Chelsea owners and board

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Another one of your facts? 

Your argument earlier was that Arabs have limitless funds. PSR and FFP render this moot, even if our turnover is better than Newcastle.

Now you're moving the goalposts with a sweeping statement on how Arab owners would run the club. 

I mean its not hard to imagine having owners who would have bought experienced players. The limitless funds of Qataris would have fronted the wage bill. We happened to get the unique owners that turned us into the second youngest squad in Europe last season (fact!)

[Max Fowler]

43 minutes ago, Proud-Blue said:

Honestly, Saudi/Qatari owners or the like is my absolute nightmare. It'd put me in such a difficult position I'm not actually sure what I'd do. If Todd Boehly is to get the money to buy out Clearlake, I hope it's from anywhere but there.

It's bad enough that PIF invests into  Clearlake, but I've sort of compartmentalised that for now.

I respect what you are saying, but TBH Roman was hardly whiter than white and we still all benefitted from his stewardship. I also have very little confidence in the morality of Egbhali, let alone Boehly. The world's a complicated place (just my opinion).

We can hold our nose about how Roman made his money, and we can hold our nose about having oil states in charge, because ultimately having foreign investment benefits our economies and local areas.

[chrisb]

19 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

I respect what you are saying, but TBH Roman was hardly whiter than white and we still all benefitted from his stewardship. I also have very little confidence in the morality of Egbhali, let alone Boehly. The world's a complicated place (just my opinion).

We can hold our nose about how Roman made his money, and we can hold our nose about having oil states in charge, because ultimately having foreign investment benefits our economies and local areas.

So Americans are not classed as “foreign investment” then?

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

Fine if you want a war dressed up as a football game, and he's definitely not the type of manager who would play to the strengths of Felix.

 Apparently the last manager who could play to the strengths of Felix was his Benfica manager, because he's been unable to get more than a goal or assist every three games since he was in the Portugese league, for club or country. But you don't need to look at his stats, lets hear some more about his general play and work rate, which is an even bigger problem:

Here is Atleti legend Godin on Felix:

"I have nothing against Joao Felix, I don’t know him. We can’t talk about him succeeding at Barça after two matches. At Atleti, he never understood what the locker room meant. The group is above any individual," he said via Barca Universal."

Or Barcelona defender Abelardo:

“The worst thing is not the mistakes João Félix makes, but the attitude he shows after the mistake. He is static... That bad image he gives,” he told Movistar.

“You lose the ball, so go and get it, fight for it. He doesn’t do that.”

What about Atleti shot stopper Oblak?

"You have to prove it on the pitch and during training that you deserve to be in the lineup. You have to give your best so that the coach can trust you, and this doesn't just apply to Joao."

And Real Madrid legend Guti?

“Joao is somewhat to blame (for his situation). He’s a player of ups and downs and his mentality does not help him. At times he’s angry with the world and thinks it’s to blame for everything that happens to him, and it’s not.”, as per an interview with El Chiringuito, via Marca."

Or Spain legend Canizares

"He has talent, but he has to change his personality. The most important thing a coach can count on is the player's will and the player has never been humble enough to overcome difficult moments within the club. "

No smoke without fire here I am afraid Mark and a leopard doesn't change its spots. Case closed 🫡

 

Edited Friday at 19:19 by Max Fowler

[Max Fowler]

13 minutes ago, chrisb said:

So Americans are not classed as “foreign investment” then?

Yep, nothing inherent against Americans - I am half-American - as long as they are investing to actually be successful on the pitch. Ours are clearly not and we are owned by an investment firm who cares primarily about ROI unlike the oil states.

[east lower]

11 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 Apparently the last manager who could play to the strengths of Felix was his Benfica manager, because he's been unable to get more than a goal or assist every three games since he was in the Portugese league, for club or country. But you don't need to look at his stats, lets hear some more about his general play and work rate, which is an even bigger problem:

Here is Atleti legend Godin on Felix:

"I have nothing against Joao Felix, I don’t know him. We can’t talk about him succeeding at Barça after two matches. At Atleti, he never understood what the locker room meant. The group is above any individual," he said via Barca Universal."

Or Barcelona defender Abelardo:

“The worst thing is not the mistakes João Félix makes, but the attitude he shows after the mistake. He is static... That bad image he gives,” he told Movistar.

“You lose the ball, so go and get it, fight for it. He doesn’t do that.”

What about Atleti shot stopper Oblak?

