Having spent extravagantly during their first summer at Chelsea, a consortium headed by Todd Boehly believed that throwing money at their new project would act as the catalyst for a charge for silverware.
Instead, the new owners oversaw the club's worst campaign in three decades, with a remarkable four different incumbents in the dugout left feeling befuddled by the masses of options made available to them.
The Big Six can be rendered a thing of the past - Newcastle United have made sure of that - but Chelsea will be left to deal with the ramifications of a bottom-half finish in the Premier League table on the back of the most relentless period of spending that football has ever seen.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look back at Chelsea's memorable 2022-23 campaign, the majority of it for the wrong reasons.
SEASON OVERVIEW
© Reuters
Final league position: 12th
EFL Cup: Third round
FA Cup: Third round
Champions League: Quarter-finals
Top scorer: Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling (9)
Most assists: Mason Mount (6)
On the back of third place in the Premier League and two penalty-shootout defeats in cup finals during 2021-22, Chelsea and their new owners were left striving for more at the beginning of the season, yet they somehow put together their worst campaign since the nineties.
Being paired with and losing to Manchester City in the EFL Cup and FA Cup third rounds was bad luck. The constant injuries to important players have been untimely. Three managers can point to a wide array of big chances missed as the reasons why their tenures of varying lengths were undermined. However, those factors are in no way justification for the chaos that has been brought to Chelsea by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
There has been a brashness about how they have gone about their business. Showing a willingness to spend excessive amounts of money - over £600m across two transfer windows - was naively supposed to show ambition, make a statement that they want to do things their own way, but their decision-making between September and April made the club a laughing stock in the eyes of their rivals, new-found ones after a 12th-placed finish.
© Reuters
Thomas Tuchel was sacked on September 7 - just a week after the first splurge. Chelsea had collected 10 points from six Premier League games - beating Everton, Leicester City and West Ham United, but losing away at Leeds United by a 3-0 scoreline and going down 2-1 at Southampton. Losing their Champions League opener to Dinamo Zagreb led to a departure 15 hours later that took everyone by surprise, and the surprises followed when Chelsea quickly agreed to pay eye-watering amounts of money to acquire the services of Graham Potter from Brighton & Hove Albion by 4pm the next day.
Initially, the decision proved to be inspired. Potter recorded six wins and three draws in his first nine games, a run that included a five-match winning streak and notable Champions League triumphs over AC Milan (twice) and Red Bull Salzburg. However, Potter's return to the Amex Stadium proved to be the start of his downfall, the Blues being 2-0 down within 14 minutes and eventually losing 4-1.
Either side of the World Cup break, Potter would oversee seven further defeats in 10 matches, the only victories during that time being a European dead-rubber with Dinamo Zagreb and a home Premier League fixture with Bournemouth. As a result, Boehly and co again went on the offensive in the transfer market, their confidence not hit by none of Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang delivering value for money since their summer arrivals.
© Reuters
To their credit, the owners put some thought into their January signings. Many clubs in Europe would welcome having the likes of Benoit Badiashile, Enzo Fernandez, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Joao Felix in their senior ranks, and Brazilian youngster Andrey Santos could prove to be a potential superstar given time.
Nevertheless, the sheer aggressiveness of the approach attracted criticism, the stock-piling of players made some aspects of training-ground life unworkable and, most importantly of all, a new recognised centre-forward was not signed.
On January 1, Chelsea had scored just 20 goals from 16 matches, and throughout the first month of 2023, they netted just three times during six fixtures in all competitions. In the eyes of Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Felix was supposed to provide the goals that Chelsea lacked, even though he had never scored more than 10 times in a single season for Atletico Madrid.
A four-game undefeated streak in the Premier League between January 15 and February 11 gave reason for optimism, but three clean sheets were undermined by just two goals at the other end.
Three successive defeats in all competitions were followed by three successive wins, most notably the turnaround in the Champions League last 16 as Chelsea overturned a first-leg deficit versus Borussia Dortmund on a thrilling night that we will speak about in further depth later, but momentum was lost in the final game before the March international break as Everton twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge.
© Reuters
Even with Chelsea now down in 10th and four points adrift of sixth position, there were few inklings at this point that Potter would be sacked, but a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa led to the Englishman losing his position in the dugout after just 31 games, recording 12 wins, eight draws and 11 defeats.
