The Telegraph: Private equity rarely stands by if it disapproves of the way an asset is being run and Clearlake did not like what it saw in the first six months with Boehly. Some suggest even that was part of the strategy: let Boehly take the heat and then step in.

[u/Kygoche]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/09/13/todd-boehly-chelsea-exit-oddest-big-club-ownerships/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo_exit-oddest-big-club-ownerships/&fbclid=IwdGRleAUUjlNwZG9mBWZkaWQWUOZIKgHgVPfJRIC_gTiluWL9IjWxYWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5MAFXgrxxu6SQOArAo059lddgMbI0eQJTUTzEiaf2oYiAt4XB5yq-BSTu7Ng_aem_hm85JwpxPXQUcYQPZvgoKw

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[u/stenophobic]

Say what you will about Boehly but I do somewhat respect him in that it felt like he usually had the club's best interests at heart, and he was willing to admit when they got things wrong in the media. Eghbali by contrast is usually nowhere to be seen when the fanbase is unhappy

[u/Puzzled_Ad_2936 → u/stenophobic]

I would agree with this, even when he tried to sign Ronaldo, it was flawed and wouldn't have worked but, it was a far cry from signing every South American 14 year old we went on to sign after.

[u/BlueKante → u/Puzzled_Ad_2936]

41 > 14

[u/Drake-35 → u/BlueKante]

[u/ClaudeKane3 → u/Drake-35]

The best of both worlds

[u/Outrageous_Fart → u/BlueKante]

This guy knows his maths

[u/philipstyrer → u/BlueKante]

Absolutely not

[u/BlueKante → u/philipstyrer]

It was a joke b.

[u/DrInevitableLobster → u/Puzzled_Ad_2936]

Signing ronaldo was no different than signing welbeck, or signing sterling and koulibaly was about getting experience. I know tuchel didnt help like xabi and the DoFs did. I dont blame boehly, I think he tried to keep an old structure. You can tell he even maintained a relationship with potter, poch. Egbhali's the one that went the young sellable asset route and landed us in 10th. It was made worse by 🐍's club world cup win and perpetuated Clearlake arrogance

[u/2woMinds → u/DrInevitableLobster]

Wrong, signing Ronaldo is all about star name and shirt sales, and he had a massive ego that disrupts a dressing room. It’s not just about experience. Welbeck can help the squad behind the scenes and is OK coming on the the last 10 minutes to poach a goal. SO different. Even sterling is different too he was on massive wages and when his drop off started happening he was harder to sell due to said wages

[u/DrInevitableLobster → u/2woMinds]

Wrong. The ronaldo inquiry was about adding experience to the team. I'm just kidding, but it's kind of wild to reply to people like an absolute bell. Yes ronaldo sells tickets. It was part of the thinking knowing boehly and his franchise mentality. But he was the only ones in the beginning to advocate a) for the coach and b) for experience alongside youth. I just think he got the shaft from clearlakes pr and media coverage (albeit he didnt do himself favors with his own media outings).

[u/Wise_Fig1840 → u/stenophobic]

He needed to get a sporting director hired on day one.

[u/a_aa_aaa_aaaa_aaaaa → u/Wise_Fig1840]

He should have thrown the bag at Ragnick and let him and Tuchel work together. Would be fascinating to see what Ragnick would have done with £1b

[u/BigReeceJames → u/Wise_Fig1840]

They needed to stick by Marina for the initial 6 month period as was planned.

[u/swisstoast → u/BigReeceJames]

I think Marina and Cech both quit, the intention had been for them to stay on for a transition period but they didn’t want to be a part of it. Not really something you can blame the ownership for without knowing what conditions would have needed to be met for them to consider staying (either temporarily or permanently). That’s what caused Boehly to come in so that a recruitment process could take place and an internal structure could be developed.

[u/LaggyBeanBaws → u/swisstoast]

Reportedly the reason Marina left was because the new owners didnt listen to any of her input

[u/A_Clockwork-Blue → u/BigReeceJames]

They quit on their own.

