🗣️ “What a laughing stock.” 🗣️ “I’ll never forgive this football club.” Chelsea fans are going crazy after astonishing news emerged about Enzo Maresca.

The mood around Chelsea has changed very quickly, and it has changed in a way that has left many fans feeling nervous, angry, and afraid of what might be coming next. For a club that has already lived through years of chaos, constant change, and disappointment, the latest news around Enzo Maresca has reopened old wounds and created a new fear that supporters did not expect to feel so soon. What started as rumours has now grown into something much bigger, something that Chelsea fans are openly calling the biggest regret in the club’s history if it is allowed to happen.

Enzo Maresca arrived at Chelsea with questions hanging over his head. Many people doubted him. Some said he was inexperienced. Others said Chelsea were taking another gamble in a long line of risky decisions. But slowly, quietly, Maresca began to win people over. He brought structure. He brought ideas. He brought calm in a place that had been anything but calm for years. Results improved, performances became more organised, and for the first time in a long while, there was a sense that Chelsea might finally be building something real instead of tearing everything down again.

That is why the news linking Maresca with a shock move to Manchester City has hit Chelsea fans so hard. It feels like history threatening to repeat itself. It feels like the club standing on the edge of another self-inflicted disaster. And it feels even worse because the possible destination is Manchester City, a club that represents everything Chelsea fans wish their own club could be right now. Stable, well run, clear in vision, and ruthless in execution.

At the centre of all this is Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager is widely expected to have a major say in who replaces him if he decides to leave next summer. Guardiola has not officially confirmed anything yet, but the feeling around football is that his time at City may be coming to an end. When that moment arrives, City want to be ready. They are already planning. They are already thinking ahead. And one of the names high on their list is Enzo Maresca.

This is not a random link. Guardiola knows Maresca well. The Italian worked under him at Manchester City and learned closely from one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen. Guardiola has publicly praised Maresca, calling him one of the best managers in the world and saying he does not get enough credit. Coming from Guardiola, those words carry huge weight. They are not empty compliments. They are endorsements that can change careers.

For Chelsea fans, hearing Guardiola speak like that about their manager should be a source of pride. Instead, it has become a source of fear. Because praise from Guardiola does not exist in a vacuum. It comes with consequences. It puts Maresca on the radar of the biggest clubs in the world. And when one of those clubs is Manchester City, the danger becomes very real.

Things have become even more complicated because of Maresca’s recent comments about life behind the scenes at Chelsea. After a win over Everton, he spoke openly about the last 48 hours being the worst since he joined the club. His words were clearly aimed at the people above him. The owners. The executives. The decision-makers. It was not a small comment. It was not something that could be ignored. It suggested tension. It suggested frustration. It suggested that all is not well between the manager and the hierarchy.8

Many fans were surprised by how open Maresca was. Chelsea managers in the past have often been more careful, more political. But Maresca spoke honestly. Some fans admired that. Others worried about what it meant. What it definitely did was expose cracks that people did not know existed, or at least did not want to believe existed.

Despite those comments, most Chelsea supporters still believed Maresca’s job was safe. They assumed the club would back him. They assumed lessons had been learned from past mistakes. They assumed stability was finally the priority. That confidence was shattered when David Ornstein reported that Maresca was high among the candidates Manchester City are considering if Guardiola leaves.

Suddenly, the conversation changed. This was no longer just about internal tension. It was about losing the one thing Chelsea fans felt they had gotten right. It was about watching another talented figure leave because the club failed to protect him, support him, or understand his value.

The reaction from Chelsea fans was immediate and furious. Social media filled with anger, sarcasm, threats of disengagement, and deep disappointment. Some fans said Chelsea would become the biggest laughing stock in football if Maresca left and joined Manchester City. Others said they already knew this would happen because the hierarchy refuses to acknowledge his value. Many called it the biggest regret of their lives in football terms.

There is a common theme in all these reactions. It is not just fear of losing Maresca. It is fear of what that loss would represent. Another failure of leadership. Another example of short-term thinking. Another moment where Chelsea help a rival grow stronger while weakening themselves.

Fans pointed fingers directly at the people in charge. The sporting directors. The owners. The decision-makers. Some used nicknames to mock them. Others openly wished the worst on them. The language may be extreme, but it comes from years of built-up frustration. Chelsea supporters have watched managers come and go at an alarming rate. They have watched projects start and collapse before they could even take shape. They have watched the club lose its identity again and again.

For many fans, Maresca feels different. He feels like someone who could finally bring coherence back to Chelsea. Someone who understands modern football. Someone who can develop players instead of burning them out. Someone who can build instead of constantly rebuilding. Losing him now would feel like proof that nothing has changed at the club, no matter what promises have been made.

There is also the painful reality that Maresca might actually thrive at Manchester City. Some Chelsea fans admitted this openly. They said he deserves a top, well-run club. They said he would flourish in an environment like City’s. That admission hurts, because it suggests Chelsea are not that environment. Not yet, at least.

Maresca’s situation is made even more sensitive by his own words after Chelsea’s Carabao Cup win over Cardiff City. On the pitch, things looked fine. Chelsea won. They progressed to the semi-final. Alejandro Garnacho scored twice. Pedro Neto added another. There was something positive to celebrate. But off the pitch, the questions remained.

When asked if he had spoken to the Chelsea board following his comments about the Everton game, Maresca gave an answer that worried many fans. He said no. He said he focused on preparing for Cardiff. He said he had not spoken to any of them. That response did not calm the situation. It made it worse. It suggested distance. Silence. A lack of communication that should not exist between a club and its manager during such a sensitive moment.

Chelsea now face Newcastle United in their next match, but football on the pitch almost feels secondary. The real story is unfolding behind the scenes. Will the board step in and back Maresca properly? Will they address his concerns? Will they make him feel valued? Or will they allow the situation to drift until Manchester City make their move?

From Maresca’s perspective, the situation is complex but clear. He has leverage. He knows his worth. He knows Guardiola rates him highly. He knows Manchester City represent a chance to work in one of the most stable and successful environments in world football. He also knows Chelsea are still finding their way, still dealing with internal issues, still struggling to align vision with execution.

Chelsea fans understand this too. That is why they are so desperate. They know this is a moment that could define the next decade of the club. Keep Maresca, back him, and build something meaningful, or lose him and confirm every fear supporters have had about the ownership and direction of the club.

The phrase biggest regret in their history may sound dramatic, but in football, regrets are measured in years, not moments. Letting the wrong manager go at the wrong time can haunt a club for a generation. Chelsea fans have seen it happen elsewhere. They do not want to live through it themselves.

There is still time for Chelsea to change the story. Guardiola has not confirmed his departure. Manchester City have not made an official move. Maresca is still Chelsea’s manager. But time moves quickly in football, and hesitation can be fatal.

What happens next will reveal what Chelsea really are. A club that learns, adapts, and protects its future, or a club that repeats the same mistakes under new names and new faces. For the fans, the message is simple. Back Enzo Maresca. Value him. Support him. Because if he leaves for Manchester City, the regret will not fade quickly. It will linger, growing louder every time Chelsea struggle and every time City succeed under a man they once had and failed to keep.