LONDON: Just as Chelsea had begun to glimpse a little stability in terms of management and team line-up so a new threat of confusion and uncertainty has arisen, not on the pitch but in the boardroom.
Disagreements over stadium development and transfer strategy may prompt Todd Boehly to sell his 13pc of the club to Clearlake Capital.
The US investment company, which is owned by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, owns a majority stake of 61.5pc. Originally it was agreed that the chairmanship of the club would switch between Boehly and Eghbali after five years. However a change could come much sooner after reports of increasing disagreement between the two men.
Chelsea announced last week that a new management committee would take charge of the club’s commercial business, two years after the £4.25bn takeover which marked the end of the Roman Abramovich era after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
All major decisions still have to be signed off by Eghbali, Feliciano and Boehly. Boehly, who is also the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, had become spoting director and the face of Chelsea after removing senior executive Marina Granovskaia and former chairman Bruce Buck. However the move backfired. Boehly has taken the blame for spending more than £1bn on new players in a chaotic series of transfer sprees which have been unprofitable both on and off the pitch. The last trophy successes were the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup in 2021.
Last season Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League and lost the League Cup Final only in extra time to Liverpool. Even so Boehly & Co replaced manager Mauricio Pochettino as manager with Premier newcomer Enzo Maresca and spent a further £220m on more new players. Now Eghbali is understood to be preparing to take tighter control of the club’s football and commercial business.
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