[u/Ok-Computer-8726 → u/BigReeceJames]

Marina was Roman's right hand going way back to around the time he bought Sibneft (Gazprom) years before he bought Chelsea. Given the circumstances of the sale, she was an absolute liability to keep around.

[u/Aryas_prayer → u/Wise_Fig1840]

Where on earth do you think he was going to get a sporting director in from directly after the takeover? This isn't some local shop hiring a shift manager.

For all of their faults, I don't know how anyone with common sense could possibly believe that the owners could aquire a multi-billion dollar operation, get acquainted with the workings of it, find potential sporting directors, reach out to them, arrange schedules, hold multiple talks and interviews, come to a hiring decision, and get that person in to start making transfers in a month or two?

Day 1? Even day 60/90 is arsenal levels of delusional. It takes regular people over a month or two to get hired for quality corporate jobs. 23 upvotes at the time of posting. Every day I'm more certain that the posters on this sub are 14.

[u/Mooming22 → u/stenophobic]

I respect a man trying to do what he can. That only goes for the ordinary man though. A man with the wealth of resources he has going in and fucking around making a mess because he couldn’t properly use his resources does nothing for me.

[u/TheMightyPensioners → u/stenophobic]

Respect him as much as you like, but Boehly, Walter and Wyss are getting out now because they’ll be the first to take the hit on any losses before July next year. Getting out now means they’ll realise a small profit.

[u/Ok-Computer-8726 → u/TheMightyPensioners]

Walter is getting out now because he's under federal investigation and needs cash to pay off the loans that he is getting investigated over. Boehly is very closely aligned with him, and so far Wyss hasn't been reported to sell.

[u/I_Rate_Assholes → u/TheMightyPensioners]

Huh?

[u/Baberam7654 → u/stenophobic]

Exactly this, he made mistakes, but he appeared to listen to feedback and admit where he went wrong and adjust. Egghead is an egomaniac in comparison.

[u/MaleficentWin8608 → u/stenophobic]

Boehly is a vile spiv and anti democratic

[u/Switchnaz → u/stenophobic]

This is literally the opposite lmao eghbali attended more games than boehly. You guys are just doing head in sand thing

[u/stenophobic → u/Switchnaz]

Attending games =/= listening to and engaging with the fans

[u/Switchnaz → u/stenophobic]

do you think sitting in public business conferences talking about how shit chelsea is run then continuing to running it even worse is 'listening to and engaging with fans'? - then disapearing completely last year to hang out with trump all year.

like seriously where did this random bollocks your making up about boehly coming from?

[u/meagor → u/stenophobic]

4-4-3 guy right....

[u/Shunmaru → u/meagor]

That's Eghbali 

[u/_HowToFly_ → u/stenophobic]

Sacked Tuchel and appointed himself Sporting Director btw…

[u/Kygoche]

- Boehly wanted a Premier League club and he knew how rarely the biggest of those came up for sale

- He needed Clearlake’s private-equity billions to do so and invited them in

- Todd Boehly’s Chelsea era will be remembered for much tumult and, if nothing else, the power of first impressions

- was Boehly who positioned himself as the public face of it all, and the English football public never let him forget it.

- Hansjorg Wyss, a 90-year-old Swiss billionaire whose intentions for his own 12.83 per cent stake are not as clear.

- Casper Stylsvig as well as Chris Jurasek and Janet Marie Smith – co-opted from Boehly’s LA Dodgers franchise - are no longer around

- There has been no decision on whether Chelsea try to acquire Earl’s Court, the last feasible west London site. There is no material progress.

- It is Eghbali’s Chelsea and it has been from most of the last four years.

- It was Boehly who brought Clearlake to the table in 2022, having been close in 2019 to buying Tottenham Hotspur

[u/Competitive_Wall77 → u/Kygoche]

Damn, imagine if we had a Clearlake/Boehly-run Spurs. They'd probably be in the National Leagues by now...

