Robert Campanaro
To America, the name “Todd Boehly” doesn’t incite any sense of recognition. Sure, he’s the part-owner of a few world famous sports franchises such as the Los Angeles Lakers, where he’s found great amounts of success, but his teams never shared their glory with his name. However, across the pond in England, one soccer club which has recently come under his ownership has made Boehly a far more important figure in sports than he may have ever imagined.
Todd Boehly is an American businessman who has recently purchased a stake in the English Premier League soccer club Chelsea F.C., along with a consortium of owners, who are backed by investment firm Clearlake Capital. He is the leader of the consortium, and the subsequent owner of the club. He also holds minority stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers. One might ask, “Where does soccer come into this?” Todd Boehly had no ties to soccer before purchasing Chelsea F.C., and this left European fans dumbfounded and riddled with doubts: did this new owner even know what he was doing? Did he know what a “soccer club” was? Did he even know what a soccer ball was? Statements and decisions made by Boehly after his takeover are confusing fans to this day, and many still aren’t convinced that his reign will lead the club to success.
Let’s start from the beginning: Chelsea wasn’t in the best position when Boehly arrived, to his credit. Coming off a Champions League victory in 2021, the most prestigious trophy in club soccer, one would have thought that Chelsea had set themselves up to be a strong presence for the years to come, but the club failed to win the following Premier League title, landing in fourth place in the 2020-2021 season. This was excusable, seeing as at the time Thomas Tuchel was only recently appointed as manager, and Chelsea fans were more than happy to give him time to improve after winning the best trophy a manager can dream of winning. Personally, my view was that Tuchel would lead us to great heights in the “footballing world” (as it’s known in England). But then, expensive players began underperforming: winger Timo Werner was already facing harsh criticism from fans for his lack of finishing ability in front of goal, which only became worse over time, and forward Kai Havertz’s fantastic Champions League Final goal couldn’t make up for his poor form.
The next season, Chelsea spent £97.5 million on striker Romelu Lukaku, whose season can be described as nothing short of a total failure, scoring a measly 15 goals in 44 matches: simply not enough to justify his blockbuster transfer fee. On top of that, Lukaku embarrassed Chelsea in interviews, stating that he missed his old club, the Italian side Inter Milan. Chelsea faced failure after failure, either in failing to perform in the Premier League or suffering from exorbitant spending on transfer prospects gone awry. In my opinion, at this time, we were gunning more for big names on the team sheet rather than names that wanted to give it all for Chelsea.
Then, something happened that no one could have seen coming: a war began between Russia and Ukraine. Chelsea’s Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, was forced out of his administrative position by the English government, as massive economic sanctions were placed on those who were close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was a disaster for the club: anyone could argue that Abramovich had been a fantastic owner for Chelsea, and replacing him would be an arduous task. We’d won two Champions League and countless Premier League titles under his rule. However, this was when American Todd Boehly walked onto the stage with gel in his hair and a check in his hand. Chelsea fans were bewildered: an American? Taking over Chelsea Football Club? Supporters held on for an uncertain ride.
The most blatantly controversial move Boehly has made since his takeover is no doubt the firing of manager Thomas Tuchel. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 season, Chelsea was enduring somewhat of a shaky start, having only won five of their first ten matches. However, many Chelsea fans had faith in Tuchel and his tactics, as he had steered the club to Champions League glory in the past - after all, he deserved a chance to stabilize the club and turn them back to winning ways. However, in a move that shocked the soccer world, Boehly made the decision to fire Thomas Tuchel from his position as manager, and the scenes were catastrophic. Chelsea blog We Ain’t Got No History posted an article titled, “Official: Chelsea Sack Thomas Tuchel,” written by Shauryas Sharma, where he longingly stated, “Not that long ago, we were lifting the Champions League trophy under Thomas Tuchel and were talking about building a dynasty with him. I guess not.” Chelsea fans were in a turmoil over the departure, and even opposing fans believed it was a poor choice. Managers were meant to last you a “footballing generation,” not just a mere season or two, relative to British soccer culture (especially when the manager is a winning manager!) During the SALT (SkyBridge Alternatives) conference in New York city, an annual meeting of Wall Street investors and entrepreneurs founded by SkyBridge, Boehly expressed his reasoning for the move. He stated that the firing was not due to a recent lack of form, contrary to popular belief, but because, “You have to make sure you are aligned…” He further explained that “Tuchel had great success at Chelsea, but our vision for the club was to find a manager who really wanted to collaborate with us.” Essentially, Boehly deemed Tuchel a threat to his Chelsea project due to their differing perspectives on how the squad should be managed, and he didn’t elaborate much further beyond that. Although Tuchel proved his own coaching inability by running his subsequent club, Bayern Munich in Germany, into the ground, losing their first title in eleven years, I could have only imagined a poised, comfortable Tuchel guiding the current squad, and where we could have gone with him.
