Chelsea owners and board

[Blue Moon]

And yet, and yet … I recall enjoying a nightcap in the balcony of my salubrious hotel (Mercure, Omaha, as I recall) with a colleague on a business trip, and watching the antics of a couple enjoying similar pursuits in the pool. When they retired to a lounger to dry off in what seemed a most enjoyable manner, our English reserve got the better of us and we thought fit to retire to the bar. 

[chara]

1 minute ago, Blue Moon said:

And yet, and yet … I recall enjoying a nightcap in the balcony of my salubrious hotel (Mercure, Omaha, as I recall) with a colleague on a business trip, and watching the antics of a couple enjoying similar pursuits in the pool. When they retired to a lounger to dry off in what seemed a most enjoyable manner, our English reserve got the better of us and we thought fit to retire to the bar. 

Hmm...Omaha...A Waylon song... a Peyton Manning play call..(much enjoyed and used as a smile by him) and a one night stopover for me traversing the country from Up State NY to Denver...

I also see the BM's  Well Known English Reserve and shyness coming to the fore again 😄🫣🙍‍♂️🌞

[Blue Moon]

No quite - one of us did call “give ‘er one for us” as we left the balcony. It was a bit gross …

[Blue Moon]

Might add a warning. Might not still be there, but there was a bar on Main Street - full of truckers and redneck types - shared the John with a tranny bar next door. Great sport was had by all not warning visitors. Needless to say, I was caught. Bastards.

[chara]

2 minutes ago, Blue Moon said:

No quite - one of us did call “give ‘er one for us” as we left the balcony. It was a bit gross …

Now that IS a response😁!

[chara]

2 minutes ago, Blue Moon said:

Might add a warning. Might not still be there, but there was a bar on Main Street - full of truckers and redneck types - shared the John with a tranny bar next door. Great sport was had by all not warning visitors. Needless to say, I was caught. Bastards.

Exactly as I pointed out ..that deep English reserve and shyness coming to the fore!

[CarefreeMuratcan]

I haven't seen any discussions here yet about the new PL anchoring rules. Every Club will be limited to spending 5 x whatever the lowest PL club earns in PL money. I think this would help us spend more right? Also  no longer need to sell homegrown players for FFP pure profit?

[Sciatika]

This will only apply after next season (i.e., 25/26). There are two sets of rules: the maximum expenditure rules like FFP and the anchoring rules. All this is still being worked out. This is a summary, and I am happy to be wrong about the details or the consequences.

In the maximum expenditure rules, clubs not in Europe will be limited to spending 85% of revenue on their squads. This includes wages, amortised transfer fees and agent fees. If you are in Europe, this will be 70%. This latter figure is in line with UEFA rules. If we want to be in Europe, this is how it is. Reductions in agent fees would be good. Our problems with player wages will be solved mainly by getting rid of a few high earners (e.g., Lukaku, Sterling, Kepa, Ziyech and maybe some others), as we plan to do. We may need to reduce the squad size to lose depreciation costs.

The anchoring rules are supposed to ensure that the big clubs do not use their financial muscle to control the league. The idea is to link the maximum expenditure of all clubs to the revenue of the bottommost club in the league (presumably for the subsequent year). For clarity, this is what they earn from TV revenue (at least according to the Sky reporter). In the current season, Sheffield Utd will earn about £103m, so clubs will be limited on spending no more than some fixed multiple of that. The multiple has not been decided. Let's say it is 4.5, then about £463.5m. These rules may not affect us very much in the short term because I doubt we will seek to refresh the squad. In the new regime, we seem less likely to do lots of transfers. Instead, we will look to promote the kids (a good thing), preferably on lower salaries and limited agent fees. These regulations will leave room for the odd landmark purchase.

[Bison]

 

[Mark Kelly]

3 hours ago, Bison said:

 

Honestly our owners are morons.

Edited May 4 by Mark Kelly

[Ham]

4 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

Honestly our owners are morons.

I think we're waiting to see whether we qualify for the EL before signing any deals. 

[Mark Kelly]

56 minutes ago, Ham said:

I think we're waiting to see whether we qualify for the EL before signing any deals. 

Good point I hadn't thought of that. 

[martin1905]

20 hours ago, Bison said:

 

Makes no sense, why is their a deadline?

What are the ramifications of missing the deadline?

Surely once we get a sponsor sorted they just put it on, like this season.

Sensationalism at its finest.

[thevelourfog]

9 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Makes no sense, why is their a deadline?

What are the ramifications of missing the deadline?

Surely once we get a sponsor sorted they just put it on, like this season.

