Chelsea lose some of their soul and fighting spirit by losing Gallagher

Plus "Champs" Olise and why Rodgers deserves more respect.

Chelsea are not only losing a good (albeit not great) midfielder in Conor Gallagher should his move to Atletico Madrid go through today. They are losing some of their fighting spirit. They are losing some of their soul. They are losing one of the fans’ own, an inspiration to those coaches toiling hard in the academy, a role model for young players and a fine recruiting poster to entice parents of talented offspring to the club.

Conor Gallagher. Photo: Stephanie Meek - CameraSport via Getty Images

Chelsea are losing a player who captained them whole-heartedly during difficult times last season, whose contribution was second only to Cole Palmer, and who blended well with Moises Caicedo when Enzo Fernandez was injured.

Has Fernandez ever embarrassed Chelsea? Yes. Has Gallagher ever let the club down? No. Is the hard-working uncapped Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 25, an upgrade on Gallagher, 24? No. Gallagher was good enough to have been picked for two tournaments with England. Could the club have worked harder with Gallagher to find a mutually agreeable new deal of the length and salary to keep him? Surely, they could have. Instead, Chelsea’s owners have alienated much of their fanbase further.

Are the pressures of PSR so immense that they have to offload gems from the academy for pure profit? Chelsea are right to focus on avoiding breaches but it would help in balancing the books if they stopped overspending on certain players. Once again, Chelsea’s leadership comes under scrutiny. For who will captain Chelsea if Reece James succumbs to injury? Thiago Silva has gone. Possibly Ben Chilwell - if fit. As Gallagher flies out to Madrid, Chelsea lose a leader, a good player, and someone who actually cares about the team and the club, who’s “proper Chels”. Big mistake.

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I always felt the Olympics should be the pinnacle of a sport, and it is for most of those involved, the rowers, athletes and gymnasts. For golf, tennis and football professionals, an Olympic gold lacked the respective weight of a Major, Grand Slam or World Cup. Yet Paris has changed perspective. Tommy Fleetwood’s joy at winning silver at Le Golf National, narrowly losing out to a delighted Scottie Scheffler in a terrific last-day, last-hole showdown, told a vivid story of how the Olympics is now truly golf’s fifth Major.

Novak Djokovic’s emotional reaction to winning gold against Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros was powerful. At 37, and with 24 Grand Slams to his name, the Serb fought long and hard, across five Olympics, to find this precious metal. He joins an exclusive club of those to have won all four Grand Slams and the Olympic singles, joining in the record books such illustrious names as Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal.

The quality of the Paris final, the power and precision of the hitting, further added to the allure of the Olympic medal in tennis. Djokovic’s hunger for the gold, overcoming a knee problem and the precocious brilliance of his 21-year-old opponent, highlighted how much the Olympics meant as did Alcaraz’s tears in defeat. China’s Zheng Qinwen provided a real surprise – and generated a few headlines - by winning the women’s competition.

And so to the football. Michael Olise told his new club Bayern Munich he would be late reporting for pre-season because he was representing France at the Olympics. Ditto Julian Alvarez, who now returns to Manchester City after Argentina lost a ferocious quarter-final with “Champs” Olise. The Under-23 element in the men’s competition (plus three over-age) was designed to give a platform for future stars but some like Olise, 22, are already £60m household names. There would be more interest here if Team GB fielded sides but Fifa politics precludes that. But there is plenty of interest around the world.

In a Euros and Copa America year, the Olympics might seem an afterthought but today’s semi-finals will be eagerly followed. The Spain of Juan Miranda, Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez continue their quest to dominate men’s football against Morocco and the prolific Soufiane Rahimi in the Velodrome, Marseille (5pm UK kick-off). Thierry Henry’s France, inevitably passionately supported, face Egypt at Stade de Lyon (8pm UK kick-off).

In the women’s competition, Tuesday’s semi-finals between USWNT and Germany in Lyons (5pm UK) and Brazil against Spain in Marseille (8pm UK), promise much, not least more focus on Emma Hayes’ instant impact on USWNT and Marta’s farewell tour continuing. If the quarter-finals are anything to go by in both competitions, more fireworks are expected. Olympic gold matters.

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When Brendan Rodgers was making his name as a progressive coach at Swansea City, he trained his players on an AstroTurf pitch and they shared showers with the public in a local gym. At the time, 2012, Swansea had no real facilities of their own but they had a philosophy.

“We had nothing, absolutely nothing,” Rodgers told me once about facilities at Swansea. “Yet everyone was wondering and talking about how we played football. It’s about football principles and defending those principles with your life.”

We were talking at Melwood, Liverpool’s old training ground, where Rodgers was manager at the time. We were reflecting on the opening in 2012 of St George’s Park, England’s sumptuous £125m training and coaching hub, and Rodgers was an admirer. With a caveat. “You can have the best pitches in the world, medical centres and sports science but if you don’t have a philosophy and an identity, then it doesn’t matter,” he added.

He outlined his view that England needed to acquire “a philosophy and an identity” and embrace “flair” better. He saw players like Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes not being used properly by England. Rodgers was committed to a philosophy to provide a tactical platform for talents to perform on with the requisite backing.

Rodgers himself has instilled philosophy and identity in his teams, most notably in that attractive Swansea side from 2010-12, then for a period at Liverpool, and certainly in two successful spells at Celtic. Before the final Old Firm game of last season’s Scottish Premiership, I went up to Lennoxtown, Celtic’s atmospheric training base, and chatted to Rodgers before training. I mentioned his “principles” speech of a decade earlier. He replied that it continued to define his managerial approach as Celtic showed in dismantling Kilmarnock 4-0 at the weekend.

The speed of their passing, the 1-2s, the urgency of the press, were all impressive for this stage of the season. Celtic enjoy distinct advantages in budget and power of their home crowd but Rodgers has always shown his commitment to progressive football.

And yet he’s still not properly appreciated. Rodgers gets this ridiculous David Brent stuff thrown at him for some of his comments at times. Admittedly, the “Being: Liverpool” documentary did him few favours. “I've always said that you can live without water for many days but you can't live for a second without hope” is a quote with undeniably Brentian overtones. So did holding up three envelopes at the start of the season with names inside of those three he felt would let the team down. It was done in front of the players, in front of the cameras, seemed all for show, and didn’t go down well.

But you don’t manage for 740 games, 390 of them wins, without having genuine substance as a manager. Players enjoy his attacking philosophy and his man-management. He was named Manager of the Year at Liverpool but is still associated with “Crystanbul”, the unfolding horror show at Palace of being 3-0 up with 11 minutes remaining but drawing and losing momentum in the title race. Rodgers won the FA Cup at Leicester, got them to fifth in 2020, but results slid and he departed, not to much local mourning it must be said.

Yet even if the opposition is not the most daunting in Scotland, Rodgers has still guided Celtic to nine trophies. He really deserves more respect. If Rodgers were English, he would be the FA’s leading candidate to succeed Gareth Southgate, whatever critical fans might think.