Chelsea Fan View: Has Chelsea’s FA Cup Final Victory Papered Over The Cracks?

As ends to the season go, winning the FA Cup for the eighth time in Chelsea’s history has to be right up there. Factor in beating Man Utd, managed by former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and then it feels even better for Chelsea supporters.

Sadly, the post-match euphoria was immediately replaced by the media seizing on all of the ills that seem to have beset Chelsea for much of this season. Antonio Conte attempted to score points against the Board; Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois declined to go the extra mile to dispel rumours they may leave the club this summer, being the most prominent.

Add to this Willian’s supposed dig at Conte by blocking him out of the team photo on his Instagram account and then the breaking news that Roman Abramovich has had his UK Visa application refused and one could be forgiven for thinking that Chelsea had been relegated rather than won the FA Cup, such was the level of hysteria and descending gloom about the club.

As the media hyped up Chelsea’s ‘Def Con 4’ level of crisis, it seemed sad that Chelsea supporters were not allowed to enjoy their moment of triumph. They certainly deserved to.

For them this has been a very difficult season. Watching Man City run away with the title Chelsea won only last season, funded by more money than even Roman Abramovich can dream of, was difficult enough. But Chelsea’s defence of the title was hampered even more by some poor acquisitions in the transfer market.

Even the transfers that should have worked failed. Alvaro Morata after a promising start failed to deliver anything like the goals and presence of Diego Costa. Tiemoue Bakayoko could not even replace the fairly average talents of Nemanja Matic. And then there were the peculiar additions of Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley, considered no more than squad players by manager and supporters alike, but worse, seemingly at the expense of home grown talent such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathaniel Chalobah. To add to the insult, they were injured on arrival.

Transfers whether they were enough or good enough apparently lay at the root of Antonio Conte’s disenchantment with the club this season. He may well have been right, after all he predicted that Chelsea would struggle to finish in the top four of the Premier League and this proved to be the case. However, his part in Chelsea’s downfall should not be underplayed.

Chelsea was second in the league at the turn of the year but their form thereafter was up and down at best and woeful at worst. Defeats to Man City, Bournemouth, Watford and Newcastle rank among some the most insipid and inept performances by Chelsea in recent memory. No fight, no leadership and no clue.

But far worse for Chelsea supporters was the 3-1 defeat at home by arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, bringing to an end a 28 year home unbeaten run. That’s sacrilege in and around Stamford Bridge and few players, let alone a manager are forgiven for misdemeanours such as this.

But over and above the ineptitude, it was Antonio Conte’s demeanour and attitude that seemed to feed a long festering negativity this season. Gone was the exuberant and passionate manager of Chelsea’s title winning season, replaced by a sullen, drained looking man who seemed hell bent on sabotage to hasten his sacking and pocket £9 million in the process.

When considering all of that, then yes, for Chelsea supporters, winning the FA Cup final last Saturday took on a far greater significance.

Perhaps it was the perfect FA Cup final weather that made it seem special, it seemed redolent of FA Cup finals from the past. Perhaps it was because the Cup was the only trophy Chelsea could win this year, its importance increasing as a result. Recent FA Cup final wins for Chelsea have been overshadowed by Premier League titles or Champions League wins, so the FA Cup had top billing for a change.

Maybe it was the desire to put right the disappointment of last season when Chelsea as overwhelming favourites, contrived to lose to Arsenal and miss out on a League and Cup double as a result.

All of this culminated in a great atmosphere and Chelsea supporters were definitely ‘up for the Cup’.

It was a great day out with great company which has always very much been what following Chelsea is all about, but the winning makes it all the sweeter. Do we care that it was a negative defensive performance or is it more amusing that we beat a Mourinho side using Mourinho tacitcs? Definitely. The final bonus of course being that with Chelsea winning their 8th FA Cup final, they move above Spurs as the third most successful side in the competition and now sit fourth in the list of all-time English trophy winners.

Has it papered over the cracks of a disappointing season? In all honesty, probably not, but should we just enjoy it for what it was? Absolutely.

Chelsea face a very uncertain summer but one thing I know for certain is that I’m quite happy to revel in Chelsea winning another FA Cup, at least 7 more than I ever thought I’d see in my lifetime.

Hopefully this will sustain me throughout the impending summer of madness for a little while yet.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast