Chelsea Fan View: The Winning Mentality

It seems incredible to Chelsea supporters of a certain age, but last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final was Chelsea’s 23^rd.

In comfortably beating Southampton, Chelsea now head to their 13^th FA Cup final; their 10^th in 25 years and 6^th since Roman Abramovich bought the club.

For all the talk of this season being a disappointment, in the cold light of day finishing 5^th in the league; getting to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and the last 16 of the Champions’ League where they were knocked out by Lionel Messi’s brilliance as much as Barcelona, should be more than mitigated by winning the FA Cup.

That an 8^th FA Cup victory on May 19^th, putting Chelsea at third equal for most FA Cup final wins, would be seen as something of a disappointment is a mark of how far the club have come in the last 25 years.

In the 27 years that came between Chelsea’s first FA Cup trophy against Leeds United and their next against Middlesbrough in 1997; most Chelsea supporters could only dream of winning it again, let alone the league, or even European glory. A decent cup run was the limit of our expectations and we didn’t even get that most of the time.

Somewhere along the line, the club acquired an appetite for winning trophies, consistently. That much of this winning mentality was down to a certain Jose Mourinho, will not be lost on many of the Chelsea faithful, as they make their way to Wembley on May 19^th to face a Man Utd side managed by their previous manager.

For all the delight in getting to another FA Cup final, the comparison with rivals Spurs came sharply in to focus this weekend. Lauded by many in the media as a team to be admired and indeed deserving of silverware, the fact remains that, yet again, Spurs will finish this season without silverware. Most Chelsea supporters will be hoping that Spurs continue to go all ‘Spursy’ and contrive to lose two of their remaining Premier League fixtures and allow Chelsea to secure a top four Premier League finish at their expense.

Spurs have won only one trophy in the last 27 years, ironically the 2008 League Cup against Chelsea. In the same time frame Chelsea has won 19.

Chelsea supporters of course would not have it any other way. They are not concerned with platitudes for being run the right way, developing organically, playing the right way or putting on the pressure. They would rather be in with a chance of silverware every season and preferably winning some.

To win trophies any team will need experience; good management; hunger; desire and quality players delivering when the pressure is at its greatest, but at the heart of this is having a winning mentality.

To get the job done and get over the line the big players need to turn up and against Southampton on Sunday, Chelsea’s big players turned up and delivered.

Olivier Giroud confirmed his rich vein of form with his third goal in three games; Eden Hazard put in yet another man-of-the-match performance and even out of sorts striker Alvaro Morata scored.

Whether this season has failed to meet expectations or even deemed to be a disappointment, no Chelsea supporter would wish to swap positions with a Spurs supporter.

We now have another final to look forward to while Spurs contemplate what might have been. They may well finish in the top four of the Premier League but Chelsea has another shot at silverware.

The only obstacle in Chelsea’s path will be Jose Mourinho the very man who, perhaps, more than any other imbued the Roman Abramovich era Chelsea with a winning mentality.

Mourinho, the master at getting his teams over the line and getting the job done by any means necessary will be a very tough nut to crack. It might be a classic or it could be a dour affair, but the chance of beating our old rivals Utd and our ex-manager doesn’t get much better.

But given the level of success we have achieved over the last 25 years and the expectations that have come with it, will anything less than a victory and more silverware be considered a disappointment?

Having been at the FA Cup final last season to witness Chelsea beaten by Arsenal when most expected us to win, I can tell you that losing in the final two years in a row is not something I wish to contemplate.

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