Chelsea Feeling The Blues Under Todd Boehly's Clueless Crusade at Stamford Bridge | OPINION

“Carefree, wherever we may be,

We are the famous CFC,

And we don’t give a f**k,

Whoever you may be,

‘Cos we are the famous CFC”

This signature chant of the Blues, meant to invigorate their side, has sadly come to epitomize their past two years for all the wrong reasons, especially under the reign of Todd Boehly. How so? Well, let’s talk about it.

To put it quite simply, Chelsea has become that one spoilt rich brat that we all may know of/heard of personally in our lives too. You know who I am talking about. Not just the one ruined by generational wealth (ahem, United, ahem) but rather the once-rooted lad we used to hang out with early in our lives who, after stumbling upon riches later in their life, has now become an intolerable brat with their head in the clouds at all times.

So, like how old mates would do so in a gathering, with a couple of suds, let’s sit down, catch up, and break down what the Blues have been up to so far under the leadership of one Todd Boehly.

Here Comes The Money

Let’s start things off and get the conversation flowing with the easy ice-breaker: Chelsea’s spending in the transfer market.

In hindsight, one can say that Roman Abramovich’s tenure looked like the spark that lit the forest fire, that is Chelsea’s spending habits currently. The Russian used to be ridiculed and blamed for his blatant overspending during his time (funnily, often by the likes of United and City supporters whose clubs are no saints themselves). And well, it was deserving at times as over his long tenure as the owner of the Blues, Abramovich spent a total of 2.34 billion euros, on a total of 489 transfers (including loans).

Sounds insane? Well, not as much as what Boehly has done, believe me.

In true American fashion, Boehly has gone ham on the spending. The amount of money that has been spent (or in the words of Boehly, “invested”) over the last two years since the American took control has been unfathomable, to say the least. Well, to be more precise, it has been over 1.3 billion euros, a little more than half of what Abramovich spent in his entire 19-year ownership of Chelsea.

For a little more context, here is a list comprising of the amount of money that Premier League clubs have spent on transfer fees over their entire existence.

Yes, you read that right. Chelsea, only under Boehly’s leadership, has already spent more money than 10 of the 19 clubs (currently playing in the Premier League for the 2024/25 season) have spent in their entire history.

Now, that is true insanity (or rather that’s the true-blue capitalist free market that Americans love, y’all).

In Boehly eye’s though, it isn’t insane. But instead, it is merely business.

Let’s look at Chelsea in a manner that Boehly the businessman himself would perhaps understand: what has the club gained over the last two years?

Well, short story short, nothing.

So far, in the two years since Boehly has taken charge, the Blues’ performance on the field has slumped to a new low.

In 2022/23, under three different managers in Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and then Frank Lampard, the Blues somehow managed to surprise eveyrone on a weekly basis with results that just kept on getting worse.

All of the embarrassment was capped off with an abysmal 12th place finish in the league, a stark contrast to their 3rd place finish the previous season, marking their worst Premier League finish since 1993-94, or to make things simpler, their worst in a 38-game season.

It also marked the worst points regression ever by a Premier League side in consecutive seasons, tying their own record of -37 points previously achieved under the ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho in 2015-16. I’m sure Jose would prefer not to speak on that now.

They must have improved the next season, right? Well, technically yes because after a horror start to their season, Chelsea somehow hung in the mix and powered themselves to a sixth-place finish (above an even more abysmal Manchester United unsurprisingly), thanks to one young Cole Palmer.

However, the Blues, who won the Champions League in 2021, remain out of contention for the same still, and have failed to register any form of silverware under their name since Boehly has arrived.

Boehly’s Relationships (and Antics) at Chelsea

Let’s not be shallow now. Perhaps, we should expand our perspective. Wins and losses in life can’t just be measured by mere numbers.. There’s more to life and football than just that. So, perhaps Boehly flourished on the other fronts. Right?

Well, the answer is a fairly resounding no yet again, so far.

For starters, perhaps for someone who is looking to “invest” in a football club, it would be helpful to know the sport well. Sensible, right?

