Before the 1978 World Cup Scotland were supremely confident with coach Ally MacLeod claiming that Scotland could win the tournament. When asked what he would do after Scotland won the tournament MacLeod confidently retorted, ‘retain it!’

MacLeod was mercilessly mocked for his grand claim, especially as his Scotland side found themselves packing their bags and heading home after only three games.

But whether he was joking or serious, whether he was cocky or simply having a joke with the assembled journalists he did hit upon a serious point. Football is ever evolving and never stays still. Once one tournament has finished, the next one begins in earnest. And Chelsea are finding this out right now. The sight of John Terry lifting the Premier League trophy aloft made their fellow challengers jealous. The second Chelsea lifted the Premier League trophy began their quest to defend it from envious beasts.

For all the talk of Mourinho building a dynasty, for all the talk of Chelsea dominating English football the way Manchester United did in the 90s or Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, Chelsea have some serious work to do to retain the title. After all, if they’re to build a dominant dynasty they have to do just that - build. It’s a verb, a doing word. Chelsea need to take action because it won’t just fall into their lap.

Dangerous challengers already plot the demise of Mourinho’s well-oiled West London machine. But Chelsea have laid the foundations of their under-construction dominance with an efficient title win.

The secret to ‘retaining it’ is not to rest on laurels won but to go out there and win more, Chelsea could learn a lot from the mistakes of Manchester City.

Last season we talked about City building a dynasty, even though they won the league much less comfortably than Chelsea did. City didn’t strengthen as they should’ve and Chelsea took advantage. City stood still and thought they could build a dynasty with what they already had. Build is a doing word.

The question is, how do you strengthen a team that won the title at a canter? The first thought is that with the squad they have now they won’t be quite as far ahead as City and Arsenal next time - City and Arsenal will be stronger. The second is that the current players may be tired from their exertions and possibly stale next season, Costa and Fabregas lost form worryingly. And the final thought is that Chelsea aren’t dominant - they couldn’t win the FA Cup, nor could they win the Champions League. As demanding as it is, there’s clear room for improvement.

So they need to do something. And that might be harsh on some of the players that won Chelsea the title in the first place.

They’ll lose Drogba for the final year of the Ivorian’s career but that’s not a great loss to the Champions’ squad. More of a spiritual loss than a material one. In may come Radamel Falcao in his stead.

It might sound like a risk taking a player who hasn’t proven his worth in the Premier League - in fact, if this season is to be taken as a good indicator he’s probably proven he’s not up to the Premier League. But his eagerness to stay might show his willingness to prove himself, after all, Falcao’s a winner.

On paper at least, Costa and Falcao up front does look like the most frightening partnership we’ve seen in the Premier League. Duos like Yorke and Cole ring in my ears as I type this, but we revere those partnerships in hindsight. Falcao and Costa just sounds unstoppable.

But Falcao hasn’t proven that he’s up to the task, Costa’s form has tailed off and it remains to be seen if he can get it back for the August showtime, and Chelsea probably won’t play with two up front anyway. Yet it’s hard to argue that Falcao can’t be considered as strengthening the squad.

Antoine Griezmann is another name linked strongly with Chelsea, though it’s reported that Atletico are determined to hang on to their young French asset.

That would throw an attacking midfielder’s position into doubt - most likely Willian -  should Chelsea sign the 24 year-old French international. Sounds harsh after Willian’s great performances this season, but Chelsea need to add at least one very good player to their ranks, and Griezmann would certainly refresh their attacking options and add lots of strength to the squad.

Chelsea can’t afford to stand still like Manchester City have done this season. If they want to build a dynasty they must be active and do something this summer. If they pull off these two signings they’ll be well on their way to constructing a dynasty for the next few years. But if they don’t make signings like that then they could find themselves prey to some of the Premier League’s big jealous beasts next season.

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