“There are a lot of French players nowadays and it gives us great pride” – the words of the spokesperson of the Chelsea France Official Supporters Club (CFOSC).
Since the start of the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital era at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have signed a total of six French players. Not cheap French players either. In total, the Blues have spent £244million on Wesley Fofana (£70m), Benoit Badiashile (£33m), Malo Gusto (£26m), Christopher Nkunku (£52m), Axel Disasi (£39m) and Lesley Ugochukwu (£24m).
“To have so many French players in the club that we love, it gives us even more exposure,” CFOSC added. “This is beneficial by strengthening our experience and making it even more visual.”
Three Chelsea supporters in Julien Rossini, the president, Kevin Epara, the co-president and Ludovic Leroy, the treasurer, have been working tirelessly to create “magical” moments with fellow Blues fans in their homeland of France. In that time, they have seen the likes of Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka, Olivier Giroud, and so on, represent their beloved club while also filling them with pride inside because of their French heritage and roots.
Nowadays, in a completely different era, Chelsea are still relying on the French. The likes of Fofana, Gusto and Nkunku have all been crucial for the Blues in the early stages of the season, while Badiashile and Disasi have been more on the fringes of the squad – but, too, have been given opportunities to impress under Enzo Maresca.
“All three of us have been Chelsea fans for a very long time before the 2000s,” CFOSC added. “So before the arrival of Roman Abramovich in 2003, we were Chelsea fans already. We remember the Ken Bates days – and that shows our love and loyalty we have had and still have.
“We carried out quite lengthy administrative procedures with the club in order to be officially recognised. Also, with the authorities in our country to make sure we were abiding with all of the rules.”
The supporters club continued: “What gave us the idea of creating the supporters club is that we want to share our unconditional love of Chelsea with all the people in our country. Also, to bring more magical moments to fellow French people, whether that is at Stamford Bridge or in local bars.”
Chelsea’s ‘French revolution’ does not end there, though. The Blues’ affiliation with France has become much, much stronger over the past 18 months or so.
For Boehly and Clearlake, not only have they entered the French market in terms of additions to the Chelsea squad. In June 2023, Chelsea bought a majority stake in Ligue 1 club Strasbourg as Boehly and Clearlake kickstarted their multi-club project.
While the size of the stake is unknown to the public, reports state it is close to 100% ownership. BlueCo, the consortium that purchased Chelsea, have used Strasbourg to send some of the Blues’ unwanted players to on loan, or those youngsters that perhaps need first-team experience elsewhere.
In the summer, Andrey Santos, a highly-rated Brazilian midfielder in desperate need of senior football experience, was sent to the north east of France on loan. Djordje Petrovic, for different reasons, was also sent to Strasbourg for the season after the Serbian goalkeeper fell out of favour at Stamford Bridge.
For the Chelsea France Official Supporters Club, it gives them the opportunity to see more of the Blues players in person; perhaps an experience they would never have dreamed of in the past. However, for the most part in France, BlueCo’s involvement with Strasbourg has not gone down too well.
Strasbourg supporters marched in protest against their owners BlueCo back at the end of March. Before their Ligue 1 clash with Rennes at the Stade de la Meinau, ultras of the French club expressed their displeasure with banners that read ‘BlueCo OUT’ with blue and black flares to make themselves visible to everyone.
One Strasbourg supporter told football.london: “The multi-club system is killing football. It is no longer the authentic sport we know and love. Instead, it is dictated by money which is why supporting my club no longer provides me with the great feeling it once did.
“Also, no player feels like our own anymore. We our getting multiple young players in on loan but then we have to say goodbye to them the following summer.
“It is no longer enjoyable being a Strasbourg fan. We want it to change but it does not seem as if we are listened to by those higher up. It is really sad.”
Another fan of the French club said: “Football is not supposed to be this. It is all about experiences and moments but that is not how it is anymore at Strasbourg.”
Such feelings of anger are understandable. For Boehly and Clearlake, their main project is Chelsea and a club like Strasbourg, founded 118 years ago, is almost forgotten about in the process.
Speaking last year, Boehly said this to Forbes: “The challenge at Chelsea is that when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs but you put their development in someone else’s hands. Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get on to the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time.
“To me, the way to do that is through another club somewhere in a really competitive league in Europe.” To Boehly’s credit, it makes a whole lot of sense from a footballing point of view. And, if it all goes as planned, it will be something that massively benefits Chelsea as an institution in the future.
However, it is what it does to 118-year-old clubs like Strasbourg in the process. What it does to their supporters.
Nowadays, multi-club systems have almost become the norm in professional football – but is that the sad world that we live in? While Chelsea clearly have a massive amount of supporters in France, there are some French people that will never be able to get over what is happening with Strasbourg right now.
