Why Chelsea’s future comes down to the difference between a coffee and a dinner | OneFootball

Mauricio Pochettino has been tough to read on the situation revolving around his future. Not long ago he was hinting he and his staff could decide to walk away, but more recently he’s had a positive mood.

In last night’s final press conference of the year he was especially coy, basically refusing to answer questions about a rumoured performance review which would decide his future.

But he did drop one big hint, in a funny coded way. He told the press he had been for dinner with Todd Boehly on Friday night. Pressed for more details he pointed out that that was a pretty good sign.

“If I invite you alone for a dinner, you and me… it’s not for a bad thing. If I need to tell you something [bad] I’ll call you on the phone and say let’s go for a coffee, and not a dinner.”

He’s right – nobody wants to sack someone over a starter then sit through a main and a dessert. So without confirming anything actively, Pochettino is saying pretty clearly that it was a good meeting. And a good meeting on a Friday followed by a win on Sunday hardly makes it seem like it’s going to be followed up by a sacking.

You can see the manager speaking in the clip embedded here, with this answer coming after 2 minutes:

Clearly he hasn’t had things confirmed 100%, either that or he’s been told not to confirm things. The review hasn’t happened, but it may be that at this stage it’s simply a formality and Boehly has already made it clear that he and his fellow owners are happy with the progress they’ve seen.

It’s possible – and perhaps likely – that Pochettino’s funny mood is explained by a mix of happiness that he’s staying in the job mixed with frustration that it’s not been confirmed already.