Simon Jordan has launched a scathing attack on Chelsea and the ‘culture’ at the club, as manager Maurizio Sarri finds himself under pressure after only six months in charge.
The former Crystal Palace chairman also criticised Sarri for his ‘laughable’ outburst against his players following their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in Saturday’s London derby.
Sarri said he was ‘extremely angry’ with his team and blasted their mentality after a dreadful performance at the Emirates Stadium which saw them register just one shot on target.
It’s all looking very familiar for the club, whose previous two managers Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte both left amid fallings out with the dressing room.
And Jordan believes a rotten atmosphere at the club could be to blame.
“I think Chelsea have got a little bit of an issue with Sarri and what’s going on behind the scenes,” he told talkSPORT host Jim White on Wednesday.
“Sarri’s had this outburst which I found at the time a bit perplexing.
“I’m all for players and managers calling out one another and being honest, but I felt the approach he took in that outburst was implausible and laughable.
“When you call people out on their entire mental approach and the weakness of a group of players that clearly can’t be weak – they’ve won every aspect of every tournament, in different guises, but clearly they can’t be weak.
“Part of their inability to motivate themselves must come from the manager’s responsibility to motivate them as well, that’s part of his job.
“I think this is more about the culture of what’s happening at Chelsea.
“If you look at the culture at Chelsea and you look at the last three managers, at Antonio Conte’s public fall out with players, at Jose Mourinho – OK, Mourinho could fall out with an empty room – and Sarri now…
“You have to ask, is there a culture at Chelsea that creates such a pressure on their managers, that they feel such an extreme amount of pressure that they feel they have to redistribute the blame away from themselves?”