With the World Cup dwindling to a close, those in charge at Chelsea have decided to refocus on work at Stamford Bridge. They've returned to work by presumably taking care of the few odd jobs lingering about, like giving the training ground fence a lick of paint and sacking the manager they'd forgotten to fire.
The club confirmed the news today, presumably because they have a deal in place to replace Conte with Maurizio Sarri of Napoli. They did so with a very brief statement, just 61 words in length and devoid of any gratitude.
Chelsea Football Club and Antonio Conte have parted company.
During Antonio’s time at the club, we won our sixth league title and eighth FA Cup. In the title winning season, the club set a then-record 30 wins in a 38-game Premier League season, as well as a club-record 13 consecutive league victories.
We wish Antonio every success in his future career.
This isn't the norm at Chelsea: usually the sacked manager is at least granted a bit of goodwill. Here are a few examples:
The owner and board would like to thank Carlo [Ancelotti] for his contribution and achievements since taking over as manager in July 2009, which included winning the Double for the first time in the club's history..."Carlo will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge, where he will be given the reception and respect his position in our history deserves.
....
The club wishes to make clear Jose [Mourinho] leaves us on good terms and will always remain a much-loved, respected and significant figure at Chelsea.
His legacy at Stamford Bridge and in England has long been guaranteed and he will always be warmly welcomed back to Stamford Bridge.
....
Andre Villa-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today. The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.
Antonio Conte won more matches (69) as Chelsea manager than there were words in Chelsea's official statement (61) announcing he has left. Concise.
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) July 13, 2018
It became clear last season that Conte's position was more or less untenable as he fell out with the Chelsea hierarchy. The Telegraph have some good detail on what went wrong, which stems from Conte's failure to sign the players he wanted. (He wanted Virgil Van Dijk and Romelu Lukaku; he got Antonio Rudiger and Alvaro Morata).
Per that piece, as pre-season began a year ago, Conte called a meeting to supposedly welcome Chelsea's new signings and instead introduced Paolo Vanoli sand Davide Mazzotta, who had joined his backroom staff. This was to accentuate that there were no new players to show off.
It's all over now.
