Scolari arrived and after the Grant forced parenthesis the first real stage of the transition from bulldozer to butterfly could finally begin. 

The Brazilian also came with a reputation that he is not afraid to make hard decisions when his mind is made up.  Before his world cup win with Brazil they were on the verge of not qualifying when he took over. Once through to the finals, against strong public opinion he insisted on taking along a certain youngster called Kaka and left behind a tearful Romario.

Here was a manager with a top class pedigree and a samba-esque insistence in his image of football. 

True, no experience in European football (and certainly the Premier League has to be the harshest test for any new manager new to the continent) but the initial stages of the season soon dispelled any doubts many had.   The football was fast, expansive and open - the opposition couldn’t live with us.  A series of impressive wins put the points in the bag and an enormous goal difference.  Club suits and fans alike all gave each other knowing nods and a satisfied outlook on the season before us. 

But soon after the opening months of the league, the rest of the Premier League clubs gradually worked out a plan; cover the flying full-backs that push up, block the wide channels and force them inside where a packed midfield or a layered, tight defensive unit could restrict damage to a minimum.  Confidence inexplicably fell, the convincing wins dried up and we had become victims of our own panache.

Then losing to our main rivals and being shut out by lesser teams brought understandable concerns.  A current third place in the league is perceived as a travesty and not just good enough whether Scolari is trying to carry out a metamorphosis or not.  Expectations are higher than before and some quarters are now calling for his head.  Nevertheless, many ignore crucial factors and the frustration is, in my view, causing many of us to judge Scolari far too harshly. 

The new manager has had little opportunity in bring in the players he wanted to carry out the remit he was given. In fact, the season had got off to a bad start before it even begun.  The ONE key player Scolari required, the club failed to bring him – Robinho. 

Scolari is just in his first season at Stamford Bridge and the players in his squad are basically the same ones that José Mourinho had brought in overlaid upon a Ranieri built backbone.  Mourinho could buy and mould the players he needed to carry out his vision of football - Scholari has had no such luxury of course but nevertheless was prepared to make a start in transforming our style of football.

Lack of initial support from the club

So why this lack of support from the club to a manager who has been given a task to carry out in what should be one of the most important phases in our history?  My only conclusion is that Scolari has been in on it all along.   

A plan was mapped out to him during the summer in Geneva.  Scolari understood it and agreed to it before signing on the dotted line.  He knew the club were to bring about the beginning of a new stage in Chelsea’s history but that they were also keen to break even as near to initial target date as possible. 

He also knew that during his first season he would benefit from little transfer activity, but however, he was also told by the club that they would pull out all the stops to sign Robinho.  The club believed the player was in the bag and when the perceived dream crumpled into spectacular failure during the last hours of the summer transfer window there was no time to peruse alternatives – a major flaw in the clubs planning. 

January and summer transfer windows 

The January window provides little opportunity to make key signings but by then, the 25m “saved” on the Robinho deal, coupled with a now confirmed recession (probably causing Putin to request that Abramovich didn’t flash the cash too much in January whilst Russia is in financial chaos) only gave cause for Kenyon to salivate at the prospect of using circumstances to get nearer to a financial break-even.

“The long-term plan here was always that we needed to be non-loss making and self-funding. All that the current global financial situation means is that you look at ways of accelerating that because that is right for Chelsea,” said Kenyon.'

"This is not a diktat by Roman. He is absolutely committed and passionate about the club, but he is also a very good businessman which is why he had enough money to put 600 million into the club in the first place." 

"I'm not sure there are major players available in January, that's the reality.  What is the point in bringing players in - and Felipe (Scolari) is completely on board with this - if the only ones available are not good enough to improve what we've got?"

I was sure that the club would bring in at least one player for Scholari in January but who would this player have been anyway?  Kenyon had a point.  Who is available that could form a genuine part of the long-term future of Chelsea that is also not tied in the Champions League? (As I write Quaresma has just been signed on loan until the end of the season. A skilful wide player we desperately need and a player Scolari knows – but cup tied for the CL).