There is a new sheriff in town, or in Chelsea’s case, a new Board of Directors and an interim sporting director.
On Monday 20 June (the day of this writer’s birthday along with Blues icon ‘Super’ Frank Lampard), the club announced the upcoming departure of long-term Chairman Bruce Buck.
Then as was widely anticipated, a couple of days later the club then subsequently advised that a new Board had been appointed with Todd Boehly to be Buck’s replacement as the new Chair of the Blues. Accompanying Todd, the rest of the confirmed Board (Todd’s team) includes:
- Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, co-controlling owners of Chelsea FC, and co-founders and managing partners of Clearlake Capital
- Mark Walter, co-owner of Chelsea FC, co-founder and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, owner of Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Sparks
- Hansjörg Wyss, co-owner of Chelsea FC, founder of the Wyss Foundation
- Jonathan Goldstein, co-owner of Chelsea FC, co-founder and CEO of Cain International
- Barbara Charone, director and co-founder of MBC PR Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, columnist and former executive editor of The Times
- James Pade, partner and managing director of Clearlake Capital
Notwithstanding the fundamental shake-up at the top of house which was expected at the time leading up to the takeover, perhaps what was less anticipated, or at least the timing, was the decision to part ways with the club’s long-standing sporting director Marina Granovskaia.
While Marina’s profile is somewhat clouded amongst Chelsea fans given her mixed success with handling player negotiations & movements during her tenure, her calibre within the wider football community is well recognised.
Therefore, the new Board’s decision to go in a different direction (despite her supposedly to ‘remain available to Boehly and the Club for the duration of the current transfer window, to the extent required to support the transition’) sends a strong signal that despite Marina’s extensive experience, Todd’s team are prepared to go their own way early and set up their own structures and processes to take the club forward.
Given this evolving backdrop, Blues fans have many questions they’ll want answered but perhaps the main one on the front of their minds is: so we have a new Board, what now?
The agenda for Todd’s team
Managing and overseeing an elite footballing institution is complicated enough. Taking over one in the unusual circumstances that Todd’s team have now thrust themselves upon certainly adds an extra layer(s) of complexity.
At a glance, the current agenda for the new Board includes, but is not limited to and in no particular order:
- Finding a new permanent Sporting Director
- Addressing the multitude of issues relating to the Men’s team, including keeping Tuchel satisfied
- Maintaining the women’s team magnificent and growing legacy
- Fostering the club’s amazing academy that can (and should) be crucial for the long-term success of the club
- Sorting out the sponsorship situation
- Gaining a thorough understanding of, and reviewing, the club’s existing governance structures and frameworks
- Ensuring the club’s important community based programs remain in tact
- Addressing the club’s immediate financial position
- Helping remedy the impacts incurred by those employees that suffered as a result of the sanctions.
- Developing a new strategic plan to help the club enhance its already strong global presence.
- Putting in motion the steps to pursue the Stamford Bridge upgrade/rebuild
- Building relationships with the club’s various stakeholder groups, including the different governing bodies and ofcourse – the fans!
When reflecting on the above, the key things that stand out are:
1) There’s a lot to do! (obviously!) But, some are more time sensitive than others and the new Board will need to quickly form a view as to what they can reasonably address in the short term vs the medium to long term.
2) Although delivering on each objective contributes to the success of the club, some of these items are directly connected and others indirectly.
With that, it’s imperative the Board understand the implications of prioritising one or more over others and determine where efficiencies can be found e.g. finding a new sporting director immediately can then flow onto addressing the men’s teams transfers.
3) As fans, while we want instant success given the club has set our high expectations over the past two decades, the above mentioned agenda should warrant a reasonable amount of patience and perspective on our part and genuinely allow Todd’s team to settle in and set us up for sustainable success.
Where to from here?
Clearly there will be attention given to helping resolve the men’s squad frailties which has been widely reported by many journalists.
Given the news of the new Board and Todd acting as the interim Sporting Director, it will be interesting to see what impact (if any) this will have on the club’s ability to execute its transfer targets this window.
Given the long-running Lukaku saga has now been resolved, at least for this season, there appears to be a genuine backing of Tuchel. With a host of players the club has been linked to in various positions, time will tell of the extent of this backing. Watch this space.
From a financial perspective, the club and Three UK (Three) have seemingly reunited their partnership, at least for now. From a fan’s perspective this was a difficult situation to accept given the abandonment from our major sponsor when in time of need. But commercially speaking, the club having Three back on board gives a signal of stability and offers Todd’s team strength in future negotiations, including with prospective sponsors
Operationally i.e. everything that makes the club function behind the scenes, there’s undoubtedly a lot to oversee and ensure things continue to run smoothly, at least while the more headline and crucial elements get addressed in the immediate future.
All in all, a new Board has been appointed and Todd’s team have an extremely full agenda to address which covers items that have a wide-ranging time horizon.
While sitting around the Boardroom in the coming period, I’m confident Todd Boehly will channel his former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sentiments who famously said: Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much.
In the end, it’s important to recognise and appreciate the efforts and accomplishments of the previous regime, led by former Chair Bruce Buck and significantly contributed to by Marina Granovskaia.
That said, it’s equally important to focus on the present and look to the road ahead. While we can’t be certain what the future will hold for our club under Todd’s team, there is a level of well-founded optimism based on the collective and individual diversity, experience and enthusiasm possessed by the new Board.
Although it is just the beginning and the ‘proof is in the pudding’ as they say, the early signs appear to be positive in terms of certain decisions made along with the efficiency of those decisions e.g. Lukaku loan, new Board announcement.
Notwithstanding this, and while Blues fans are aiming high for next season in terms of on-field success, the extensive agenda aforementioned should provide some important perspective for the club’s supporters in just how much there is to do and therefore expectations should be managed.
In conclusion, Todd’s team will undoubtedly receive a warm welcome from Blues fans across the globe, but equally they will want to see material progress reasonably quickly, both in terms of their on field and off field objectives. Good luck Todd and co!
What would your immediate priorities be if you were on the Chelsea Board? What advice would you offer them? Tell us in the comments below or on our socials.
Twitter: @RJ_Goodthings