Thomas Tuchel continues to show just exactly why Chelsea should invest in a long term contract with the German.
He becomes the first-ever Chelsea manager to win The Best FIFA Men's Coach Award, an award genuinely worth bragging about. He beats Pep Guardiola and Roberto Mancini to the prestigious in the process.
We cannot overstate how much of an impact Tuchel has had. Not only on the Chelsea team but also with the fans.
In the lead up to his one year anniversary with the Blues, fans have shown nothing but gratitude, and here at Carefree Chelsea, we share the same feeling. He was better than the rest in 2021, and it's not even close.
Anita Abayomi
Tuchel is top three coaches in the Premier League, and he isn't number three. I'll just let that sink in. The moment I'd realised that he was set different from Chelsea's previous platter of managers was not when we won the Champions League. It was during the Champions League semi-final.
Being able to instil a certain level of belief in such a young and dysfunctional group of players is extremely underrated. I say dysfunctional due to all the rumours circulating regarding players' attitude in the dressing room.
It had dawned on me what Tuchel had truly accomplished—entering a Chelsea side that was sitting at 9th place in the league and reinstalling enough confidence to beat Real Madrid...
He is genuinely already one of the greatest managers to step foot in Stamford Bridge. Give him the keys to build a fortress, Mr Abramovich. You will not regret it.
Daniel Childs
It speaks to how brilliantly Tuchel has done in under 12 months that this award not only feels deserved but just par for the course with the German at the help.
His incredible influence to transform players who had been widely doubted into that 3-4-2-1 formation that went on to become Europe's best team will forever be considered one of Chelsea's greatest coaching achievements. The fresh sense of optimism and swagger he's brought back to west London is infectious, and his handling of the media has been masterful.
Few bad words can be said about him, in fact, you'd assume Tuchel has been in Chelsea's hearts for many years rather than just about 12 months. As someone who has always admired German coaching from afar, it is incredible to witness such an intelligent mind work on our teams with his innovative ways of altering players positions and making players better.
I can only hope his next 12 months are as impactful.
Jake Stokes
Tuchel has created and maintained a bind with Chelsea fans over a prolonged period that I don't think any other Blues boss has been able to do.
Of course, managers are judged by results, but he's always had a perfect understanding of when the tide is coming in and going out - it's not that he's a 'yes man' to the fans, but he's on the same wavelength.
The likes of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have been able to do the same, obviously, but not for as long as Tuchel has.
I think the same concept can be applied to Thiago Silva, in a way; they're both people who want to win, and can win, at the highest level, but on a social level, they just get it.
In all fairness, I would've said the same about Frank Lampard after his first year in charge, and we saw how quickly that changed.
If Chelsea is ever going to get out of this mentality of continuously changing managers, then Tuchel will be the one to buck the trend.
I want him to be 'that guy' at Chelsea, their own Guardiola or Klopp, who stays for at least three years and builds a project, but I can't see it happening - presuming the forms drops, why would Abramovich move away from a managerial formula that works for him?
Scott Clayton
I'll be honest and truthful as I'm that fan that loves to be proven wrong and when he is. I own up and take it on the chin. It might have been due to my fanboy Frank Lampard obsession, but I wasn't that thrilled when we hired Tuchel as Chelsea manager. I promised I wouldn't get attached and watch and wait for the problems to arise like always and the drama to escalate.
Sadly, this has happened over the last few weeks with poor performances, but Tuchel has proven me wrong.
He has played academy players. He got this team competing at the top again and made me fail because I am now attached to him as manager. I'm sticking with Tuchel through thick and thin like I always try to.
Tuchel has been brilliant for Chelsea this last year and thoroughly deserves the award.
The real hard job starts now when he has given the board and fan base a reason to achieve more. Expectations have gone up like under Antonio Conte, and he now needs to take the side onto the next level. I believe he can do that.
That 18 to 24-month type Chelsea manager curse is creeping around, and I hope the board doesn't do what they always do when things start to dip.
I'm certain Tuchel will just shrug his shoulders to the FIFA award and much rather win trophies with his side, but to us fans, to see him get the award we all feel he deserves is music to our ears. Congratulations Thomas.
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