New Chelsea FC owner Todd Boehly has already caused a stir in his short time as the owner. Boehly took over ownership from Chelsea after previous owner Roman Abramovich sold the club due to the controversies tied to him during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Todd Boehly is an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a previous stakeholder in the Los Angeles Lakers. He is an American businessman who has a ton of history and sports, but with his recent decisions on the field and his comments off the field, he has Chelsea fans worried if he has the best interest of the club in hand, or if he is just another American business owner possibly hurting their club. These are why the fans should be worried.
Firing Tomas Tuchel
The biggest move Boehly has made so far was his recent sacking of manager Thomas Tuchel. Tuchel won the 2021 Champions League final with Chelsea, and Chelsea finished third last season in the Premier league.
The German manager took over when Chelsea was in ninth place, after sacking Frank Lampard, and it looked like the Blues were in a rebuild. Tuchel took over and completely changed the club. However, this season Chelsea has struggled to maintain that form, and is currently in 6th Place and just lost to Dinamo Zagreb, which would be Tuchel’s last game in charge.
Boehly has appointed Brighton’s manager Graham Potter to be the next Chelsea manager. Although Potter doesn’t have a ton of managerial experience, he has done an amazing job at Brighton. Potter took the Seagulls to 9th place last season and had them in fourth before moving to Chelsea.
It seemed like Tuchel did not get time to bounce back after some poor performances and seemed harsh after everything he has already done. However, to be fair to Boehly, sacking a manager quickly after success is something that is not foreign to Chelsea fans, as Abramovich did. Have a long leave for his managers as well.
Wanting All-Star Game
One of the most controversial things that Boehly said recently was that he wanted a Premier League All-Star game. Boehly wanted to have a northern 11 versus a southern 11 all-star game. This was met with an incredible amount of criticism, with people arguing that Boehly just wanted to Americanize the game. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp even criticized Boehly’s concept, due to how many games footballers have to play in a season with domestic and international competitions. Klopp has been a massive proponent of giving players more rest, so his comments clearly reflected that saying, “When he finds a date for that, he can call me. He forgets that in the big sports in America, these players have four-month breaks.”
In Boehly’s defense, he wants to generate an all-star game to help the lower leagues, giving them funds that will allow them to be more competitive from the revenue of the event. As an owner of the Dodgers, he has seen the amount of revenue that the MLB All-Star Game makes, and wants to make a model similar to that.
Transfer Strategy
Boehly has done some head-scratching transfer business over the last few weeks. Boehly bought Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, a striker who previously played with Thomas Tuchel at Dortmund, and then sacked Tuchel. Boehly also sold Billy Gilmour, who now manager Graham Potter had just bought at Brighton.
Boehly has thrown a bunch of cash this transfer window, getting the likes of Raheem Sterling, Aubameyang, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Wesley Fofana. Despite spending big money, there doesn’t seem to be a plan in place for these players. This is how clubs get into financial hardships like Barcelona, and there is a real fear that Boehly is panicking and hoping that a lot of money fixes it. Only time will tell if it will and if Potter was the right hire.