Sensationalism at its finest.

There would really obviously be a deadline for mass production of the shirt to sell? That will be what we have missed.

On the above point, can't imagine they are waiting to see if we make EL. It's just not prestigious enough to have much impact on what a sponsor will pay, and in any case you'd just negotiate a contract that covered both eventualities. 

They've fucked it, again.

[ROTG]

1 hour ago, thevelourfog said:

There would really obviously be a deadline for mass production of the shirt to sell? That will be what we have missed.

On the above point, can't imagine they are waiting to see if we make EL. It's just not prestigious enough to have much impact on what a sponsor will pay, and in any case you'd just negotiate a contract that covered both eventualities. 

 

I am sure there are some more brick and mortar they can sell to the parent company to offset the lack of sponsorship money and general funding shortfalls 

[Proud-Blue]

 

 

Edited May 8 by Proud-Blue

[kev61]

5 hours ago, Proud-Blue said:

If this is true we are truly fucked .We need to be crowned the champion's of Europe not appealing to America which is a long way off.

 

[ROTG]

Chelsea’s recent form shows plan is ‘coming together’, says Todd Boehly

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 03: Todd Boehly, Owner of Chelsea looks on prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge on December 03, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
By Adam Crafton
8h ago
40

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly says the team’s past two and a half games demonstrate signs of the club’s plan “coming together” as head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s future continues to attract scrutiny.

Chelsea remain in seventh place in the Premier League table amid another testing season, after finishing the first full campaign under the stewardship of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Boehly and the private equity firm Clearlake Capital in 12th position last year.

 

Pochettino’s relationship with the club’s ownership and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart has been under the microscope in recent months, with the Argentine suggesting contact with the owners has been limited. In response to questions regarding his relationship with Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, Pochettino said last month: “That’s a good question for them if you have the opportunity to ask them. But it’s not a subjective idea of us (that we have problems) — it is the reality.”

The coach’s position will be reviewed at the end of the campaign but he may take some optimism from public comments made by Boehly during a Sportico conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Pochettino’s initial contract, signed last summer, was a two-year agreement with the option of a one-year extension.

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Boehly, who was not asked about the head coach during his interview, said: “We’ve seen the last two and a half games, at least in the second half at Aston Villa (2-2 draw) and Tottenham (2-0 win) and West Ham (5-0 win) where we played just beautiful football.

“It was so fluid, it was exactly the way we drew it up, when we came out of the back, built up and moved up the pitch, (it was) very organised and the number of shots we had on board. In those two and a half games, you could really start to see what we were working on coming together.

“Even the commentary has changed over the last two and a half games. I’ve never seen anything change so quickly.”

Boehly was speaking during a one-on-one session in West Hollywood. He was asked why he decided to invest into Premier League football, having previously acquired the L.A. Dodgers baseball team.

“There’s no bigger sport in the world,” Boehly said. “When you think about just the size and scale of European football, it’s just mind-numbing and there’s no better league in the world in the Premier League. If you look at how these guys play, the speed with which they play the game. One of my players who I had a great relationship with is Kalidou Koulibaly. Koulibaly came over from Serie A (where he played for Napoli) and he told me one time, ‘In Serie A, I get to think and then run but in the Premier League, I have to run while I think, and I’m still adjusting to that’.”

 

Boehly also said that he was supportive of new proposals within the Premier League to add a hard spending cap to the new “squad cost” rules that are being introduced for the 2025-26 season.

Based on the concept of “anchoring”, the de facto salary cap would limit the amount of money any club can invest in their squads by tying it to a multiple of what the lowest earners get from the league’s centralised broadcast and commercial deals. It will be formally voted on in a meeting at the Premier League’s annual general meeting in June. Chelsea abstained from the initial proposals in a meeting last week but Boehly indicated his support on stage on Wednesday.

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“We’re supportive of anything that adds to the competitive nature of the sport,” he said. “The reason the Premier League is doing so well is because it is so competitive and everyone wants to watch it and no one knows how the games are gonna happen. If you look around at what’s going on right now in different European leagues, some of them are having a hard time selling their media (rights). I think the competitiveness that you’re going to continue to see and evolve as the sport evolves is just going be good for the Premier League.”

Boehly was also asked how the Premier League can continue to boost its popularity in the United States, where the television deal with NBC was worth $2.7billion for the six seasons leading up to 2028, and where record Premier League television audiences have been recorded on six occasions in the past sixteen months.

“You have to make it relevant to them (young people),” Boehly said. “And I think the sport is becoming more and more relevant. The window that they have on the east coast in particular Saturday morning and Sunday morning — where there’s nothing really that competes with other sports — really gives it a great opportunity to reach.

