The Board

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MY RESPONSE TO BEHDAD EGHBALI

 

🔑 Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro & why the timing matters
1:30 — Eghbali's key quotes broken down
5:00 — The Club World Cup moment they wasted
9:00 — On Maresca leaving & the "no mid-season changes" lie
13:00 — Is Liam Rosenior really the long-term answer?
17:00 — The "8-15 elite players" delusion
21:00 — Which Chelsea players are actually elite?
25:00 — Why words aren't enough anymore

 

24 hours before the biggest Chelsea fan protest in years, Clear Lake Capital's co-founder has told supporters that Blueco "care," are "committed," and are "reflecting on the plan." In today's video, I go line by line through Liam Tumi's piece on The Athletic and break down every single word — because at this stage, words are all we're getting.

Four seasons in. 1.7 billion spent. Two managers walked out the door. And now, the night before the Not A Project CFC march outside Stamford Bridge, Eghbali wants to talk about tweaking the model.
We cover everything — from the Club World Cup opportunity they wasted, to the Maresca bombshell, to why Liam Rosenior being backed "long term" is the most damning sentence in the entire interview. I also give my honest take on which Chelsea players I think are genuinely elite — and the number is nowhere near eight.

This is about more than one bad season. This is about the financial reality, the coaching environment, and whether this ownership can ever deliver what Chelsea fans deserve.

 

 

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Behdad Eghbali’s message to Chelsea fans: ‘We care … we’re committed’

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7203041/2026/04/16/Chelsea-fans-eghbali-message/

Behdad Eghbali has told Chelsea supporters that owners BlueCo are learning from their mistakes and are committed to bringing consistent success back to Stamford Bridge.

Disaffected fans will stage a protest march ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, organised by NotAProjectCFC and incorporating supporter representatives of BlueCo sister club Strasbourg in an attempt to mobilise opposition to the consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly.

In the final stretch of the fourth season since they acquired the club from Roman Abramovich for £2.3billion in June 2022, Chelsea are sliding down the Premier League table under head coach Liam Rosenior and face the prospect of missing out on Champions League qualification with a youthful squad assembled at historically vast expense.

Speaking at CAA’s World Congress of Sports conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, Clearlake co-founder Eghbali admitted that BlueCo are still looking to improve their ownership strategy, but reiterated that they care about maintaining Chelsea’s modern standards of consistently competing for the biggest trophies.

“For the fans, we care,” he said. “We want the club to be successful. We’re focused on delivering that on-pitch performance. I think six months ago everyone was super-happy. Results have been mixed, disappointing more recently. There’s a full reflection on what we can do better, what we can improve on.

“There is a plan. We reflect on the plan. We try to improve the plan and tweak the plan if it’s not working. The message is we’re committed.

“Can this be successful without winning? The answer is no. We’ve got to win. And it doesn’t mean you’re going to win every game, it doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes, that you don’t have downturns, but ultimately the objective, and especially the objective that a club like Chelsea is you’ve got to win, you’ve got to win trophies, and you’ve got to win consistently again.

“We were fortunate enough to do so last year. We’ve had a bit of an up and down year this year, but the objective hasn’t changed.”

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A huge reason for the downturn in Chelsea’s season was the abrupt departure of head coach Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day. “Our policy has been no in-season changes,” Eghbali added.

“You certainly review and hold not only the manager, but the management team, the sporting team, accountable, but typically in the summers, not in season.

“It’s not a change we wanted to make. It’s a change that had a bit of a negative impact in the season, when you’re changing systems and personnel, and it’s one we’ve got to fight our way out of.

“We still have six matches in the Premier League, and an FA Cup semi final coming up. So hopefully the story of this season hasn’t been written yet, and you’ve got a lot to fight for. In my perspective, when you get punched in the face, you’ve got to fight back, you’ve got to stand up and fight. And it’s going to hopefully show a lot about the character of this squad.

“I think the perspective is stability, and frankly, getting that stability on the manager side is one of the things we haven’t done right yet, and it’s something we’re striving to improve on.”

Chelsea replaced Enzo Maresca with Liam Rosenior in JanuaryAdrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Maresca’s replacement Rosenior has won just one of his last six matches across all competitions, but Eghbali confirmed the former Strasbourg boss retains the support of the board and sporting leadership.

“On Liam, we had the opportunity to work with him daily for 18 plus months, so we knew what we were getting,” Eghbali said. “We think he has every attribute to be successful here. He got off to a great start. We’ve had a tough past five, six matches, but I think we’re behind Liam. Of course, it’s a results business, but we think he can be successful long term.”

Chelsea’s recent struggles have also drawn more criticism to their heavily youth-oriented recruitment. Eghbali signalled that the club are ready to target players equipped to make an immediate impact in this summer’s transfer market.