"You have to prove it on the pitch and during training that you deserve to be in the lineup. You have to give your best so that the coach can trust you, and this doesn't just apply to Joao."

And Real Madrid legend Guti?

“Joao is somewhat to blame (for his situation). He’s a player of ups and downs and his mentality does not help him. At times he’s angry with the world and thinks it’s to blame for everything that happens to him, and it’s not.”, as per an interview with El Chiringuito, via Marca."

Or Spain legend Canizares

"He has talent, but he has to change his personality. The most important thing a coach can count on is the player's will and the player has never been humble enough to overcome difficult moments within the club. "

No smoke without fire here I am afraid Mark and a leopard doesn't change its spots. Case closed 🫡

 

Ouch!

[Ham]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

I mean its not hard to imagine having owners who would have bought experienced players. The limitless funds of Qataris would have fronted the wage bill. We happened to get the unique owners that turned us into the second youngest squad in Europe last season (fact!)

I give up.  Not because I concede but because you're not making sense. 

It doesn't matter where the money comes from or how much there is, PSR and FFP limits what can be done, including wages. 

Your claim that Arabs buy a certain type of player as compared to American VCs is not based in fact. 

It's your opinion..... Again! 

Anyway, I'm out. 

[Max Fowler]

45 minutes ago, Ham said:

I give up.  Not because I concede but because you're not making sense. 

It doesn't matter where the money comes from or how much there is, PSR and FFP limits what can be done, including wages. 

Your claim that Arabs buy a certain type of player as compared to American VCs is not based in fact. 

It's your opinion..... Again! 

Anyway, I'm out. 

My point isn't we'd be able to buy a gazillion more players. My point is we would spend the money we have spent on less players, more experienced players on high wages. I.e. something similar to what we have historically done under Roman.

Because the oil states would very likely be more winning to front the lower ROI / profits than our current lot. It's not about Arabs vs Americans. It's about motives and incentives.

At some point you sound like every possible owner would do exactly the same as Clearlake, when they have clearly gone for an incredibly bold (rightly or wrongly) and unique strategy / project that many have been getting behind precisely for that very boldness.

It just doesn't seem controversial to me that were we to get say Sheikh Jassim, we would see transfer policy much more similar to Roman, which IMHO would get us far more success. 

 

Edited Friday at 21:05 by Max Fowler

[NoblyBobly]

8 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

Fair enough, but it worked pretty well with Roman. He didn't leave us at square one, he left us in a great position way better than when he took over.

You find me another Roman and I’ll be right behind you. No one on this forum doubts that he was probably the best owner the PL has  ever seen.  But that was all before financial restrictions.  City look like getting punished big time ( if theirs any justice).  

[xceleryx]

4 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

My point isn't we'd be able to buy a gazillion more players. My point is we would spend the money we have spent on less players, more experienced players on high wages. I.e. something similar to what we have historically done under Roman.

Because the oil states would very likely be more winning to front the lower ROI / profits than our current lot. It's not about Arabs vs Americans. It's about motives and incentives.

At some point you sound like every possible owner would do exactly the same as Clearlake, when they have clearly gone for an incredibly bold (rightly or wrongly) and unique strategy / project that many have been getting behind precisely for that very boldness.

It just doesn't seem controversial to me that were we to get say Sheikh Jassim, we would see transfer policy much more similar to Roman, which IMHO would get us far more success. 

You realise high wages are part of the overall problem faced in football right now, right? There's also no guarantees that handing out big contracts to players equates to better performances overall. Heck, we've been living proof of that over countless years now. We've also seen the ramifications that come with big contracts and players that don't deliver, they become improvable while hindering the ability to further invest. 

You paint it as if it's some magical solution that would, without doubt, propel us back to the top of the football mountain - a Max Fact if you will.

[KingThistle]

15 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

Is he ... Is he to scout our existing wingers and 10s?!

If so, this is the most pointless job in the world

[east lower]

9 hours ago, NoblyBobly said:

You find me another Roman and I’ll be right behind you. No one on this forum doubts that he was probably the best owner the PL has  ever seen.  But that was all before financial restrictions.  City look like getting punished big time ( if theirs any justice).  

Latest reports on the Abu Dhabi boys, are starting to suggest they'll face no major punishments I.e. no trophies removed, relegation or points deduction. 

Briefings that are starting so as to manage other clubs and people's expectations perhaps?

Edited Saturday at 09:24 by east lower

[NoblyBobly]

1 hour ago, east lower said:

Latest reports on the Abu Dhabi boys, are starting to suggest they'll face no major punishments I.e. no trophies removed, relegation or points deduction. 

