Chelsea Under-21 head coach Calum McFarlane was travelling to the Windsor light show with his wife and children on New Year’s Day when he received a call from one of his superiors asking how soon he could get to Cobham.
Enzo Maresca was no longer in charge, and Chelsea needed someone to temporarily take the lead for their trip to Manchester City on Sunday.
Naturally, McFarlane never made it to Windsor, so the missus wasn’t too pleased, but he will be under the lights of the Etihad Stadium. Him in one technical area, managing his first-ever senior match, and Pep Guardiola in the other, overseeing his 562nd for City.
When McFarlane pulled into Cobham an hour later, the 37-year-old parked by the academy building out of habit. Only this time, he walked towards the first-team headquarters, a new all-access security pass having been prepared for him in advance.
The immediate futures of Maresca’s backroom members, including Willy Caballero, are still being finalised. They were contracted to Chelsea, after all, not Maresca. But Caballero and Co are not currently helping with the City trip.
Instead, McFarlane, his Under-21s assistants Andy Ross and James Simmonds, academy analyst Adam Keep and the set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva, who does hold a UEFA Pro Licence of his own, spent their Thursday afternoon studying videos of Guardiola’s side. They worked late, also watching City’s 0-0 draw away at Sunderland live.
Chelsea’s U21s manager Calum McFarlane will take charge of the senior team for their trip to Manchester City
He gave up a family day out to Windsor to respond to Chelsea in their hour of need
The first team, led by captain Reece James, are supportive of a man who never played professionally and has never managed a senior game
McFarlane spoke with co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, as well as co-owner Behdad Eghbali, who has been at Cobham to work on finalising their next head coach. Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior remains the favourite to replace Maresca. Their message to McFarlane was: ‘We fully support you and trust you and good luck.’
On Friday morning, Chelsea’s players returned to the training ground for the first time since Tuesday’s disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge. A meeting, described as fairly informal, was held with Winstanley and Stewart explaining to Cole Palmer et al what had happened and what was coming next. McFarlane and his staff were also officially introduced to the squad, who, led by club captain Reece James, are said to have been extremely supportive of the situation he is in.
Training ran a little longer than planned – plenty to get through – but McFarlane then came in to meet the media. He is not used to press conferences, so some nerves were understandable. It was a packed room, too, but the young coach handled himself well as he discussed his ‘crazy’ 24 hours.
We asked him to tell us his coaching journey in his own words, and McFarlane said: ‘I’ve only been here for six months. I joined in the summer from Southampton where, for two years, I was the Under 21s coach and Under 18s coach.
‘Before that, I was at Manchester City for three years, working various different roles at 15s, 16s, and 18s. Before that, I was at Norway for three years at a club called Tromso and previous to that, I was at Fulham and Crystal Palace, so it’s been a long journey but I’m here now.
‘I wanted to be a footballer, but I wasn’t good enough. I started coaching really early at 16. I had a wide array of coaching experiences, from primary schools to Sunday league clubs to non-league clubs. I’m really enjoying the role I am doing at the moment.’
On how it was to take charge of a senior session, McFarlane continued: ‘The energy, enthusiasm and training was exceptional. They seem really focused. They’re really driven and hungry. They know we’ve got a massive game. You can feel that.
‘They’re professionals. They’ve done this a long time. They’ve been here before. Reece has been brilliant. He’s been a real leader, supported the staff and players. You couldn’t ask for any more.’
Maresca was sacked after a spectacular breakdown in relations with the Blues hierarchy
Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior is the frontrunner to take over from Maresca permanently
It is understood one of Maresca’s major gripes was to do with being told how many minutes he could hand to certain players returning from injury. Chelsea are continuing as they were, with McFarlane set for a medical briefing before deciding on his final starting line-up.
Marc Cucurella trained on Friday following his hamstring issue but some of that was believed to be individual work, so it is unclear whether he will make City. Palmer is described as ‘good to go’.
McFarlane is not planning on ripping up Maresca’s philosophy and replacing it with his own. He believes there is no time for that. Instead, he will look to make tactical tweaks here and there in the hope of surprising City.
Chelsea have their development teams deploy a similar style to the senior side. They hired McFarlane from Southampton so that he could provide that type of play.
It is hoped that will help, and is also seen as a positive that this is an away trip for Chelsea, because all being together in a hotel in Manchester will give McFarlane and Co more time with the players to get their instructions across.
‘We’ve got limited time,’ McFarlane said. ‘There’s been some really good work done previously. It will be about introducing some of your own ideas and concepts around how you think you can be successful in the game, but not trying to reinvent the wheel.
‘I don’t think I would work here if I wasn’t in some way aligned with what had been done previously, so it’s very similar. If you watch the 21s, you try and play with the same ideas as the first team to make the transition as easy as possible (when players are moved up).’
Despite previously working with City, McFarlane does not know Guardiola, but at full time at the Etihad on Sunday, he will be shaking his hand as an equal. It would be one hell of a story if that came after a Chelsea win orchestrated by this young academy coach.
