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Chelsea owners and board


Max Fowler

Ownership buyout  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Who would you want to have full ownership of the club?

    • Eghbali and Clearlake
      0
    • Todd Boehly
      24
    • Mark Walter
      0
    • Hansjörg Wyss
      0

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  • Poll closed on 13/09/24 at 18:00

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43 minutes ago, RDCW said:

I'm between two stools on this one. He has definitely overstated the role of the fans in the success of the team and is too forgiving of the unnecessary mistakes of the ownership. He is right about the commitment to investment and, sadly, about the entitlement of the fan base (and I speak as a season ticket holder of 28 years' standing). I think that the fans of successful clubs are entitled and intolerant. It is also the case that culturally English fans of the 21st century are less vocal and less enthusiastic than their European equivalents When you see the unconditional support offered by French, German, Scandinavian and Baltic fans it is somewhat humbling. We as a Chelsea fanbase have always had a reputation for boo-boys, though, going right back to the late seventies.

I've some sympathy with the entitlement thing, and generally feel quite lucky that at 39 I do remember us not winning things and that grounds me (if still being too young for the real turmoil of the 80s to have influenced me). I've had my ST for 16 years and generally find that where I sit is quiet, very rarely much dissent or support.

But we pay a huge amount of money, far more than fans in the 90s did, and I think some entitlement is justified. Personally I worry about the ownerships investment. It isn't clear where the immediate capital has come from or what the cost of it might be.

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14 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

I've some sympathy with the entitlement thing, and generally feel quite lucky that at 39 I do remember us not winning things and that grounds me (if still being too young for the real turmoil of the 80s to have influenced me). I've had my ST for 16 years and generally find that where I sit is quiet, very rarely much dissent or support.

But we pay a huge amount of money, far more than fans in the 90s did, and I think some entitlement is justified. Personally I worry about the ownerships investment. It isn't clear where the immediate capital has come from or what the cost of it might be.

I definitely share those worries!

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@Proud-Blue..Excellent post,,as good as you will see here,

It's always good to read of personal interaction with key figures at the club to help us understand things better.

Plus a great sensible take on how a lot of us feel in general.

Thank You.

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5 minutes ago, chara said:

@Proud-Blue..Excellent post,,as good as you will see here,

It's always good to read of personal interaction with key figures at the club to help us understand things better.

Plus a great sensible take on how a lot of us feel in general.

Thank You.

Thank you. Again I guess it's just my own subjective experience and interpretation of the situation. I'm sure others will think differently.

Almost everything I speak about with them is the Chelsea Pride stuff I do, but when you're with people who are passionate about football (and Boehly is), the conversation sometimes veers onto general football/club topics. I don't find out anything like who we are signing, apart from the Marc Guiu incident I mentioned in his thread haha.

I tried making a joke to Bruce Buck once about signing Haaland while he was at Dortmund. He didn't laugh. It was very awkward. So I think I'll avoid trying something like that again!

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38 minutes ago, Proud-Blue said:

Much of this I agree with, but I also think they're maybe slightly over-stating the fan reaction.

A lot of fans talk about how they feel they don't connect with the club anymore. I think that's largely because of the sheer pace of change. Some of this was forced upon us with the sanctions, but there's no doubt the new owners took an absolute sledgehammer to the existing structures. That didn't necessarily need to happen, but it's the strategy they've taken. Having met Boehly three times now, I do think there is an actual logic to what is going on and I think we will see the instability calm down in the next year and a half or so. This is not to say I agree with everything they're doing, but I don't think they're as clueless as some have made out. I won't go into specifics about what I spoke with Boehly about (it wasn't that long or revolutionary tbh, but it was a conversation that included some themes I can't share), he was certainly excited and optimistic about the upcoming season. I'd say he's a very optimistic person in general, and he's backing the people around him. He is I think a genuine sports fan, really cares about the club, and is 100% well-intentioned in everything he's doing. I have not met Eghbali or others from the Clearlake side.

What I do wish they'd do is maybe communicate a little more about what the vision is. For, me something that's causing anxiety is they're running the club in a fashion not seen before. To some on the outside, it looks rather baffling at times. But when you speak with them (and I know from people who have had meetings with the sporting directors especially), the "project" is quite persuasive. But we as the majority of fans are only getting very partial access to understand what it is. I think we need to be taken on that journey with the club.

I think the lack of fan support at the bridge can honestly be attributed to fear. People are worried we're taking massive risks with the club, and they don't want to see us end up in enormous trouble over the next few years. Either financially or in terms of our league performance. Nobody wants to end up like Leeds did.

So I guess I also sit somewhat in the middle here. I do think the fans are being a bit quick to get on the backs of the team, but the ownership has more ability to influence creating a more positive atmosphere than they are currently showing. I hope that gets communicated through the FAB and fans forum (my term on the fans forum ended this year unfortunately).

Hopefully the atmosphere gets a little more positive in the Bridge itself, starting with Servette. 

Excellent post.  Very refreshing to hear an informed perspective although I fear you'll be forever tagged "a TBSD mouthpiece" on here from this point on.

