The full transcript from Calum McFarlane's post-match press conference after the Chelsea interim head coach reflected on his team's 2-1 defeat to Sunderland on Sunday afternoon
19:17, 24 May 2026
Calum McFarlane
View Image
Calum McFarlane before Chelsea's match with Sunderland(Image: Chelsea FC)
A short while ago, Calum McFarlane finished his last press conference of the season. The interim Chelsea head coach's reign - his second of the season - has now concluded, with the campaign coming to its close in Sunderland on Sunday evening.
Chelsea's season ended with another poor performance - and result - with the Black Cats winning 2-1 at the Stadium of Light. Wesley Fofana was shown a red card - his second and Chelsea's 11th in all competitions this season - as the west Londoners missed out on a spot in Europe next term.
McFarlane has just reacted to his side's final match of the season. Here is every word the Chelsea interim head coach had to say:
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Sum up your season...
It's a disappointing end to the season. We should be finishing a lot higher up the league. For me, with this group of players and talent, we should be in the Champions League. We haven’t. We’ve been too inconsistent at times this year. It’s cost us.
What's the feeling in the dressing room? And have you got a message to the fans?
The feeling in the dressing room is disappointment. We wanted to win today and make the best of a bad situation and get into the Europa League. We weren't able to do that. We didn't get the performance we wanted or the result. The message to the fans – we're as disappointed as them and we're gutted we couldn’t do it for them. They've been brilliant this year, especially in the last couple weeks when we needed to win games. We felt their presence, and unfortunately we’ve let them down today. We weren’t able to put the performance in that they deserved.
Players need to look at themselves/take the blame?
I don't think it's fair for me to comment on the whole season. I wasn't with the first team for the first six months of the season. I can only speak to my interactions with them only eight games. I have no qualms or desire to question their mentality. I know we didn’t win every game, but they gave us everything, every single day. I could ask no more. We just weren't able to get over the line in the games that mattered.
We hear you're gonna be on Xabi Alonso's first-team staff...
I enjoyed working with this group, with the players. They gave me and my staff respect over the last 30, 31 days. I'm looking forward to working with the players. Xabi is a top coach, with a great reputation, a top player, an elite player at the top level, so I’m really looking forward to what he brings to this club.
Another red card, 11th of season in all competitions, Chelsea need to fix that?
Definitely an issue, definitely a problem. I think we are by far the team who has the most red cards in the league. I’m pretty sure if you look at Arsenal who won the league, I don’t think they had one red card. So it doesn’t help having that many red cards. It’s something we need to improve next year.
What can give fans optimism?
Article continues below
This group has shown, when they’re at their best and when we’re in the right place, we’re match ready across Europe. It hasn’t been seen enough throughout the year. It definitely hasn’t been seen enough in the second part of the season. But we have some real quality players, a new manager coming in who has a brilliant reputation in the game, and we have still seen flashes in the last month of what this team can do.