 

“The fan fests that the Premier League do from city to city, you see them, it only builds momentum. Hopefully, (Chelsea midfielder) Cole Palmer will become a household name (here) soon. He’s been a phenomenon for us and so we’re thinking hard about how we continue to expand our brand in the United States. That’s ultimately a priority as well.

“One of the things that Premier League clubs have is worldwide marks they can use — we’ve got a global group of players from Argentina to Brazil. Part of the long-range plan will be really to extend the brand as much as possible to build a fanbase because ultimately the larger our fanbase grows, the more competitive we’ll be able to be because these salary caps are based on revenue.

“In order to compete, you have to have growing revenue. And I think a brand like Chelsea really allows for that. Growing that brand, especially globally, is predicated on winning. I think that winning is at the top of the things that’s most important. When you’re attracting a new fan, the key is to have something that’s really aspirational.”

[chara]

Thanks @ROTG for posting that,,,does my head in though.....all very "modern" and Big Business orientated.

What about the game as it is enjoyed by so many all the World over,,,in school playgrounds,public park pitches and patches of bare earth all over the World ?

Bringing the game down to Balance Sheets Media income and Elite Leagues somehow seems a loss of something..heart? emotions? for an OG who has gained so much from the game in many places...the "benefits" outside of the game in local settings...just playing at different levels..however modest and the sheer joy and despair following Chelsea over so many years.

...You don't know what you've lost.....?

[boratsbrother]

18 minutes ago, chara said:

Thanks @ROTG for posting that,,,does my head in though.....all very "modern" and Big Business orientated.

What about the game as it is enjoyed by so many all the World over,,,in school playgrounds,public park pitches and patches of bare earth all over the World ?

Bringing the game down to Balance Sheets Media income and Elite Leagues somehow seems a loss of something..heart? emotions? for an OG who has gained so much from the game in many places...the "benefits" outside of the game in local settings...just playing at different levels..however modest and the sheer joy and despair following Chelsea over so many years.

...You don't know what you've lost.....?

I wouldn't get too down on what TB said about "the brand" and the finances etc. Expanding the brand is a very important part of his role at Chelsea FC.  Long gone are the days when all that mattered was just keeping the home crowd happy. To compete at the very top a club needs huge sums of money, most of which is now generated from outside the local fanbase. 

The emotional side of the game has always been generated by the players and managers, not the owners. 

 

[chara]

30 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

I wouldn't get too down on what TB said about "the brand" and the finances etc. Expanding the brand is a very important part of his role at Chelsea FC.  Long gone are the days when all that mattered was just keeping the home crowd happy. To compete at the very top a club needs huge sums of money, most of which is now generated from outside the local fanbase. 

The emotional side of the game has always been generated by the players and managers, not the owners. 

 

Thanks mate...I know you are right..I suppose it's the contrast between RA..an indulgance in many ways but a benign one...and the Business focus as stated earlier...Does Todd (and Co) really care if Chelsea beat Leeds (as an example) ?....or to be more precise,,does he understand the reasons behind the glee of a certain group of Chelsea followers..or cares?...Leeds as an example as I said but any of a number of clubs for many different reasons?...just a Balance Sheet Image matter?

Just getting old I guess.

[Sciatika]

1 hour ago, boratsbrother said:

The emotional side of the game has always been generated by the players and managers, not the owners. 

And the fans, of course. One reason we liked RA is that he seemed to be a fan.

[chara]

9 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

And the fans, of course. One reason we liked RA is that he seemed to be a fan.

Absolutely...I meant to elaborate on that aspect....back in the "Old Days"...even before us Og's...and the max wage time, I don't think the owners cared too much about the fans in as far as facilities were basic and there was very little competition for the attention of the "working man" and I get the impression that wealthy "possession" prestige owners somewhat looked down on the then important income source fans.

We "hate" certain sides and they "hate" us...creates dynamics that far transcend balance sheets etc and make the game what it is...as an aside...as I see it. but only my opinion,for all the "enthusiasm" of the USA sports fans that edge...although present in a far less meaningful way always seems lacking in sports here.

Might explain in a small part the difference in the basic approach of our Overlords ?

[Mark Kelly]

50 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

And the fans, of course. One reason we liked RA is that he seemed to be a fan.

I'm sure Egbahli is "supposed" to be a fan isn't he? 

[ROTG]

12 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

I'm sure Egbahli is "supposed" to be a fan isn't he? 

The only thing creamcakes are fans of is making money, regardless how they try to package it.