April 23, 2024: The day Chelsea’s £1 billion project went up in smoke

Two years of new ownership has brought nothing but mediocrity and frustration – and it all came to a head against Arsenal at the Emirates

By Jon Turner | April 24, 2024

It’s baffling how many highly successful businesspeople – successful enough to purchase a Premier League football club – turn into bumbling buffoons when they become owners.

Presumably, the billions pocketed through their business ventures were earned through careful and strategic planning, employing and empowering the right people in the right positions, making smart investments decisions, balancing the books, and building a strong company culture.

So, why are all these factors routinely ignored when it comes to running an elite football club – a football club which, in itself, is a billion-pound company?

We’ve seen it at Manchester United with the Glazer family, at Everton with Farhad Moshiri, and previously at Leeds United with Peter Ridsdale, Newcastle with Mike Ashley, and Blackburn Rovers with the Venky Group to same just a few.

And now the same thing is happening at Chelsea.

When Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their £2.5 billion takeover in the summer of 2022, optimism surged following a prolonged spell of uncertainty amid the sanctions imposed on the club and Roman Abramovich.

We all accepted that the days of being bankrolled by a generous, emotionally invested Russian billionaire were over, but Boehly’s experience with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the group’s pledge to invest in the long-term health of the club sat well with the supporters.

The new era started encouragingly enough. Key areas of weakness within the squad were identified and players duly signed, both for the present and future.

A failure to sign a prime striker raised concern, particularly given the team’s struggle for goals the previous two seasons, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made logical sense in the short-term.

There were further areas of the squad – namely cover at right-back – that went unaddressed, but for a first transfer window while dealing with all other areas of a multi-billion-pound takeover, it was satisfactory. It gave no indication of the chaos that would soon follow.

Perhaps most importantly, during a time of great transition and upheaval, Chelsea had at the helm an elite manager who had guided the squad through the tumultuous past few months; a manager the fans adored; a proven master tactician, who had already delivered European and world glory in his short time at the club.

After years of a revolving managerial door, combined with the owners’ commitment to end short-termism, hopes were high that Thomas Tuchel could be our Alex Ferguson – a head coach given the freedom, power, and responsibility to mould his own dynasty.

Except it hasn’t worked out that way at all. Just nine days after the transfer window closed, Tuchel was inexplicably sacked and replaced by Brighton’s Graham Potter on a five-year deal.

It began a series of calamitous decisions that, almost two seasons later, have left Chelsea with a squad ill-equipped to recapture recent past glories and a fanbase on the verge of mutiny.

In that time, we’ve experienced…

• A record-breaking January transfer window, where £250m was spent on new players which left the squad bloated yet still unbalanced.
• The sacking of a second manager after eight months despite the owners’ conviction he was the long-term answer.
• A summer clearout that removed what was left of the 2021 Champions League-winning squad.
• Another £400m spent on signings with little to no importance placed on experience or character – all while seven- and eight-year contracts were issued to unproven players.

As the club wandered aimlessly from one headscratching decision to the next, questions were raised and then amplified: Do these guys actually know what they’re doing? Where are the experienced football people providing sound advice and judgement? For all the talk of a long-term vision, is there a strategy in place to work towards those ambitions?

After £1 billion spent and minimal progress, the answers have become increasingly apparent.

The appointment of Mauricio Pochettino last summer had raised the minimal hope that the slate would be wiped clean. With a proven track record of working well with young players, and with a high-intensity brand of football, it seemed a good fit.

There have been a few highlights under the Argentine’s stewardship – two trips to Wembley chief among them – but those have been outweighed by the negative. He’s been significantly hamstrung by injuries, but still has enough talent at his disposal to not throw away points against the likes of Burnley, Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and practically every club in the Premier League.

The pre-season hope gradually turned to despair as various targets slipped from view, and on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at the Emirates Stadium, despair transformed into outright fury. Many fans experienced an even worse emotion: indifference.

It was the moment this radical and expensive Chelsea project went up in smoke.

It pains us to admit it, but Arsenal are now where Chelsea aspire to be; a title-chasing, Champions League-competing club playing modern and exciting football. A balanced team with a rock solid defence, creative and energetic midfield, and prolific forward line.

Yet, Chelsea’s doomed methods to join their rivals back at the top table of European football could not be more different to the Gunners.

Whereas Arsenal set out a clear plan and bought into Mikel Arteta’s vision, Chelsea have no plan and are already on their third manager of the new era.

Whereas Arsenal identify and sign players specifically for how they fit into Arteta’s system and place great emphasis on personality, Chelsea impulse buy young talents regardless of the squad’s needs.

Whereas the Arsenal squad are all committed to one cause, too many Chelsea players evidently have shown little interest in the club’s ambitions.

Defeat is part of football but it’s the manner of defeat fans care most about. Against Arsenal, it showed everything that’s rotten about this current Chelsea as a squad lacking character and passion succumbed to the club’s heaviest-ever loss to their London rivals.

Pochettino has inevitably become the focus of supporter anger in the aftermath, but the problems run far deeper and wider than the manager.

The Argentine is a competent and intelligent coach who with the right tools and support, would be a success at most clubs. Debates can be had over whether other managers might have fared better in this environment, but it’s indisputable that Poch would be having far greater success if the board weren’t so incompetent.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of football knows every squad needs a balance of youth and experience to excel; that character and leadership in the dressing room are just as important as skill and talent; that an effective transfer strategy is one that enhances a squad, not overhauls it in 12 months.

This seems to have all been lost on Boehly and the boys – and these are the conditions Pochettino is working under.

The manager is certainly not blameless and has made his fair share of mistakes to contribute to yet another wretched season, with the brilliance of Cole Palmer masking a campaign that could have been even worse. But trying to build a competitive team in such an unstable environment has become mission impossible.

It all leaves us wondering, where do Chelsea go from here? Fresh reports claim several senior players will be up for sale this summer to ensure the club complies with Financial Fair Play guidelines – a consequence of the impulsive big spending of the past two years.

That suggests more major changes to a squad in desperate need of stability and continuity – two qualities that have been in short supply since Boehly and Clearlake Capital arrived.