After the departure, Boehly appointed Premier League team Brighton & Hove Albion’s manager Graham Potter as Chelsea’s new manager, which followed a slew of new player transfers (nine specifically) which included the (at the time) huge talents of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Marc Cucurella. In addition to this, Boehly was replacing many staff positions inside the club, and for a while, all of this recruitment appeared to be a success. The club had an undefeated run in both the Premier League and Champions League for nine matches until the newly appointed gaffer, Graham Potter’s squad faced his former club, Brighton & Hove Albion, where they were dominated and lost 4-1. After this match, things seemed to trend downhill, as Chelsea began losing easy games against smaller clubs, exemplified by their narrow 1-0 defeat against Newcastle United F.C. Potter’s appointment and subsequent firing due to his consistent trend of losses remains a controversial period in the history of Chelsea F.C. To me, Potter was a poor decision from the start - inexperienced, lucky, and with a lack of presence in the dressing room. At this point in Chelsea’s history, I remember hearing about how the players would poke fun at Potter and never take him seriously. This goes to show how both sides of the situation, the manager and players, needed work.
Fans are also unimpressed by Boehly’s lack of awareness and knowledge regarding his club and the culture of soccer in general. Statements he made at the same SALT conference showcase this, such as when Boehly stated, "If you look at what our academy has developed, our academy is Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne. More recently Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah.” Here, Boehly is trying to express his high regard for Chelsea’s soccer academy, where players are brought up, trained, and developed by the club into becoming homegrown stars for the team. However, there is a massive issue with Boehly’s statement: Mohammed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne did not come up through the Chelsea academy. At one point, they did both play for Chelsea; however, they were not homegrown players like Boehly claimed.
Boehly continued to make controversial statements during the meeting, as he expressed, “Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out, 'Why wouldn't we do a tournament with the bottom four teams? Why isn't there an all-star game?’...You could do a North vs South all-star game in the Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily.” Many soccer fans who had grown up with the sport found this proposal to be rather uninformed and ignorant to the values of the Premier League and soccer in England. When these statements were brought up during a panel on CBS Sports, some experienced legends of Premier League soccer were present to give their thoughts about them. Ex-Arsenal F.C. striker and four-time Premier League Golden Boot winner Thierry Henry immediately displayed distaste for the ideas, declaring, “This is Europe and it doesn’t work like that.” He proceeded to express contempt for Boehly’s wording, criticizing how he claimed that the Premier League could learn a “lesson” from American sports when America has no business criticizing the operations of the Premier League as they are completely separate cultures. Ex-Liverpool F.C. defender and Champions League winner Jamie Carragher, after removing his face from his palms, proceeded to second Henry’s notion, stating, "I think it's incredibly arrogant to speak about a league you don't know.”
While it is clear that there is disdain over Boehly’s comments in the soccer community, some fans are standing up for him. Chelsea blog We Ain’t Got No History again chimed in on current events surrounding Boehly but this time with supportive undertones, as evidenced in their published article entitled, “Congrats on your knee-jerk xenophobia to Todd Boehly’s all-star game idea!” by David Pasztor. This piece takes aim at those attacking Boehly for his suggestions, as Pasztor states that “...many high-profile pundits and journalists [are] not even trying to hide their xenophobia in their immediate knee-jerk, puerile, and often willingly witless reactions,” suggesting that attacks on Boehly are based in scorn for Americans, rather than any actual critique of the proposed ideas. The article then brilliantly brings up past examples of European figures such as ex-player and Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand stating their interest in such an idea, directly citing the Major League Baseball All-Star games in America as an example. This underlines a hypocrisy in the thinking of a portion of the Premier League’s European audience, and could be the answer as to why these seemingly well-intentioned statements from Boehly garnered so much kick-back. While I think Boehly’s ideas have a degree of merit, it’s extensively clear that he lacks a basic understanding of soccer (football) culture in England. Considering they don’t have a whole lot else to do over there, soccer is many Brit’s reason for living, while for Boehly, it’s another investment opportunity.
Personally, I find quite a bit of potential for the club under the rule of Todd Boehly. Based on his actions such as the sacking of head coach Thomas Tuchel and the tone of his statements regarding the club, Boehly appears to be ambitious and genuinely invested in the club, to some degree. Regardless of the controversy surrounding his actions and words, the fact he is making these big, extreme decisions in order to get his way is a clear sign that he knows how he wants the club to operate and what it should look like. Any brand new suit taking on the owner position at any club in the league can be subject to questions, and it can be argued that it’s fair how Boehly is being criticized, as he has some big shoes to fill. However, it is up to him to prove the media wrong and steer Chelsea back to winning ways, as should be the case with any new owner. New player acquisitions, mass staff hirings, and consistent funding show that Todd Boehly has a plan and isn’t willing to step down. Only time will be able to tell whether he will become one of Chelsea’s greatest success stories, or one of their biggest flops.
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