Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital takeover of Chelsea. The consortium paid an initial £2.5 billion to buy the Blues from Roman Abramovich with an agreement to invest a further £1.75bn to aid the club’s development. “Our vision as owners is clear: We want to make the fans proud,” Boehly said in a statement confirming the deal.
It is fair to say their aim remains a work in progress.
Boehly, who is also part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Californian private equity firm Clearlake have spent more than £600 million to sign 17 players over the past 12 months. Breaking the British transfer record to land Argentina international Enzo Fernandez for £106.8m, that strategy has focused on assembling a core group of young players capable of delivering sustained sustained success, but in trying to build for the future, Chelsea have suffered in the here and now.
The new owners have presided over a 12th-place finish in the Premier League with the Blues’ lowest points tally (44) since 1987-88 (42), when they were relegated. They have sacked two managers, ended up trophyless for only the second time since 2016, and are without any European football next season.
Mauricio Pochettino’s appointment as coach heralds the start of what the owners hope will be an exciting new chapter at Chelsea, but ESPN looks back at how they reached this point.
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June 2022
The decision comes at the end of the club’s 100-day review, and Tuchel’s final game in charge is a 1-0 Champions League group stage defeat to Dinamo Zagreb. Relations between Tuchel and the new owners had deteriorated, as they felt his style was simply incompatible with their approach, so Boehly and Eghbali move quickly to bring in Graham Potter, paying a release clause of around £21m to take him and his support staff from Brighton. Although sources tell ESPN that the pair spoke to multiple candidates, he is always their preferred option.
Potter is appointed within a day of Tuchel’s exit, though his unveiling is delayed out of respect for the death of Queen Elizabeth II. All Premier League matches are cancelled, meaning Potter’s first match is a 1-1 draw against FC Salzburg in the Champions League. Kyle Macaulay also joins Chelsea from Brighton in a recruitment role.
Elsewhere, Boehly continues to push his ideas. Talking at the SALT thought leaders conference in New York, he raises the possibility of a Premier League North vs. South All-Star match, saying: “I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports.” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp quickly pours scorn on the idea: “He doesn’t wait long, eh? Great, when he finds a date for that he can call me. He forgets in the big sports in America they have a four-month break. It is completely different in football. Does he want to bring the Harlem Globetrotters as well and let them play against a football team?”
October
After the Salzburg game, Potter records five consecutive victories, including wins over AC Milan home and away. With a new head coach in place and the transfer window closed, Boehly and Eghbali step up their search for candidates for their sporting infrastructure.
Chelsea’s operations in the Abramovich era were unusual by modern-day standards, with Granovskaia, Cech and Tuchel working closely to identify targets. With Macaulay on board, Chelsea seek to identify recruitment experts willing to embrace a greater influence of data in talent identification.
Sources tell ESPN that Boehly and Eghbali felt the club’s analytics department should have more of a voice in the club’s recruitment strategy. Joe Shields is acquired from Southampton as co-director of recruitment and talent (starting work in January.) Laurence Stewart is hired from Monaco as “technical director to focus on football globally,” according to the club’s press release, and agrees to join in February.
The month ends with a humbling 4-1 defeat at Potter’s former club Brighton, a result which, domestically at least, precipitates something of a collapse.
