'The doubt was from outside' - what Champions League means for Chelsea

Enzo Maresca finished with six more points than predecessor Mauricio Pochettino had last season Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca left Nottingham Forest's City Ground aiming a swear word at his critics. In fairness, the Italian did self-censor it, but was keen to stress he "didn't have any doubt about the players. The doubt was from outside". His comments followed a vital 1-0 win in which homegrown defenderLevi Colwill tapped in the winnerat the far post, and he then celebrated with the away supporters. They all knew the significance of that goal in the 1-0 win at the City Ground to qualify for the Champions League, with co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali among the backroom staff celebrating on the pitch. It now means, regardless of what happens in the Conference League final against Real Betis on Wednesday, Chelsea can finally point to a season being a tangible success since both Roman Abramovich and Thomas Tuchel departed west London. Multiple senior figures played down the importance of qualifying for Europe's elite competition, which is worth an estimated £80m-£100m, for Premier League profit and sustainability rule (PSR) reasons. They also said that qualification was not crucial for Maresca to stay in the job as they always planned to review his management after two full seasons. However, this is important for the optics of this project which has invested £1.7bn in what was the youngest average age for starting XIs across a Premier League season - just 24 years and 36 days. When asked about Chelsea's critics, in a season where there has been fringe fan protests, Maresca said: "I didn't have any doubt about the players. The doubt was from outside. All the ones that have the answers or the ones that have the truth, they were saying that we are too young, we are not good enough, they were waiting for Aston Villa to drop points for us to achieve the Champions League. "They were saying that we were not able to win on this pitch because we are too young, because we are not experienced. "Unfortunately for them, they have all been wrong. All the ones that have the truth and have the answer to everything. "So in English, how you say? [expletive deleted] to all of them, because the players deserve that. The effort they have been doing is fantastic." Maresca was already safe before Chelsea kicked a ball on Sunday. The Stamford Bridge hierarchy, who appointed Maresca on a five-year deal last summer, remain impressed with the Italian. They believe his style of play will ultimately pay off. They feel injuries are a clear reason behind a dip in form over the winter period. They also highlight underlying data, like Chelsea being second in the league for missed chances, fifth in expected goals (xG) and only Liverpool have had more shots in the league, to illustrate that they are creating scoring opportunities, even if they are not always finishing them. Ownership figures have privately expressed admiration in recent years at how Arsenal rebuilt around Mikel Arteta, and similarly Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, from a low base to regularly achieve high points totals in the league. This is despite misgivings about Maresca's style of play and, at times, results among the fanbase, but the decision-makers want to prove they can provide stability after two seasons of hiring and firing managers. Joao Felix produced two subdued goal celebrations after scoring against Morecambe in the FA Cup before moving on loan to AC Milan Maresca was asked last week whether Cole Palmer deserves to play in the Champions League. He answered: "Absolutely yes, I don't think Cole is the only player who deserves, I think Moi [Moises Caicedo] also, Enzo Fernandez and Levi Colwill deserves Champions League. We have many players in terms of status deserve to play in the Champions League." That sense of deserving to be there was a double-edged sword for Chelsea in a bid to keep players at the top end of their squad happy. But, similarly, fringe players grew frustrated only playing Conference League matches at the beginning of the season. There ended up being one team for Europe's third-tier competition, featuring players like Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, Axel Disasi and Renato Veiga - all of whom either left or explored leaving in January, and another featuring star names like Palmer, Caicedo, Fernandez and Colwill for the Premier League. It could help those on the fringes to now offer Champions League football instead of the Conference League, but those players will also have to get used to playing much higher-level opposition. Within two months of chants of "we've got our Chelsea back" in the win over Brentford in December, many supporters started chanting "we want our Chelsea back" two months later. There was also a fringe protest movement against the ownership at a game at home to Southampton in February. Anger has since simmered down but other bones of contention, including matchday prices,Boehly's ongoing investmentin a ticket reseller, and the emergence ofa rift between two factionsin the consortium, could flare it up again. The ownership, which had never been involved in football before, is getting more used to the noise of owning a Premier League club. As Boehly explained at the Qatar Economic Forum this week: "It's like owning anything [there are highs and lows]. This one is a little more in my face, but the good thing is the bad news is good news. It means people care. "The level of competition is ferocious but it means the margin for error is so small." Of course, there is no doubt that reaching the Champions League is important from a financial perspective. Qualification is worth between £80m-£100m depending on performance, with additional ticket sales and commercial revenue to be made. One of the factors behind Chelsea going without a shirt sponsor for the majority of this season was they struggled to attract their estimated £60m-per-season partner without participation in the competition. They are in talks with other partners for next season, with just two games left on their short-term deal with Dubai property company Damac. It is worth noting PSR is calculated over a three-year period, so Chelsea's next set of accounts would have had no such revenue from Uefa's top-tier competition if they had fallen short. That is especially pertinent as Chelsea now have the lowest revenues of the traditional big six, with £468.5m outlined in the latest set of accounts, below the £528.2m of Tottenham at the lower end and Manchester City's £715m at the top end. The sale of two hotels for £76.5m in a related party transaction to parent company BlueCo in 2023, followed by a similar move toshift the women's teamto the same parent company for £198.7m in 2024, is all that has kept them compliant with PSR in the past two seasons. However, it is worth noting that the club's financial position is also strengthened by thechance to earn between £40m and £97mat the Club World Cup this summer. Chelsea were always going to look to sign a striker, right-footed left winger and potentially a centre-back this summer, but expect them to be even more aggressive now. Supporters will soon be demanding they use that extra revenue to bridge the gap to champions Liverpool, who finished 15 points above Chelsea.