Chelsea collapse not solely down to Wilkins' departure

At the time of the Chelsea-Arsenal fixture, the topic "Roman's Revenge" was trending on Twitter. As it turned out, this was neither a reference to Ray Wilkins’ treatment by the Chelsea owner, nor to his intentions for Carlo Ancelotti; rather it is an Eminem song that I must confess I've never heard of. Although ultimately only a coincidence, perhaps it was also a serendipitous prophecy, given the events of the evening.

As the media conducted their public autopsy of Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal, the pervading focus became Roman Abramovich’s decision to fire Ray Wilkins and whether or not it was to blame for their recent problems on the field. Injuries to key players have doubtless caused problems for them, but that is an affliction, which all clubs are forced to deal with during a season and Chelsea’s problems certainly seem to go deeper than either Lampard's groin injury or Alex's hamstring.

It did not take a genius to deduce that England's World Cup debacle could have ramifications for the key players involved and consequently their clubs; since the national team's return, England and John Terry seem to have been embroiled in a trial separation, which would be a distraction for most individuals in that position. Whether the resignation of Fabio Capello would bring about a change of heart in the former captain, is a matter of absolute conjecture, but given his failed attempt at a mutiny during the summer, there must be some debate within the FA whether or not they would have him back at all.

On current form, the Chelsea captain arguably doesn't deserve to be selected for the England team and at the age of only thirty, he looks like a shell of a player. Never particularly fast, even in his youth and with a gait that will increasingly make it easier to turn him, Terry is sitting deeper than ever and if he does push a high line, decent opposition manager’s will immediately target that as a weak link, as Wenger, through Walcott, proved last night. Terry's indomitable belief that he could mitigate any limitations through both leadership and his reading of the game is no longer apparent, either. Having occasionally elicited behaviour that suggested a brittle mentality, there must be a question mark over whether the current situation is retrievable for the former England captain, particularly without the support of a forgiving and stable professional environment.

With UEFA's financial fair-play looming, it was inevitable that a gradual erosion of some high-earners would come; the relocation to a new ground with a larger capacity has not been forthcoming, so revenue streams would seem to be at their optimal for Chelsea, at least in the short-to-medium term. Accordingly, the club decided to release Deco, Ballack, Joe Cole, Carvalho and Belletti during the summer, which probably saved them around £25-30 million a year in salaries. This also reduced the average age of the squad and removed some superfluous second-tier talents. However, although all disposable individually, collectively the squad lost a group of players with a hugely impressive haul of medals; five players with the proven ability and mentality to win. Regardless of the lack of the cover that releasing Carvalho caused; those five were replaced with Ramires and Yossi Benayoun.

The club's desire is evidently to countenance the loss of experience by integrating some of their outstanding youngsters into the first-team squad; a laudable policy, without doubt. Unfortunately for Chelsea supporters, to describe the process of transition as being cack-handed, would be an insult to the oft down-trodden cack-handers. In isolation, Josh McEachran is undoubtedly ready for the first-team squad and Gael Kakuta too [the entire squad doesn’t have to be Champions League winning quality], but when the cull of senior players came during the summer, it was too much; if not absolutely too soon for all.

Chelsea's flirtation with prospective new strikers throughout the last twelve months [Torres, Neymar, Aguero and Pato to name just the four that became public] has also been mismanaged. The likely ramification of targeting such high-quality will have surely been to place doubts in Didier Drogba’s mind over where his future lies; the talismanic Ivorian’s ability has not been under the microscope since his first season in England, but his future at Chelsea has never been in doubt, before. Another issue easily manageable in isolation; it’s far from an issue in isolation right now. The corollary of Drogba’s future being examined was always likely to be a destabilising affect on other players close to him: Salomon Kalou, Florent Malouda, John Mikel-Obi and Nicolas Anelka.

For Chelsea fans, their experiences under Abramovich until now, have been more akin to travelling on a monorail than a rollercoaster but, with Russia winning the bid to host the 2018 World Cup, they could soon start to feel like they are riding the Manchester tram system hurtling rapidly towards “Rita’s Kabin”.

From a country built on the perception [if not the reality] of the collective being paramount, it would be bad form for Mr Abramovich to not support his comrades, at least without special dispensation from the very top. He has already invested £250million to redevelop an island in central Moscow, which will also house his art collection and take-up much of his girlfriend's attentions, but more disconcerting for Chelsea fans, would be Vladimir Putin’s barbed comments towards their owner: “I don’t rule out that Mr Abramovich may take part in one of these projects. Let him open his wallet a little. It’s no big deal – he won’t feel the pinch. He has plenty of money,” he said in reference to the £2.4 billion Russia to need to spend on stadia. An investment in a Moscowian club, in lieu of an English one, would seem to be one realistic conclusion for all parties, as the country prepares to reinvent herself infront of the watching world.

A likeable character and clearly someone whom Ancelotti trusted; Wilkins' departure will certainly have undermined any internal perception amongst the players and staff that they form part of a cohesive, trustworthy environment but, for all their current problems, should Abramovich invest in the January transfer window this "moment" could prove to be just that. If the owner does not retain the hunger, though, the team will have an extraordinary struggle [by their recent standards] to even finish in the top four; and Ray Wilkins' departure may not just prove to be "the straw that broke the camel's back", but also that Chelsea had, within six months, ostensibly become the proverbial house of cards.