels significant. It can provide an early indication of what everyone can expect.

Into the same room at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea’s most successful boss Jose Mourinho (seven major trophies across two spells) called himself  “a special one” (note he used the word ‘a’, and not ‘the’) when first appointed in 2004 and “The Happy One” on his return in 2013, Pochettino strode confidently to discuss his aims and ambitions for Chelsea with a packed throng of journalists.

The subjects discussed in front of, and away from, the TV cameras included his relationship with the club’s owners, whether he will sign Harry Kane from previous employers Tottenham Hotspur, if Chelsea can compete for silverware in the coming season and his past across London with Spurs.

Here, our Chelsea correspondent Simon Johnson explains what Pochettino said, and what his words really mean…

Pochettino on… Needing time to make Chelsea challenge for silverware

“I know in football there is no patience. In football it is difficult to wait, and when you are in Chelsea, I believe it is not about asking for time — you need to deliver from day one. That is why, how we are working on the training ground is we are not giving the players too much time to think, to spend time wasting time. It is about delivering from now, to give our best. Football is about today. You cannot talk too much long-term. I think we have the players that can deliver in the short (term), and give what we expect. From the beginning we need to think of the first game of the Premier League, we need to beat Liverpool (in that opening fixture on August 13).

“If you are in a club like Chelsea, you cannot talk about doing a nice job and to play well. Yes, of course, I can do a good job, play well and in our style and culture but, of course, to win. If you don’t win in a club like Chelsea, for sure, you are going to suffer.”

Simon Johnson: Pochettino used this rhetoric on more than one occasion and it is the message everyone needs to hear. There was so much talk of Chelsea being ‘a project’ or ‘a process’ during the calamitous first season under the ownership of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium that it began to feel like absolving responsibility for what was going wrong on the pitch. No English club have won more trophies than Chelsea since 2005 and while Pochettino has a very tough job on his hands after Chelsea finished 12th last season, supporters are not in the mood to go through another campaign of transition. More importantly, the players have been left in no doubt as to what is expected of them, that the demand to perform is there from the outset. Pochettino wants players ready to fight for their places — an intensity that was clearly lacking during 2022-23.

Pochettino on… Concerns over Chelsea’s hire-and-fire policy

“No (I don’t have any), but I love the risk. I love to be on the top with the expectations to be here, and I think for me it’s a challenge. It’s a big challenge, that I want to feel, I want to feel again, the adrenaline, and, you know, to be there fighting for big things. This football club, because of the history, is about winning big trophies. I want to prove myself, that I can deal with that.”

Chelsea sacked Graham Potter after less than seven months (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

Johnson: Good fighting talk. The Boehly-Clearlake consortium sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter during last season, as well as having Bruno Saltor in caretaker charge for one game and employing Frank Lampard as an interim to see out the season from early April. Previous owner Roman Abramovich was ruthless too and Chelsea supporters have grown accustomed to a ‘win trophies or you are fired’ philosophy for their managers in the past two decades. But Pochettino is sending a message from the outset that such expectations do not scare him, and this will help him demand the same attitude from his squad.

Pochettino on… How much say he will have on signings

“I think it is important to clarify the situation. When we met (to discuss the job) for the first time, we agreed at the start of July to start to work. (Co-sporting directors) Laurence (Stewart), Paul (Winstanley) and the owners presented the plan for the squad, they asked me to start on July 1 and I agreed. They started to work — the club, I did not — and I think did a very good job. I am happy to work in this way with the plan they created, and of course, from now on, I am going to be more involved. I am going to try to judge the situation and work more closely with Paul and Laurence for the best situation. I am not a coach that needs to ask for power, or to ask in my contract to have a clause that says I need to do this.”