😜

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3 minutes ago, Ham said:

Excellent post.  Very refreshing to hear an informed perspective although I fear you'll be forever tagged "a TBSD mouthpiece" on here from this point on.

😜

I'm sure it's possible. Some will always want to think in absolutes and just assume I'm here to positively represent everything they do. I've criticised plenty in the past and sometimes over-reacted like many emotional fans do.  Hopefully most will read what I say in good faith though.

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9 minutes ago, Ham said:

I didn't realise "or not" was an option. 

Potentially positive news. 

 

 

Potentially, but I suspect they'll feel they need to do something. Especially if they end up charging Man City. Maybe it'll be more lenient than expected though.

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Hyundai deal was worth £10m a year back in 2018 and Whalefin (deal later terminated under the new ownership) was £20m a year when agreed back in 2022. 

Nearly September and still no front of shirt sponsor. 

Crazy to see how much the brand has been devalued in just two years of ownership under these bozos. 

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4 hours ago, Bison said:

Hyundai deal was worth £10m a year back in 2018 and Whalefin (deal later terminated under the new ownership) was £20m a year when agreed back in 2022. 

Nearly September and still no front of shirt sponsor. 

Crazy to see how much the brand has been devalued in just two years of ownership under these bozos. 

On this I agree with you.

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21 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

 

Perhaps don't get too excited about the Conference League just yet!

Clearlake had better crack on with some new sponsorship deals then.  The Lidl Stadium Stamford Bridge anyone??

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4 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Just in??? This has been the case ever since UEFA rewrote their rules (ie when it changed from the old FFP to the new FSR)

I'll take your word for it, was just being glib given we'll probably qualify tonight!

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I still can’t believe we don’t have a front of shirt sponsor. I do not buy into the ‘they want to wait until they can offer CL football’ theory, that makes no sense to me as you can always agree a short term deal or a deal that increases based on the competitions we’re in. It’s terrible business from the owners or whoever they pay to manage this area of the business.

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21 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I still can’t believe we don’t have a front of shirt sponsor. I do not buy into the ‘they want to wait until they can offer CL football’ theory, that makes no sense to me as you can always agree a short term deal or a deal that increases based on the competitions we’re in. It’s terrible business from the owners or whoever they pay to manage this area of the business.

I read somewhere that our sleeve sponsors are currently paying around £8m/year... down from around £20m from the previous sponsor. 🙄 🙄

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2 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

I read somewhere that our sleeve sponsors are currently paying around £8m/year... down from around £20m from the previous sponsor. 🙄 🙄

Yeah, I saw that as well. I thought this was the area they would be really strong in, in fact I think that’s what they told us.

I thought we would be discussing our feeling around them selling the naming rights of Stamford Bridge, not discussing the finality to get a front of shirt sponsor!

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@My Blood Is Blue agree Sam..from my experience of name change additions to stadia over here and UK whatever name got tagged onto Stamford Bridge or changed ;it would still be referred to as Stamford Bridge or "The Bridge" so take the money and bank it!

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8 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I still can’t believe we don’t have a front of shirt sponsor. I do not buy into the ‘they want to wait until they can offer CL football’ theory, that makes no sense to me as you can always agree a short term deal or a deal that increases based on the competitions we’re in. It’s terrible business from the owners or whoever they pay to manage this area of the business.

Like it or not, we don't have the brand name of the old school three biggest clubs - Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. We haven't been title contenders for years now, so our commercial  stock has naturally fallen in line with our performances on the pitch.  A bit unfair then to complain about the commercial director not being able to attract the kind of sponsors we once had. We can't force companies to give us more. 

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34 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Like it or not, we don't have the brand name of the old school three biggest clubs - Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. We haven't been title contenders for years now, so our commercial  stock has naturally fallen in line with our performances on the pitch.  A bit unfair then to complain about the commercial director not being able to attract the kind of sponsors we once had. We can't force companies to give us more. 

That isn’t my complaint, my complaint is that they haven’t found anyone!

We have a large gap on our bank sheet where the front of shirt sponsorship money should be, we literally have no money coming in for that front of shirt sponsor.

I can accept it won’t be for as much money as it used to be, given our performance on the pitch in the last few years, but the club are either holding out for something close to this, which is unrealistic or are genuinely unable to negotiate with anyone to get a deal done.

These kinds of deals should be agreed months before the season starts. It is really poor, no matter how you look at it.

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1 hour ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

That isn’t my complaint, my complaint is that they haven’t found anyone!

We have a large gap on our bank sheet where the front of shirt sponsorship money should be, we literally have no money coming in for that front of shirt sponsor.

I can accept it won’t be for as much money as it used to be, given our performance on the pitch in the last few years, but the club are either holding out for something close to this, which is unrealistic or are genuinely unable to negotiate with anyone to get a deal done.

These kinds of deals should be agreed months before the season starts. It is really poor, no matter how you look at it.

Just further evidence that our owners and those that do their bidding are cretins and have no clue how to run a football club.

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