City Can Learn From Chelsea's Long Path To Glory

It’s taken Roman Abramovich nine years to finally achieve his dream. It was 2003 when the Russian billionaire burst through the doors of Stamford Bridge swinging a wad of cash and demanding near perfection from every element of the club, but three league titles and a handful of domestic trophies later, Roman was still left waiting and wishing for Europe’s ultimate prize.

Chelsea’s tale is a similar story to Manchester City’s, with millions of pounds being laid out on the table in the search for European glory.

City can learn from the mistakes Chelsea made on the long road to their success in Munich, and use Roman’s play toy as a blue print of what to do and what not to do when nothing but a European Cup will do.

The eight different managers who have been at the helm since Claudio Ranieri lost his job in 2004 have destabalised the club, dressing room egos have seemingly become the puppet masters behind the scenes and the constant changes to a squad are all problems that can be viewed from afar by, and Sheikh Mansour can gaze upon his empire and say, “we don’t have to be like that.”

Mancini’s success has kept his job just about safe for another season but Mansour should look at the way Mancini reacts on the sideline and see that this is a manager who seems to truly care about the club he’s in charge of. This sort of passion doesn’t come around very often at a club and flippant changes of manager can make it hard for the new man coming in to truly settle.

The egos that have caused havoc over the last 12 months also need to be replaced with team players of similar quality, but with far better attitudes.  Although the lack of European success at Chelsea isn’t down to the likes of John Terry, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, Mancini and Mansour must understand the importance of having a team rather then a group of individuals with egos in.

Would Andre Villas-Boas have been able to get Chelsea past Napoli at Stamford Bridge this year? Would those three players really have put in the same performances under the man marked as Mourinho mark two?

Patience has to be the virtue that guides City’s decisions.  Chelsea’s long hunt for glory indicates just how hard it is to get to, let alone win, a European Cup final, but it also outlines the mistakes that City can avoid.

Mancini’s side’s first season in the tournament was a disappointing one, but it began a long learning curve that may take a couple of years to develop into anything close to success.

Keeping the ship steady will be essential for City to learn quickly from their European mistakes.

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