“The view was to recruit and build elite players that can, frankly, be together and have that stability in the squad,” Eghbali said. “We’re still in the 40th, 50th minute of that process. But the view is to keep, sign and retain and compensate and extend some of the world’s best players, and ultimately the view was you need, eight, 10, 12, 15 elite players to win and win sustainably, year after year.“I think we’ve done a few things right, a lot of things right. We’ve got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take (it ) to the next level, to be consistent over time.

“We recognise we need balance. We have world champions, we have Champions League winners, we have elite, elite young players. Experience has developed now. The team has been together for two or three years. The objective is to keep your best players, and we’ve done that, and there’s no intention to rebuild every three or four years. You tweak a model, you improve, you learn from mistakes.

“Our goal is to have elite, elite players on the pitch, elite characters off the pitch that our fans can bond with, that will be at the club, that will be club legends for the next 10 or 15 years and beyond. I think, generally, we’ve been fortunate, not in getting everything right, but we do have a core (of) good players, global players. Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Levi Colwill, Estevao Willian, Reece James.

“The view is now that we’re here with a great core base, to add some of that experience, to take the team to the next level and have consistency. That fact is not lost on us, and we’re at a point where we can take that next step, hopefully in the next year and beyond.”

By Liam Twomey

Chelsea Correspondent

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Chelsea supporters’ trust calls for ‘greater clarity and accountability’ under BlueCo

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7201663/2026/04/16/Chelsea-supporters-trust-blueco-letter/

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) board has called for greater clarity and accountability from the club with fans, citing an “erosion of trust”, before a separately organised protest against Chelsea’s owners on Saturday.

In an open letter addressed to Chelsea’s owners, board of directors, and senior leadership, the CST board outlined concerns about the strategy under ownership group BlueCo, engagement between the club and their supporters, ticketing and club finances.

“At the heart of supporter concern is a simple point: the current model has demanded a huge amount of faith from the fanbase, while giving too little clarity in return,” the letter reads.

Chelsea are sixth in the Premier League table, four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool, before the visit of third-placed Manchester United on Saturday.

Ahead of kick-off, the group ‘NotAProjectCFC’ is organising a joint protest, alongside fans of fellow BlueCo-owned, French club Strasbourg, against BlueCo’s ownership. CST’s letter says “the organisation and scale of such activity is a clear signal that frustration is deepening and becoming harder to ignore”.

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“Chelsea supporters have been asked to accept an unprecedented level of change in the name of a long-term vision that has never been clearly or consistently explained,” the letter reads. “Four years on, that vision has still not earned their trust.

“This is not a reaction to a single result or a run of form. It reflects a deeper and more sustained concern about the direction of Chelsea Football Club, and the growing lack of confidence among supporters in the leadership, structure, and strategy that underpin it.”

CST refers to the results of a survey it conducted in January, which found that more than 90 per cent of fans did not have confidence in “the ownership group’s football-related decision-making”, while more than 80 per cent were not confident the club are being run in a way that will deliver “sustained success over the next three to five years”.

The board’s letter says that, since those findings were presented to the club, “supporters have seen no meaningful change, nor a response that reflects the seriousness of the concerns raised”.

The letter said BlueCo’s vision had ‘never been clearly or consistently explained’Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The letter goes on to raise concerns about the club’s ticketing system, which it describes as “broken and in urgent need of reform”, whether structures intended to ensure supporters’ voices are heard are working and the club’s financial results.

“Chelsea supporters have shown patience. They have absorbed upheaval. They have given the club time to make the case for this direction,” the letter adds. “That goodwill should not be treated as inexhaustible.

“For that reason, we expect a clear and substantive response from the club’s leadership on the following:

• Does the club accept that supporter confidence in its current leadership model and direction has fallen to an unacceptably low level?
• What specific changes will now be made to provide greater clarity and accountability in football leadership and decision-making?
• What will change in how supporters are engaged, so that engagement is timely, meaningful, and capable of influencing decisions rather than simply explaining them after the fact?
• How does the club intend to demonstrate that its current strategy can deliver sustained sporting success, financial stability, and a recognisable Chelsea identity in a way that rebuilds supporter trust?

“Chelsea supporters have shown patience through a sustained period of change. That patience has not been matched by the level of clarity or accountability the club owes its supporters,” a CST spokesperson said. “This is not about short-term results. It is about trust and at this moment in time, that trust has not been earned.”

By Cerys Jones

Football Writer

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Chelsea accounts: BlueCo funding exceeds £4bn, £32m player profits this season, Kingsmeadow sold

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7193024/2026/04/13/Chelsea-accounts-player-trading-profits/

Chelsea’s bumper summer of player sales translated to just £32million in profits for the current season, the club’s latest accounts show.