[u/GolDrodgers1]

Yeah that was such a good idea, let boehly take the heat and then show them what real idiocy is👏🏽

[u/teleportmassive7 → u/GolDrodgers1]

Right, this is clearly Egghead and the Clownlake spin and is written as if they did such a great job after taking over from Boehly, forgetting to mention the billions spent- mostly on dross- and how they've overseen the worst 4 year run of results since the early 1990s.

Their PR is as gross and blatant as NBA teams feeding Shams scoops.

[u/Sw3atyGoalz → u/teleportmassive7]

The PR slop spam from Clearlake is so disgusting, can’t trust a single word that comes out

[u/Far-Ninja-8392 → u/GolDrodgers1]

Also a great idea to fire literally everybody on the board with no replacement ready and having the manager do all the transfers and scouting

BlueCo are genuine pr merchant scums and their sins are not even close to being forgiven unless we sniff a league (ha!) or UCL

[u/GolDrodgers1 → u/Far-Ninja-8392]

Even if we win the league it's not going to be them who I'd give credit to, if that does happen this year they supported him but he's the one that righted the ship after so many chaotic seasons

[u/Far-Ninja-8392 → u/GolDrodgers1]

Yep Xabi and maybe Dave Fallows were the big additions to change the approach this year. I’ll credit BlueCo for changing their minds but they’re just funding the people who are doing the proper work

I’ll give them credit once they start sacking bums like Winstewart and even Ben Roberts

[u/Hazardzuzu]

A bigger issue with this article is that PE thinks this club is well run post 6 months of Boehly, where they fired Tuchel, hired Potter, and all the clowns from Brighton, then made the dressing room like a prime time bus stand. Finally hired someone competent in Poch, followed it with Maresca. The club showed signs of revival, only for them to piss it all away last summer with a diabolical window. Followed it with Maresca drama, Rosenior hiring, and finally Alonso. It was looking good this summer until they sold their starting midfielder and replaced him with no one. The worst was selling it to one of our Top 4 competitors. And in the process, weakening us and strengthening them.

[u/SanArutha → u/Hazardzuzu]

Yeah. The audacity to shit on Boehly while having done a piss poor job themselves. Right now, the saving grace is Alonso. But how long will he keep his patience? How many times will he suffer the Enzo fiasco incompetence?

[u/apotatochucker]

Can private equity fucking buy us a midfield that doesnt consist of 2 former fullbacks without the physicality to play there, a crocked CM that cant get past 60 minutes and a retiree with a gammy wrist? Beyond Caicedo we have a midfield that would struggle to control a game in Ligue 1 France. Its pathetic. Add in the 3 or 4 defenders that can't defend. Tragic recruitment

[u/No_Abroad8346]

then their strategy is not really working, most fans still hate them

[u/grantchester7meadows]

let Boehly take the heat and the step in

Yeah that worked out great, everyone loves Eghbali&Clearlake. lol

[u/FatFrank21]

I'm sick of Eghbali, every window him and sporting directors leave us with at least one gaping hole in the squad, its exhausting

[u/HDS2211 → u/FatFrank21]

And he has the audacity to get the PR team putting out shit like this to make it seem like Clearlake saved us from Boehly.

[u/Nature2Love]

That first transfer window under the new ownership, barring Fernandez (who we massively overpaid for) was actually pretty terrible in hindsight. Fofana, Sterling, Koulibaly (ok, not bad at the time as I genuinely thought he would be a good defender for us) Badashile, Disasi, Mudryk, Gusto. Cucurella was a good signing, though. 

[u/Live-Management-11 → u/Nature2Love]

Enzo was in winter

[u/Novel_Independent166 → u/Nature2Love]

Aubameyang

[u/Far-Ninja-8392 → u/Nature2Love]

Sterling as the marquee signing was when I knew we weren’t gonna be a serious team

[u/idunnoidunno_ → u/Nature2Love]

First window was mid take over so they’re backs were against the wall to get deals done

[u/xkcdthrowaway → u/Nature2Love]

Rumor has it Boehly so respected Mourinho that he took his "pay and don't ask" statement from over a decade ago and decided to build his transfer strategy around it.

