by The Chelsea player whose representative is best not to sit in the posh seats inside Stamford Bridge or cozy up to the club’s owners and sporting directors during games, but instead likes to plant himself in the middle of the fans.
He does this at home games and for away trips to try to understand the supporters’ perception of his client. He is not naive and expects that the rush of emotions will provoke strong opinions, both positive and negative.
But he was surprised by how quickly some of the fans he sat and stood among could turn on themselves, and he is sure that some players within the Chelsea squad are very much aware of it.
“The players know,” he said. “They hear it and they pick it up. They may say they can ignore it or block it, but it has an impact.”
Knowing that the abuse is not limited to the stands, the same representative tried to encourage his player to stop searching for his name on social media and arranged for friends to stay with him so that he has less time to scroll.
Marc Cucurella knows from bitter experience what it feels like to be a target of Chelsea’s boo boys, having fouled them last season, and was “wake up” by a shouting supporter during Brentford’s home win to distract Nicolas Jackson. .
Raheem Sterling is the latest member of the current squad to get a public earful from fans. The amount of emotion directed at him in recent weeks, which came to light during the Leicester game, surprised some Chelsea insiders who thought they had seen it before.
In an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport, Jackson revealed that the scrutiny from Chelsea fans is unlike anything he has ever experienced.
“I’ve never had this,” Jackson said. “In Villarreal, you play without so much pressure because it’s a different team, but I know he comes from a good place.
“Normally, I don’t talk to fans and I don’t have anything to do with what they say. I don’t know what came over me. It must have been frustrating. It’s no small thing, everyone at the game expects you to do what they want you to do. It’s because they love you, not because they hate you. They want you to make them happy. Now I know that. I was in Villarreal, but it was a different environment. You don’t have these kinds of things there. In Chelsea, it is different. “
Chelsea’s players are unlikely to feel all that good about the treatment they can get, as Noni Madueke said. In response to fans criticizing Sterling’s apology on Instagram for missing a penalty against Leicester City, Madueke replied: “Shut up, people like you are the problem.”
Some supporters watching the FA Cup quarter-final win over Leicester City in which Sterling was booed believed they could see both Palmer and Malo Gusto angry at the vocal criticism.
Carney Chukwuemeka described Sterling as a “big brother” to him and urged fans to stay positive, saying: “Everybody’s only human, sometimes [as fans] you can’t control your emotions. You just have to trust the process. Be with us through highs and lows. We are definitely expanding now, but it won’t always be easy. But stay with us and give us that 12th man on the field.”
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino chose not to pick a public battle with the fans who chanted “you don’t know what you’re doing” at him, but Argentina’s celebration when substitute Chukwuemeka scored looked impressive.
Pochettino had revealed before the Leicester game that his young squad is struggling to cope with the pressure of playing for Chelsea. Sterling is not a child, but a representative of the 29-year-old who posted on social media on Sunday night to give her own take on the story.
Over two messages on X, Kelly Hogarth, who has worked closely with Sterling for several years, wrote: “Isn’t it counter-productive for fans to boo their own players? Especially when looking for a win? It sets a tone of uneasiness that affects the stability of the entire team and gives the opposition an advantage. Strange.
“There is a strong correlation between respect/support and performance. All of these things affect confidence. The fans need to back players who are struggling for form, not fight them.”
All this is not completely new, as Jorginho was booed by fans in the early days of his Chelsea career and eventually they managed to win a round. That, along with the warmth shown towards Cucurella after he scored his first Chelsea goal on Sunday and the way Jackson is changing opinions, could encourage Sterling.
But until their defeat stops permanently, Chelsea’s players, and their representatives, will always be concerned that they could become the first Public Enemy No. 1 more.