Bruno Saltor - a member of Potter's coaching staff - stepped in to lead the team versus Liverpool two days later in a game which ended goalless - but Frank Lampard's presence at that encounter proved to be noteworthy as he was soon handed the reins on a caretaker basis until the end of the season.
The move proved to be unproductive for all concerned. During a period where it became increasingly inevitable that Chelsea would miss out on European qualification, Lampard would collect just five points from nine games, leading to Chelsea failing to reach 50 points for the first time in Premier League history.
In the early days of Lampard's short stint, Chelsea played Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals, going down 2-0 in each leg to bow out of the continental scene - in the short and perhaps the long term - with a whimper.
While responsibility for Chelsea's failures should not lie directly at the door of any particular head coach, manager or player, Tuchel, Potter and Lampard delivered just 16 wins between them from 50 matches in all competitions, and it is now up to Mauricio Pochettino to find the reasons why.
PREMIER LEAGUE STATS
Wins: 11 (=12th)
Draws: 11 (=5th)
Losses: 16 (=9th)
Goals scored: 38 (=16th)
Goals conceded: 47 (=7th)
Yellow cards: 77 (9th)
Red cards: 3 (=2nd)
Passes: 21,149 (4th)
Shots: 484 (8th)
Big chances missed: 52 (6th)
Saves: 116 (=7th)
Tackles: 740 (2nd)
Own goals: 3 (=6th)
Hit woodwork: 15 (=9th)
Clearances: 628 (16th)
HOW DID IT COMPARE TO LAST SEASON?
© Reuters
This is a section which is only going to go one way, and Chelsea fans are advised to look away once we have delivered what can be perceived to be a positive. A quarter-final exit to Real Madrid matched the effort from the previous campaign, even if the 5-4 aggregate defeat to Los Blancos in 2021-22 was deemed heroic and this year's attempt less so.
Chelsea have some justification for not reaching the finals of the EFL Cup and FA Cup. In their first ties of each competition, they were handed away matches at Manchester City, games which ended in 2-0 and 4-0 defeats. It means that they have only lost to the eventual winners, finalists or a Premier League champion in their last two appearances in either tournament, but that would be enforcing positive spin on it in the extreme.
The Premier League comparisons are far uglier. Chelsea won 10 fewer games than they did in 2021-22 - going from 21 victories to 11 - whereas they lost 10 more contests - increasing from six to 16. It led to a positional change of third to 12th which, while not unprecedented in the Premier League era, is a highly rare occurrence.
Although it is no secret that Chelsea's efficiency in the final third has dropped off, it is astounding that they scored exactly half of the goals that they managed in the top flight last season, dropping from 76 goals to a mere 38. Chelsea only netted seven more goals than lowest scorers Wolverhampton Wanderers in this year's Premier League.
In terms of points, Chelsea accumulated 30 fewer than 2021-22, only managing 44 in comparison to the 74 that delivered Champions League football a year earlier. Just 68 points were required to guarantee a top-four place this year, although it may have been more had fifth-placed Liverpool not been involved in a dead-rubber on the final weekend.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON: ENZO FERNANDEZ
© Reuters
When so few players have started more than half of Chelsea's Premier League fixtures, it is an impossible task to conclusively determine a standout player of the season.
Many will automatically suggest Thiago Silva for the obvious qualities that he brings to the table and the fact that it is difficult to suggest an alternative, yet this accolade should probably go to Enzo Fernandez.
In his 18 starts, the Argentina international has not justified his price tag by any means, but he has at least shown why Chelsea were persistent in their efforts to convince Benfica to sell during the middle of the season.
Most of Fernandez's numbers are nothing special - he has also only been involved in just three league wins - although it has become apparent that the 22-year-old will be one of the first names on the team sheet under Pochettino.
Aside from Fernandez and Silva, Conor Gallagher is the only other player that came into consideration because of his regular involvement and commitment to the cause, but the fact that the Englishman gets a mention for those reasons tells you that it was slim pickings.
