Pochettino at ease about Chelsea job status. Not 'end of the world' if he leaves
Chelsea's head coach Mauricio Pochettino gives instructions to his players during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Credit: AP/Kin Cheung
LONDON — Mauricio Pochettino says it's “not going to be the end of the world” if he's not back at Stamford Bridge next season.
The first-year manager of seventh-placed Chelsea added that it's not just club chairman Todd Boehly who will have the final say.
“If we are happy, perfect, but it’s not only if the owners are happy or the sporting director is happy,” Pochettino said Friday at a news conference ahead of their English Premier League game at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “You need to ask us also.
“Maybe we are not happy because we arrived here with a job to do, but in the end it’s not happened, what we expect."
Smiling, the Argentine coach added: “I don’t say that I am not happy.”
Back-to-back wins have Chelsea seventh in the league, trailing sixth-placed Newcastle by two points and in contention for a European spot.
The Blues have been inconsistent for most of the season, Pochettino's first at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea's head coach Mauricio Pochettino, left, reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Credit: AP/Kin Cheung
Boehly, speaking at a Sportico conference in Los Angeles this week, praised the team’s “beautiful football” of recent weeks as being “exactly the way we drew it up.”
A relaxed Pochettino said Friday that he's not worried.
"(If) we split it’s not a problem, it’s not going to be the end of the world.”