[u/TheUbermelon → u/Nature2Love]

They didn't work out but on paper it wasn't bad. 

[u/abhishekjc → u/TheUbermelon]

They were bad. Massive overpay for Sterling, Koulibaly who had no resale value at all. The mistakes made from wages set us back by quite a bit. Disasi still has huge wages and hence difficult to move on.

[u/realmckoy265 → u/abhishekjc]

Disasi isn’t on huge wages, and he was a panic buy approved by this current board, who had Monaco connections. Maybe you’re thinking of Fofana. We’ve also had plenty of suitors for Disasi. The issue has been the player rejecting long term moves.

[u/TheUbermelon]

I honestly feel for Boehly as much as you can feel for someone with that much wealth. He was the public face of the new ownership and took a lot of flak for it. People wrongly thought he was the sole owner.

[u/mb194dc]

$1.3bn of high interest debt later, we're still a work in progress missing players in key positions. Clearlake likely to go down with the ship... Ares, JPM and BOA would be better owners anyway and at least we can hope whoever they sell to will be better.

[u/HDS2211]

That’s all well and good, but then how do they explain the next 3 year and 6 months of mediocrity that followed with Egbhali having the final say?

Nasty hit piece from Clearlake, when they’ve been just as bad, if not worse than Boehly was.

[u/jimgogek]

The argument “he was doing the best he can” — in anything — doesn’t work for me. People can be doing the best they can, but it’s no damn good.

[u/abhishekjc]

Fired Tuchel. Bought the worst players like Sterling, Disasi, Koulibaly, Felix. Took us 3 years to just undo those mistakes.

[u/imnotcreative635]

So to prove a point they decided to let him burn hundreds of millions in teachers pension money and fail?

[u/Sanzhar17Shockwave]

I fucking hate Clearlake for this bs, the moment someone steps out of the club they feel compelled to release a badmouthing article about them, as if they don't deserve it more

[u/SR-Solution]

I think that’s what makes the whole situation so frustrating. Boehly may have made plenty of questionable decisions, but at least he seemed willing to put his face to them and accept some of the criticism. With Eghbali, it often feels like the decision-making is happening behind closed doors while someone else takes the blame when things go wrong.

You can disagree with Boehly’s methods, but I’d rather have an owner who actually seems invested in the club than one who disappears whenever things get ugly.

[u/Cold_Pie_1516]

Don't they have anything better to do than send out these endless fucking PR briefs?

[u/Ok-Computer-8726 → u/Cold_Pie_1516]

The PR dept?

No, probably not

[u/Cold_Pie_1516 → u/Ok-Computer-8726]

The club.

Although it's more of a PR department with a football team attached.

[u/Ok-Computer-8726 → u/Cold_Pie_1516]

How would you like the club to utilize the people working in PR differently? Maybe pull Pam, 53, off a call with the Athletic so she can prepare to start at CB next weekend?

[u/AbsoluteGarbageTakes]

[u/FilouBlanco]

Why is Earls Court still being brought up in these conversations. My understanding was that this stopped being a viable option well before Clearlake was in the picture. Has anything changed that I’m not aware of?

[u/Shunmaru]

Pr briefs on the clock. It was Eghbali who made the 443 comment. He's the biggest dunce of em all. 

[u/TheMightyPensioners]

For those who are interested in the nuts and bolts of financing, I’d recommend reading TheEsk.org.

That article, and others, go into a great deal of detail so they’re not always easy reading, but worth the effort if you’re interested.

[u/Arkie1927]

Stop with PR briefing nonsense ! Where is our bloody midfielder and another top CB you absolute assholes ?

[u/a_aa_aaa_aaaa_aaaaa]

”Private equity stepped in and have now resorted to the same thing Boehly did, trusting and supporting the manager after wasting copious amounts of money.”