Simon Johnson: Chelsea have always maintained their transfer dealings are a collaborative approach and that appears to be continuing under Pochettino. But the question marks over whether players who arrive are ‘Pochettino signings’ or ‘club signings’ are bound to continue from the outside. Chelsea have a larger recruitment department in place now, with each employee wanting to justify their role. It was noticeable how, during the January window, then-manager Potter warned the club about making too many signings for fear of unbalancing the squad. Chelsea continued to recruit regardless though, which again gave the impression Potter had limited influence. Pochettino’s answer here suggests he is content with where he stands in the setup, but this is an early stage. Only time will tell if it works in practice. He did go on to provide enough hints that there will be more incomings to the squad before the deadline on September 1.

Pochettino on… If the owners will be allowed into the changing room after games

“First of all, we need to understand they own the football club and we need to respect that. Another thing is to talk about how we need to behave, because that is an important thing. Of course, for me, (they are) more than welcome if the owner(s) come to the dressing room, to the training ground; but they always need to communicate (with) myself, I need to know and to prepare, you know, the people… because here (the sanctity of the changing room), it’s really special, this type of thing, in England. The head coach or the manager is who decides the thing, how it is going to work in the dressing room, on the pitch, on the training ground. Also with the sporting director; all together, to create the line all together.”

Boehly, right, and Behdad Eghbali have been known to go into the Chelsea changing room (Photo: Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)

Johnson: He is striking a delicate balance here. While maintaining respect for his new employers, he is trying to establish some boundaries too. Co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali were regularly seen at the training ground and inside the dressing room at games last season. Some players felt, rightly or wrongly, that Potter was being micro-managed, that he did not have much power. It diminished him in their eyes, and made them question who was making the decisions. Pochettino is not saying these visits cannot continue, but he would like some advanced notice of them. And this is the way it should be. He wants to make sure the players know he is in control of team affairs.

Pochettino on… Whether he wants to sign Harry Kane

“I do not like to talk about players in another club, but you are talking about one of the greatest, one of the best strikers in the world. It is not fair to say nothing. People are not stupid, fans are not stupid, they are so clever and they know my relationship with him was always amazing. I saw him when he was young, grow up and achieve all he was achieving, and of course we have a great relationship. At the moment we are thinking in different ways. We are not thinking about that. Of course (we are) working hard to try to provide the squad with good qualities.”

Pochettino and Kane had a great relationship at Spurs (Photo: Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Johnson: Extra points for diplomacy. With Chelsea scoring a miserable 38 goals from as many games in the Premier League last season, finding someone who can stick the ball in the back of the regularly remains a possibility for this transfer window. This is despite having already acquired two new forwards in Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku. Kane has just a year left on his contract and Tottenham are running the risk of losing him for nothing as he does not appear to be considering signing an extension as yet. Given Pochettino was the manager who made Kane a mainstay of the Spurs team, someone with whom he shared a special bond between 2014-19, it was inevitable he would be asked about signing him. On one hand, he does not rule out the possibility completely. But on the other, he is realistic. His former chairman Daniel Levy wants to keep Kane in north London and certainly would do his utmost to resist a bid from Chelsea this summer. The best hope for a reunion is if Kane runs his contract down and comes to Stamford Bridge as a free agent in 2024. However, the England captain, who has had a new house built close to Chelsea’s training ground in Surrey, south of London, may still be reluctant to harm his relationship with Tottenham supporters by joining one of their fiercest rivals.

Pochettino on… Being worried about damaging his bond with Tottenham by taking the Chelsea job and whether he was offered the chance to go back to Spurs first

“I’m not going to talk (about if Levy got in contact about returning to coach Spurs again). We have a very good relationship with Daniel and all the Tottenham people. I think there’s no point. We need to look forward. What am I going to say – yes, no, or maybe. And what is it going to change? Nothing. You never know in football (what) can happen in the future. What I can say is that I am so proud of my past there. Nobody is going to change the story of when we were there together for nearly six years. I don’t believe that the (Spurs) fans will change (towards him). But what can they do? Nothing. For me now it is about being focused on trying to do my job here and build a very good relationship with the fans here. It’s up to them (Tottenham supporters) to keep or not the feelings they were feeling in the past.”