But, that wasn’t particularly the case with the Connecticut-born American, when he held one of his first meetings with then-manager Thomas Tuchel.

Yes, you read it right again. Boehly shared his ideal starting TWELVE, not eleven. That’s one way to get ‘one up’ on your opponents now.

Keeping the initial comical slip-up aside, Boehly has still shown no signs of ever maintaining a healthy relationship with any of his managers so far.

Managers, in plural, yes.

In just merely two years, Chelsea have seen the likes of five different managers take the helm.

First, it was Tuchel, then came Englishman Graham Potter (who was ousted and replaced by Bruno Saltor as interim for 4 days towards the end of the season), up next was Chelsea legend Frank Lampard himself. After him, it was Pochettino, and finally, it’s Maresca (for now).

It’s not uncommon for clubs to undergo managerial changes when it seems like you only hit a new rock-bottom continuously (ahem, United again, ahem). But, this level of fickle-minded activity from the higher-ups of a big club, especially in such a short period of time, does not make for a good look no matter what.

But, let’s be fair, clubs undergo changes. Especially when they come under new ownership, it is more than understandable to tinker and figure out what works.

Then again, to have brought in five different managers in merely 2 years? Now, that doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in anyone (perhaps serendiptiously reflective of the lack of confidence he had in any of his managers so far).

Let’s be honest again. If Chelsea ends up attaining massive success, then everyone (including myself) will be rendered silent. After all, success amnd silverware talks the loudest.

But, at what cost is this coming? Professionally, it’s been abysmal so far and financially, it has been a whole ride. But even when it comes to internal success, the Blues only seem to be failing.

And The Blues Begin to Settle in For All Aboard

Well, to say that Chelsea’s players have been feeling the blues would be an understatement. In fact, it would be the most expected outcome, given their humongous horde of signees.

Just this season alone, with the addition of their 10 new signings this summer so far, Chelsea has a grand total of 43 first-team players contractually signed to their squad (including players on loan as well).

And to add to the jaw-dropping number of players, yet another mind-boggling statistic is the fact that all add up to 191 contracted years worth of players. Again, just let that sink in.

For some reference as to how staggering the number is, the next team with the most contracted years in the Premier League is Tottenham with 97 contracted years, a whopping 94 years less than that of the Blues.

Now, let’s attempt to toss a bone to Boehly and reflect on a seemingly positive aspect in the midst of this madness. Due to Chelsea’s persistence in signing players on long-term contracts (which is a whole other tidbit to delve into), the average wages per player is said to have decreased.

As per reports sent to Sky Sports by the Chelsea camp themselves, the average base wage of the players Chelsea have signed in the past two years is believed to be below the Premier League average of £72,000 a week.

The idea may seem like Boehly is setting them up for years to come. And yes, there is quite a bit of talent amongst the ranks, some proven and some not so much yet.

But, this idea of ‘going big’ has yielded nothing but turmoil for the Blues so far. Instead, they have only ‘gone home’ in all senses, failing to utilize their seemingly endless stream of resources to seek any success at any competition. Rather, it’s just plain old textbook American overcompensation.

But, what we do know transpired is that Boehly himself called the players “embarrassing”, and singled a senior player out for criticism leaving them ‘disillusioned’, and at least one onlooker thought it was “weird”.

This course of action concerning his signings also begs to ask the same question we asked before: what has the club gained over the last two years?

The answer, as we already have mentioned, remains unchanged. Much like the club itself.

Now, what having such a massive squad does to the Blues though is provide room for the growth of discontentment among players. This has already been coming to fruition with Raheem Sterling’s recent statement which, as ill-timed as it may have been from the former England international, is merely what could be the first of many to come as a result of Chelsea’s actions so far.

With the new season beginning, and already having suffered a loss to defending champions Manchester City, new boss Enzo Maresca has a mountain to climb in every way possible, if he is to lead this team to success that the London side has been starved of lately.

Perhaps, the time has finally come for Chelsea to not be so ‘Carefree‘ anymore.