Mauricio Pochettino's biggest task at Chelsea is far from winning over the fans if he is appointed. It's not even just turning things around on the pitch - things can hardly get worse. The Argentine has an opportunity to bend the club's young squad into something of his own; that's an attractive prospect.
Backed by ambitious, albeit so-far frenetic owners, Pochettino has the foundations of a strong young team on his hands. The issue is that there are still far too many players to do much with. With Kai Havertz injured Frank Lampard still had six attackers - five of them signed for more than £30million each - on the bench for the defeat against Brentford.
Trying to spin the plates of emotional discontent between frustrated players that aren't getting the game time they desire is a situation that so far three managers have failed to deal with across the past 11 months. Pochettino may have experience in the madhouse of Paris Saint-Germain but even then it is far from the sub-optimal working conditions at Stamford Bridge.
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Part of the reason for getting a manager like the former Spurs boss is his past achievements within a structure. When appointed in north London in 2014 he took over a squad that had used 31 players in the previous year. Chelsea so far have given minutes to 33.
In the first summer under Pochettino though there had been nine sales, eight loaned out and one player allowed to go for free. Only six players came in and the net spend was just over £10million. Despite the mass turnover Spurs finished one place higher in the league, scoring more goals.
The year after that Pochettino let 10 more players go - including five for free - and just two moved on loan. Five players were signed including the eventual revolutionary addition of Son Heung-min. Spurs made a net profit from player sales that year and just 22 players made 14 or more appearances across all competitions.
Within two years the first team playing squad had effectively been cut down by a third. Chelsea are in need of something very similar. It is, without exaggeration, a massive summer for the club. Following on from their previous worst season they made a key managerial appointment, added to the squad in right areas and went on to win the league.
Even in the best case scenario this is extremely unlikely this time round but it does represent a cause for careful optimism. If things are conducted well then a turnaround can happen quicker than the current league position, form and atmosphere would normally expect.
In effect, if Chelsea are able to give Pochettino control and say in what happens early enough then improvement is certainly on the cards. Without European football the squad management next season is going to be even more key. There are fewer minutes available and with Christopher Nkunku and Malo Gusto already adding to the squad size, the scale of what needs to happen is huge.
Returning loanees Ian Maatsen and Levi Colwill as well as the potential to see Romelu Lukaku once more could mean a base group of 38 to whittle down. Pochettino's best season at Spurs came with a squad of 24 players getting more than five appearances. That is already cutting down 14 from the group at Cobham without any additional incomings.
Pochettino is also used to operating under stricter financial control than Chelsea's new owners have shown. He had just £289.1million on new players between 2014/15 and 2017/18. The Blues had £559.6million worth of transfers come in this season alone.
Ultimately, these are points that will be discussed in talks between the 51-year-old and the club before his is appointed. What is clear is that if Chelsea are unable to match the necessary demands then the scale of improvement will be impacted negatively.
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