If there was a league table for managers whose reputations are grander than their achievements, Mauricio Pochettino would be the runaway leader.
Fourteen years, two serious trophies - and Paris St Germain winning Ligue Un and the Coupe de France is like Tiger winning a couple of monthly medals.
From the love he gets, you would not believe it, but Pochettino still has a lot to prove as an elite coach and it seems he is going to get the chance to do just that at Chelsea … eventually.
For reasons best known to Pochettino and to the Stamford Bridge ownership, it would appear the Argentine’s new gig is not going to begin until the summer. And as the Chelsea of 2022/23 go from bad to worse to farcical, that is utterly ludicrous.
For the club’s sake, for Todd Boehly’s sake, for Frank Lampard’s sake, for his own sake, Pochettino needs to be in the technical area for the game against Arsenal at the Emirates next week.
If he is going to accept the job offer, there is surely no sort of compelling reason why he will not be pitch-side on Tuesday. For a start, he has had ten months off work, how long does he want?
And considering the problems that have beset Chelsea, why wouldn’t you be desperate to get the arduous task started as soon as possible?
In the remaining six Premier League matches, Pochettino would learn a lot about the character of so many players in the sprawling squad.
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He could see who is up for the fight and who isn’t, who is just there for the London lifestyle and largesse and who isn’t. He could make judgments on who he needs to stay and who he needs to go.
He could assess the strengths and weaknesses of the squad and, with the summer transfer market in mind, could advise Boehly accordingly. And goodness knows, Boehly can clearly do with all the sound football advice he can find.
His decision to employ Lampard as an interim manager is proving to be every bit as ludicrous as most people thought, if not more so.
It is excruciating to watch and listen to Lampard as a Chelsea legacy that seemed tamper-proof becomes tainted by his managerial disasters with the club. Lampard needs to get out, Pochettino needs to get in.
Most importantly, it would show he means business, no excuses. It would show he does not think this group of grossly under-performing players should be allowed to have another unofficial month off before they go on their official holidays.
It would show he intends to put a rocket beneath them. It would show he believes it is important for Chelsea to finish this season on some sort of upturn and even land a fatal blow on Arsenal’s title hopes.
Pochettino has produced some excellent teams in his time in the Premier League and did a fine job at Spurs. But he has a lot of targets to reach if he is to be considered as a truly elite manager.
And he is not going to do that by fiddling while the Bridge burns.