A reported £300m was earned from player sales in the summer 2025 transfer window, yet disclosures in Chelsea’s 2024-25 financial statements confirm only around one-tenth of that sum translated to bottom-line profit between July 1 and the closure of the transfer window on September 1.

That is a consequence of Chelsea’s high-volume player trading strategy, with players signed for large sums still carrying sizeable book values at the time of their Stamford Bridge departures. Yet Chelsea’s business model is reliant on generating profits from such player trading, as underlying operating losses are swingeing. The latest accounts show the club’s day-to-day deficit jumped a further £45million to £258m or, in layman’s terms, Chelsea lost £491 a minute, every single minute for a full year.

The figure would have been higher were it not for the exclusion of over £50million in ‘legal and regulatory costs’. Chelsea incurred a £26.5million fine from UEFA last summer for breaching financial rules, and booked a further £24m provision in relation to past unreported payments to players, unregistered agents and other third parties. The matter, self-reported by the club following the BlueCo takeover of May 2022, resulted in a £10.75m fine from the Premier League last month. A related investigation by the Football Association remains ongoing.

BlueCo’s model since acquiring the club four years ago has prioritised activity in the transfer market, and a further £305.5million went on new players in 2024-25. Player sales of £125.9m meant a net spend of £179.6m, the third highest in last season’s Premier League, only trailing the two Manchester clubs.

Those incoming fees took total player sales over three full seasons of BlueCo ownership beyond £500million, and reaped £57.9m in profit last season. £273.2m has been earned from player profits in those three years, again the third-highest in the Premier League, though Chelsea made £21m more from player trading in the final three seasons of Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

Of greater concern is that lowly player profits figure for the current 2025-26 season.

Chelsea will receive a marked revenue boost this year from both their FIFA Club World Cup success in the United States last summer and a return to Champions League football. Yet with operating losses so large they also need to keep being good sellers, and much was made of a summer in which they recorded the second-highest level of player sales ever recorded in a transfer window, only topped by Monaco in summer 2018.

 

These accounts don’t put a number to the gross sales amount but if the profit of £31.8million remains unchanged, this season will generate Chelsea’s second-lowest profit on player sales in 12 seasons. The June sales of Bashir Humphreys and Marcus Bettinelli to Burnley and Manchester City fell into the 2024-25 accounting year but, even with those included, Chelsea’s player profits from last summer likely didn’t hit £50m.

The £31.8million booked in 2025-26 is less than sister club Strasbourg generated from their own player sales last summer. Accounts for 22 Holdco Limited, the uppermost UK-registered company in the BlueCo group, disclose £66.8million in post-year-end player profits; Strasbourg’s player profit figure, by deduction, was £34.4m.

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Kingsmeadow sold to women’s team

Under BlueCo’s ownership Chelsea have successfully skirted trouble with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), principally through the movement of assets within the club’s wider corporate structure. Such intra-group sales were noticeably lacking in 2024-25, leading to that record loss, though they weren’t entirely absent.

The accounts disclose the sale of Kingsmeadow, the home of Chelsea Women, to Chelsea Football Club Women Limited (CFCW), the company which generated £198.7million in June 2024 when it was internally ‘sold’ to another BlueCo company. The Kingsmeadow sale appears to have reaped £3.4m profit last season but other loss-making sales of undisclosed assets meant Chelsea made a small loss on fixed asset disposals in 2024-25 (£3m).

Chelsea women have played at Kingsmeadow since 2017Jasper Wax/Getty Images

Following the 2024 sale, income from Chelsea Women was not expected to feature in the accounts of Chelsea FC Holdings, which houses the men’s team, yet these accounts tell a different tale. Chelsea booked £22.6m in income from CFCW, while expending £11.3m in costs.

Sources with knowledge of the club’s dealings told The Athletic around half the sum comprises the proceeds from the Kingsmeadow sale to CFCW, while the rest reflects an inter-company agreement made between Chelsea FC Holdings and CFCW at the time of the intra-group sale. In essence, of Chelsea’s £490.9m revenue, around £11m came from CFCW (the Kingsmeadow sale proceeds are not recorded as revenue).

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How Chelsea made record pre-tax loss

Chelsea’s English record pre-tax loss of £262.4million last season has already been well-documented, but the release of the club’s full financials lends greater detail to the story.

The £258million operating loss marks the fourth consecutive season Chelsea’s day-to-day deficit has topped £200m, albeit 2024-25 saw a new peak.  It is, unsurprisingly, the highest operating loss in English football history.

That loss includes £12.1million in player value impairments, a lower amount than might have been expected given recent suggestions the huge loss was driven by one-off costs. Even without those £50.2m in legal and regulatory costs, Chelsea’s pre-tax loss would still have been the largest ever made in English football.