STANDOUT RESULT: CHELSEA 2-0 BORUSSIA DORTMUND
© Reuters
Surprisingly, there were a few contenders for this award, all of them coming in the Champions League. Having defeated eventual semi-finalists AC Milan both home and away in the group stages without conceding, Chelsea travelled to Red Bull Salzburg and ended the Austrian side's 40-match unbeaten home record to book their spot in the last 16.
When Borussia Dortmund were paired with Chelsea in the draw in November, it was perceived to be a favourable draw, but Dortmund were resurgent after the winter break and had been on a winning streak at the same time that the Blues were enduring contrasting fortunes.
That continued in the first leg - Chelsea failing to take their chances at Westfalenstadion and succumbing to a 1-0 defeat - but it set up the second leg at Stamford Bridge, a game which Potter's side won 2-0 on a memorable night in West London.
Chelsea had again wasted opportunities before Sterling found the roof of the net from close range to level the tie on aggregate, yet the drama was to follow in the second period.
Havertz scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot, albeit at the second time of asking after his first effort - which struck the post - was chalked off due to encroachment from a Dortmund player.
During an absorbing tie, more goals were expected, but Chelsea hung on to book their place in the quarter-finals, where they were ultimately outclassed by Real Madrid.
> Click here for a full list of Chelsea's results from the 2022-23 season
BEST MOMENT
© Reuters
While each of the aforementioned Champions League results could have easily been selected here, it is the significance of the Fernandez signing that wins out.
Chelsea's level of spending has brought mixed results because they have gambled on prospects, flavours of the month or players who have already peaked at other clubs.
The acquisition of Fernandez is the only occurrence where you can say that Chelsea have signed a genuine proven world-class player for the long term, and it acts as their beacon to show other targets the level of ambition that the club has, rather than taking the perception that it is a scatter-gun approach with minimal thought process.
Fernandez has spoken on more than one occasion of his love for London and although he should be a mainstay at a Champions League club, there are no concerns that he will push for a quick exit.
Bringing in that extra bit of Argentine familiarity in Pochettino can only aid Fernandez's progress at Chelsea, and a team will ultimately be built around a player who the next head coach and Chelsea will feel lucky to have at their disposal.
TOP PRIORITY FOR SUMMER
© Reuters
Chelsea have so many issues that need resolving that you cannot pinpoint one specific area, but most important of all will be complying with Premier League regulations.
While Boehly and co were already needing to oversee sales this summer, that task has been made more urgent with less Premier League prize money and no European football for next season. Revenue streams have decreased, meaning that further reductions of the playing squad and wage bill are a necessity.
Despite the mass incomings over the past two transfer windows, though, Chelsea are still short in several areas, and that needs to be rectified if they are to avoid becoming a club locked in mid-table obscurity in the long term.
On top of the expected arrival of Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig, a new goalkeeper, central midfielder and centre-forward are an absolute must, as may a player who can played as the most advanced of a midfield three or as a number 10 behind the striker.
Pochettino will already have a core of academy graduates at his disposal, but he must also begin the process of integrating the next batch of Chelsea prospects into the senior ranks.
Lewis Hall has already shown that he is worthy of a place in Pochettino's squad, while current Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Levi Colwill and Brazilian starlet Andrey Santos should also be included in his new-look group, one which should be restricted to 23 to 25 players.
FINAL VERDICT
On pretty much every level, Chelsea's season has been a disaster of epic proportions. It is not unfair to label it as that. The overriding feeling is that 19 years of success and continuity in the upper echelons of the Premier League and European football under Abramovich has been destroyed by chaotic decision-making.
The 12th-placed finish in the Premier League is not the main story. It's the self-inflicted weakening of the club's standing in the sport, position with FFP and pulling power when it comes to attracting some of the best players in the world. Their desire to experience London life will only tempt them so far.
Pochettino should be provided with whatever time that he requires and desires behind the scenes to instigate change. His hands are going to be tied with certain aspects of his job, but he is also going to have more time on the training ground to get his message across. The lack of European football could be a blessing in disguise.
With Tottenham Hotspur also failing to finish in the top seven, Boehly and Clearlake Capital have perhaps been given the wake-up call that they need. The Big Six in the Premier League is no more. Haphazard approaches to signing players rarely work. There should never be any complacency with regards to revenue in the modern-day game.
Get the next phase wrong and it is not an exaggeration to suggest that Chelsea could face years out of the competitive spotlight.
