Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has covered a wide range of topics, from changing Premier League rules to the footing of the club’s leaders amid supporter dissatisfaction, speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Football summit.
Former custodian Roman Abramovich had his UK assets frozen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and 19-year ownership of the Blues was officially brought to and in May 2022. Boehly and Clearlake Capital, headed by Behdad Eghbali, took control for the pretty price of £4.25bn.
Since then, Chelsea have financed a complete overhaul of the squad worth well in excess of £1bn. To show for it they have dropped lower down the Premier League standings, fallen out of the Champions League and most importantly has failed to add to the collection of silverware Abramovich’s reign brought.
“I just think it is par for the course. The sooner you learn you are not going to keep all the people happy all the time, the freedom shows up,” Boehly told the Financial Times about current fan criticism of their handling of the club which has led to protests.
“We are just trying to execute a plan and recognise things aren’t linear, and we are trending in the right direction. The trend is moving in the right direction and that’s the thing that really matters.
“In June, it will be three years in charge. That’s not a lot of time, especially when you get to 50, 60 or 70 years old in life. It’s a whirlwind of activity and steep learning curve, but I think that’s also a good thing.
“The most misunderstood thing is we are thinking about measuring success in years. You have to think both short and long term. We are focused on the combination on both those things and seeking the best way to execute. It is a balancing act.
“Strikers are hard to find. You don’t go into the grocery store and say, ‘I am going to get a striker’. It is an amazing skillset and you have to have the right mentality.”
The 51-year-old, holding a personal net-worth of £6.6bn, does not only have this football club to oversee. The Blues sit alongside basketball team Los Angeles Lakes and baseball franchise Los Angeles Dodgers on his portfolio.
In another segment of his talk, he drew upon his knowledge as an investor to suggest a ground-breaking rule change for the Premier League to help bridge the gap above the Championship and thus increase competitiveness.
“There is a bit of an unorganised landscape in European football, which reminds me of the Retail Sports Network market in America. There are a handful of things that need to be sorted,” he said, before heading into the issue which saw all three promoted teams for the 2023/24 campaign relegated, with 2024/25 headed in a similar direction it would appear.
“One of the challenges is relegation in football. It’s hard to price. If everyone was equal, you’d have a 15 percent chance of relegation. But everyone isn’t equal, so you have to work out how best to address that valuation challenge.
“Relegation is cultural and not going anywhere. So why not every season when a team is in the Premier League, you get one share of EPL stock and even if you go down you keep that stock?”
Ultimately, Blues fans will just hope for stability at their club, which they also hope to see return to the pinnacle of English and European football in the shortest possible time. Boehly’s parting message at the summit can either be taken positively or negatively depending on a person’s feelings towards the current ownership.
Asked if the ownership structure will be the same in 12 months’ time as it is now, he could only say: “I can’t predict the future…”
