Whoever takes over from Guus Hiddink is going to have a hell of a job.
The Dutchman hasn’t won anything yet but, when you compare the look of the side he’s going to leave to the one he inherited, the new man is going to struggle.
On many occasions since he arrived, Chelsea have played not only with style but with substance, too.
It’s said that Roman Abramovich decided to invest in football after watching the 2003 Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Manchester United that finished 6-5 on aggregate.
When Chelsea beat Liverpool 7-5 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-finals this season, Abramovich finally got what he wanted.
Against Blackburn on Sunday, in Hiddink’s final game in charge at Stamford Bridge, his side were solid but played with verve, creating chance after chance, and were unlucky to win only 2-0.
The chants from the crowd during and after the game made it clear that he is the man the fans want in charge next season. Hiddink’s old friend Abramovich listened in and looked on with obvious delight.
Can Carlo Ancelotti or anyone else really have the same effect? Is there another man in the game who would get such universal support from the fans, the players and the owner?
Whoever comes in is going to be expected to get the side up to that level quickly and that’s not going to be easy. If nothing else, the fact that so many of the squad’s more experienced players are currently playing for their futures suggests it might be that much harder next time around.
Hiddink may not have delivered any silverware yet and, with the amount of ground they had to make up in the league and the unfortunate Champions League exit, we’ll never really know how good this side is.
But those in and around the club have now had a taste of what might have been at Stamford Bridge. If the new man is to survive, he may have little option but to turn those expectations into a reality.