Briefings that are starting so as to manage other clubs and people's expectations perhaps?

Well if that’s the case , we should all be in the clear ( but I doubt it)

[Max Fowler]

9 hours ago, xceleryx said:

You realise high wages are part of the overall problem faced in football right now, right? There's also no guarantees that handing out big contracts to players equates to better performances overall. Heck, we've been living proof of that over countless years now. We've also seen the ramifications that come with big contracts and players that don't deliver, they become improvable while hindering the ability to further invest. 

You paint it as if it's some magical solution that would, without doubt, propel us back to the top of the football mountain - a Max Fact if you will.

No - you're wrong.

You do realise that the money we could have spent on proper wages for a few experienced players that clearly improve the squad, we have instead spent on transfer fees (& wages) for young player after young player because our owner is, in the words of Todd Boehly, "obsessed with player trading"?

[east lower]

50 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

Well if that’s the case , we should all be in the clear ( but I doubt it)

That's if the ⚖️ of justice are balanced?

But I think we all suspect what the answer to that question probably is.

[ROTG]

14 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

My point isn't we'd be able to buy a gazillion more players. My point is we would spend the money we have spent on less players, more experienced players on high wages. I.e. something similar to what we have historically done under Roman.

Because the oil states would very likely be more winning to front the lower ROI / profits than our current lot. It's not about Arabs vs Americans. It's about motives and incentives.

At some point you sound like every possible owner would do exactly the same as Clearlake, when they have clearly gone for an incredibly bold (rightly or wrongly) and unique strategy / project that many have been getting behind precisely for that very boldness.

It just doesn't seem controversial to me that were we to get say Sheikh Jassim, we would see transfer policy much more similar to Roman, which IMHO would get us far more success. 

 

Not sure about the sheikh Jassim being more roman than clearlake, his cousins didn't hit the jackpot at PSG during a 10-15 years period of spending money on galactico players and are now going down youth development / profiling younger players route. With the Mbappe fiasco being the final straw

[ROTG]

10 hours ago, xceleryx said:

You realise high wages are part of the overall problem faced in football right now, right?

Quite bizarre how the top six clubs last season in the PL had the biggest player wage bills 

Edited Saturday at 11:36 by ROTG

[Sciatika]

Maybe, if you are a top six club, you can afford the wage bills.

[Max Fowler]

12 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

Maybe, if you are a top six club, you can afford the wage bills.

No, we spent the money we could have spent on wages for a few experienced players on countless transfers for young players.

And don't take my word for it

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:04 by Max Fowler

[Max Fowler]

24 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Not sure about the sheikh Jassim being more roman than clearlake, his cousins didn't hit the jackpot at PSG during a 10-15 years period of spending money on galactico players and are now going down youth development / profiling younger players route. With the Mbappe fiasco being the final straw

I am not hell bent on Sheikh Jassim, though I don't know the closeness to the PSG situation or the relevance to ours.

Point is - people are pretending like if we replaced Clearlake and Boehly we would have a coin toss or even less of a chance of getting better owners.

Whereas the reality is they have been some of the worst owners possible, maybe only bested by the Glazers.

It would be so easy to get better owners with a more sensible policy and far less chaos - they have been an absolute disaster from day one and some (not you) still seem to be pretending otherwise.

[My Blood Is Blue]

17 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

I am not hell bent on Sheikh Jassim, though I don't know the closeness to the PSG situation or the relevance to ours.

Point is - people are pretending like if we replaced Clearlake and Boehly we would have a coin toss or even less of a chance of getting better owners.

Whereas the reality is they have been some of the worst owners possible, maybe only bested by the Glazers.

It would be so easy to get better owners with a more sensible policy and far less chaos - they have been an absolute disaster from day one and some (not you) still seem to be pretending otherwise.

I don’t think anybody is saying that Max, what people are saying is that we don’t get to pick the next owners and so the next owners could actually be worse, that is a fair point for anyone to make. Also, at this point the current ones aren’t even selling, so it’s a bit irrelevant.

You’re saying they’re the worst owners (apart from the Gkazers), based on your opinion of what they have done over the last 2 years, refusing to accept the mess they came into after what the British government did to the club. Sometimes you just have to have a little patience before you can see the outcome and this could just be one of those times. 

You say it would be easy to get better owners, but as I said, the owners aren’t selling and so it won’t be that easy!  Having seen what some owners have done and are doing to their clubs, I’m not sure it’s as easy as you suggest either.