Johnson: No supporter likes to see someone they have revered go to work for someone they do not like — just look at the reaction at Chelsea to their midfielder Mason Mount’s transfer to Manchester United this week. But even though Spurs fans were chanting Pochettino’s name during games near the end of last season in the hope he would come back, Levy made no attempt to reappoint him. It appears Pochettino does not want to open up any old wounds or cause problems by confirming such a thing publicly, though. The 51-year-old is not foolish, he will hope Tottenham’s followers will remember what he achieved there and also understand he now has to focus on his next challenge. He has to win over a new fanbase and the reality is things he says will cause a stir up in north London. But it is no different to what Chelsea’s fanbase had to cope with when (their former managers) Antonio Conte and Mourinho ended up accepting the job at Spurs.

Pochettino on… Who his captain will be

“First of all, we need to build the squad and then I need to look at all the players before making a decision. I need to feel the players, feel the commitment, the character, the personality. One thing is we are working with them for positive and not so positive. First of all, we need to close the club and the squad, and then we have many players with experience, and we will decide (who wears the armband).”

Reece James is an option as captain (Photo: Ruben de la Fuente Perez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Johnson: This makes a lot of sense. Pochettino will want to meet and talk to all his players first. A decision is most likely to be made during the five-match pre-season tour in the U.S., which begins against Wrexham in North Carolina on July 19. Thiago Silva and Reece James are the main favourites to be captain right now, but there is no need to rush the choice.

Pochettino on… Romelu Lukaku, and if he is expected to join training this month

“All the parts know what we think. I think in that case, he needs to come back the 12th or 13th (of July) into the squad, for the start of pre-season. Like with all of the players, the first thing they do when they arrive is to come to my office and see me. That is what I expect if he is still a Chelsea player.”

Johnson: Lukaku is still on holiday having been given extended time off after playing for Belgium in two European Championship qualifiers last month. However, the striker does not want to play for Chelsea again. They do not see him as part of their plans either, and are keen to get his £340,000 a week wages off the books. But the club also do not want to repeat the mistake of 12 months ago, when they agreed to loan him back to previous club Inter Milan for a fee of a mere £6.9million ($8.9m at current exchange rates), and are looking to do a permanent deal instead. Initially, they hoped Lukaku could be tempted to move to a club in Saudi Arabia, as his former Chelsea colleagues N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy have done already this summer. Although that possibility has not been completely ruled out, he’d rather rejoin Inter, but a permanent move there could depend on the Italians selling goalkeeper Andre Onana — potentially to Manchester United — to help raise funds. While this impasse remains the situation, Pochettino is demanding that Lukaku acts professionally towards the people who are paying him a fortune. Should Lukaku not get the move he wants by next week, this will be an early challenge to Pochettino’s authority and ability to handle an awkward situation.

And finally… Were there any lighter moments that showed Pochettino’s personality?

Johnson: Unequivocally yes. Without being unkind to Potter, Pochettino was much more confident in the spotlight from the moment he walked in, even cracking a bit of a joke by saying: “First of all, thank you for your welcome. I hope you will be nice with me in this press conference. It is not compulsory and I can walk away. I hope we have nice people in the first press conference!”

Later on, while discussing the nature of how he got the job, he spoke light-heartedly about his first interview with Stewart and Winstanley, which happened via Zoom. After checking with the press officer next to him just how candid he should be, he added: “The first conversations were with the sporting directors. I said, ‘I need to know if I need to convince you or if you need to convince me, because if I need to convince, give me five minutes and I will put on a nice shirt… shower… aftershave!’.”

Only good results will bring smiles back on the faces of everyone connected to Chelsea after experiencing the worst Premier League season in their history. But as far as first impressions go, Pochettino has made a good one.

Now the hard work truly begins.

Soucre:  theathletic.com