I’ve seen a lot of criticism for John Obi Mikel, but I’ve also seen other fans completely backing him and appreciate the fact he is out there in the public eye with a large voice, fighting the good fight for our club.
I can see why Mikel annoys people. Some of his opinions are wild, erratic, and extreme. Sometimes he goes way over the top and his opinions contradict his previous views.
One minute he is meeting with the owners and bigging them up, the next minute he is slating them for a 60 minute Podcast! One minute he is slating Nico Jackson, the next he is telling us to back the players. I completely see all this and people are right to call it out.
Of course, anyone with a Podcast is there for it to make money with the odd exception that they might just enjoy it as a hobby. So of course the wilder the opinions then the more listens it will get, naturally.
But Mikel is literally just being Mikel. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who know Mikel much better than we all do this week and they have assured me this is just how he is. He is emotional, sometimes overly emotional, but he is passionate and is literally still just one of Chelsea’s biggest fans. He deeply cares about the state of the club. He is absolutely not acting here when he speaks, that’s literally just how he is! He’s eccentric and is a real character who articulates his opinions with swearing, passion and emotions.
But yes, I do understand why some find him annoying.
For me, I am pleased that he is out there being such a high profile person who played for the club and gets his voice heard on a global scale. Some of his points are spot on and need to be said. For me, he is fighting our fight for us. We all want to change the model at the very least, Mikel making some of our opinions heard is only a good thing.
Here are some of the things he’s said this week which for me are spot on, and it’s not even a debate (in my opinion):
“The pressure should always be on the owners. It’s about winning trophies. If you buy Chelsea Football Club and think you are only here to make profit, you can f**k off. The more the fans get frustrated, you never know what could happen.”
“The recruitment process has been really poor. The January window they weakened the squad! We went from a position of depth to a position of weakness!”
“2 wins in 9? Roman would’ve landed the helicopter and the manager would’ve been gone. I’m not calling for the sacking, but it’s crisis, it’s not right what’s going on at this club.”
“It’s gonna be a f’ing disaster if we don’t finish in champions league position. I hate what the manager has said, who the f told you that? Are you f’ing kidding me? This is Chelsea Football Club.
“I can’t just stay silent, If you’re a Chelsea fan, don’t accept what’s going on is right, it’s not, your voice is needed, our voice is needed.”
Whilst some people find his passion too much, I think the points he has made here are spot on. Some don’t like the swearing but for me, I sometimes like to articulate myself like that too. Sometimes it’s the only way.
I’m not hearing that ‘Chelsea has changed and we are not Chelsea anymore.’ We know that, we know we aren’t the same club. But why should we let standards drop just because we have different owners? They knew the club they were buying, it wasn’t Accrington Stanley was it!? The only way standards drop is if people (fans and those at the club) allow it to. There’s absolutely no reason to let standards drop just because ‘football has changed’ or this is ‘not the same Chelsea’ anymore. Make it the same then! It’s literally so easy to get Chelsea challenging again, but they are only interested in raw prospects (who will make them money if they’re no good) and being Brighton. I do agree that we need to realise this lot are not Roman Abramovich and he was one of a kind. But there is absolutely no reason that we should not be aiming as high as Roman and setting high standards as a club.
