Chelsea’s owners have outlined a six-point plan designed to bring the good times back to the club in a message to supporters ahead of their final game of a season “brimmed with challenge and change.”
In the matchday programme ahead of Sunday's Premier League finale against Bournemouth, the ownership group admitted that “there have been some moments of frustration” but “countless reasons to be optimistic and excited for the years ahead.”
But going forward the owners, led by Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly, say their “promise” to fans remains giving them a club to be proud of. The message added: “The desire to achieve that burns stronger every day.
“In order to fulfil that, we believe we need to be doing the following:
While Pochettino’s men’s team have been out of Champions League contention for several months and lost both visits to Wembley this season in the domestic Cups, the women’s side won a fifth straight Super League title this weekend.
Pochettino will sit down with the club hierarchy next week for an end of season debrief and despite a significant improvement in form - with only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool accumulating more points in the second half of the campaign - there remains questions over whether the head coach will remain.
After last Wednesday’s 2-1 win away to Brighton, Pochettino was asked if he thinks finishing sixth would be considered satisfactory by the owners.
And he replied coyly, saying: “I don’t know because all season we’re talking. It looks like my words aren’t important and no one cares. People only care about rumours like this. If I say yes or no, it’s not important. The most important thing for me is winning games.”
A follow up question over whether Chelsea are beginning to look like a Pochettino team, prompted more confusion as he added: "It's not my team, it's a Chelsea team. After 15 years of working, you know my style in how I want to play. For me it’s not important to say.”