Understatement of the season?! Todd Boehly admits ‘mistakes have been made’ since his £4.25bn Chelsea takeover, as he confesses to investors over his dreadful first year in charge
- Boehly confessed mistakes had been made at an event at Stamford Bridge
- Chelsea have had three different managers since the start of the season
- An underwhelming season has sunk them to 11th in the Premier League table
Todd Boehly confessed that mistakes have been made during his first year in charge of Chelsea since taking over the West London club for £4.25 billion in May, 2022.
The Clearlake Capital founder spoke to a room of full of bankers and business associates during a private function at Stamford Bridge just days after the club’s exit from the Champions League.
The event was reportedly sold as an opportunity to hear the Chelsea owner’s visions for the club ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Among those in attendance was Goldman Sachs investment banker Anthony Gutman, whose employer was one of the banks involved in Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s takeover last year.
According to reports, Boehly did not elaborate on the specific details of the mistakes that have been made at Chelsea over the last 12 months and neither he nor Gutman wished to comment further on the matter after the talk.
Todd Boehly admitted that mistakes have been made during his first year in charge of Chelsea
Chelsea have sacked both Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter since the start of the season
Frank Lampard has returned for a second spell in charge of Chelsea but is without a win so far
Since taking over at Chelsea, Boehly has overseen expenditure of over half a billion pounds on player transfer fees over the previous two windows.
The Blues spent a staggering £323 million in January alone, including a British record fee for Enzo Fernandez (£107 million), £88 million on Mykhaylo Mudryk, a £9 million loan fee for Joao Felix’s services as well as considerable fees for Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and Malo Gusto.
The summer transfer window proved to be an expensive one too, with £271 million spent on the likes of Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Carney Chukwuemeka.
Chelsea have also had three different managers in charge at various points of the 2022-23 season.
Thomas Tuchel was relieved of his duties in September after just 100 days of Boehly’s reign, despite winning 62 of his 100 games in charge during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea then spent roughly £21 million to acquire Graham Potter from Brighton before sacking him at a cost of £13 million at the beginning of April.
Chelsea have not won in any of their five games since Frank Lampard returned to the club as interim manager and have only picked up one point in the Premier League since then.
Real Madrid delivered a reality check in the Champions League quarter-finals, comfortably running out 2-0 winners in both the home and away legs.
The club has spent £600m in the two transfer windows since Boehly took over in May 2022
Chelsea forked out a British record fee of £107 million on World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez
So far, the blame has tended to lie with the players and coaching staff, although that attitude appears to be changing over recent weeks.
Boehly was seen in confrontation with supporters during Chelsea’s recent 2-1 loss to Brighton in the Premier League.
As a result of their poor form over the course of the season, Chelsea have slumped into the bottom half of the league table in 11th place and will finish the season without silverware.
It is mathematically impossible for Chelsea to win the Premier League, they are out of the Champions League and the FA Cup and Manchester United have already claimed the Carabao Cup title for 2022-23.