Matchday and broadcast revenues each improved, the latter by £40million. TV money rose in three ways: from the early stages of the FIFA Club World Cup (roughly £20m in 2024-25, with a further £65m prize money recorded in 2025-26), a successful Europa Conference League campaign (£18.3million, versus no European football in 2023-24) and finishing two spots higher in the Premier League (£4.5m more in domestic prize money).

Those improvements were welcomed, especially as commercial income dropped markedly, down £24million to £200.9m. Chelsea put that drop down to ‘reduced sponsorship revenue’, and the club went most of last season without a front-of-shirt sponsor, before DAMAC signed a deal for the final month of the season. It meant Chelsea trailed their ‘Big Six’ rivals by a large margin on the commercial front; the next-lowest among that cohort was Arsenal’s £262.2m, 31 per cent higher than Chelsea.

Also worst among the ‘Big Six’ was Chelsea’s wages to revenue metric, which moved up a smidge to 73 per cent. The wage bill at Stamford Bridge hit £359.3million, likely the club’s highest ever once termination payments in the 2022-23 season are stripped. That seems to give the lie to the idea Chelsea have embarked on a strategy of paying notably lower, incentive-based wages — albeit non-football staff made their mark too. Administrative staff numbers jumped by 156 to 929, the highest in the Premier League.

BlueCo have spent heavily in their time in West London, and rising staffing numbers shows an uptick in operations. Naturally, costs came with that; Chelsea’s operating expenditure topped £150million for the first time, although, again, that was a low among the ‘Big Six’.

Not so low were player amortisation costs which are the byproduct of huge transfer spending. Those hit £212.2million in 2024-25, an English record and one which would be even higher if adjusted to reflect Premier League and UEFA rules limiting player amortisation periods to five years. No such limits apply to club accounts, yet Chelsea still racked up a bill which consumed over two-fifths of their revenue. A further £263.3million went on new players in the two months from 1 July onwards, taking gross transfer spending under BlueCo to £1.867billion overall.

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BlueCo’s significant funding continues

Chelsea’s loss figure would have been even higher were it not for the fact the club has been funded interest-free throughout BlueCo’s tenure. The size of the commitment to the club continues to be substantial. Last season, Chelsea received a further £330million from their owners, taking the three-season tally beyond £1.1billion. In all, across both equity raises and borrowings further up the corporate chain, the first three seasons of the BlueCo project required over £4billion in funding.

That funding does not come cheap, as those 22 Holdco accounts detail. Debt in the group increased a further £225million last season, even as only £157m in new cash was obtained from lenders. Much of the difference arose from payment-in-kind (PIK) interest, whereby borrowings accrue interest at lofty rates — around 11 per cent currently — which is tacked onto the principal to be repaid when the loan terms in. The Athletic has previously estimated BlueCo’s PIK interest could total over £850m across the 10-year term of that particular loan, and that estimate will grow yet higher if the group continues to increase borrowings.

Even without the PIK interest, 22 Holdco paid out £58million cash to service loans last season. Across cash interest payments and transaction costs incurred on obtaining borrowings which now total £1.4billion, 22 Holdco has paid £177.7m in just three years.

Much of the borrowed money has been used to build a Chelsea squad which, at the end of June 2025, had cost £1.51billion to assemble, almost £200m more than the next most expensive team in the world (Manchester City).

Following Sunday’s 0-3 home defeat to City, Liam Rosenior’s team are sixth in the Premier League, four points away from a guaranteed Champions League place which looks essential if finances at Stamford Bridge are to improve.

The Athletic estimates Chelsea earned around £80million from this season’s competition but that figure will drop precipitously if they miss out again next season. That would not help a club who, while maintaining they are now compliant with football’s financial regulations, are subject to the terms of that UEFA settlement agreement until the end of the 2028-29 season.

By Chris Weatherspoon

Football Finance Writer

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Is the Chelsea project broken? | The Football Boardroom

It’s been anything but quiet on the West London front this season at Chelsea. Ill-discipline on the pitch, fallings out off it at both boardroom and dressing-room level, financial losses, a controversial fine, question marks around the head coach… And it promises to be a summer of discontent in SW6 should the club fail to qualify for the Champions League. What exactly is the owners’ strategy? And is it time for them to change course and devise a new plan? Christian and Henry drill into both accounts and accountability at the Bridge and assess what the men from California can do to rewrite the script and land a Hollywood ending.

[Mário César 1,476]

Like I’ve said multiple times, the signings of Gittsen, Garnacho and Delap show everything that’s wrong — three weak players who are only good at mid-table clubs, if even that. It represents everything that’s wrong with the club.

 

 

 

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[OneMoSalah 9,090]

1 hour ago, Vytis33 said:

 

 

 

The consequences should be that he & the co sporting directors are sacked.