They have had an awful start and some of their decisions are incredibly questionable, BUT are they ambitious? YES I believe they are and here's why.

My thoughts on our owners so far and why they are still the right people for the job....

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gents,

Today I am looking at our owners and going through some of the dreadful decisions that have been made so far BUT also why they are still the right people in my mind.

Firstly, Todd Boehly making himself sporting director was the biggest “I’m him” move I have ever seen in professional football, what was he thinking? A guy that barely has any job experience in sport (He owns the Dodgers) let alone European sport, let alone Football!!!

It was an awful move and the signings of that summer proved so, pretty much giving Tuchel, who’s talent ID is woeful, whoever he wanted just to sack him days after the window closing was ridiculous and set Graham Potter up for failure from minute one, continuing with that summer, we have managed to clear up some of the mess in a decent way but there are a couple of big messes left to solve, namely Cucurella & Sterling. On high wages and long contracts and neither of which have what it takes to play for our club they need to be right at the top of the list to go this summer at that point the majority of that insane Boehly Sporting director movement will have been rectified to an extent.

Look I am one of a few people who actually doesn’t care how much we pay for players or how much we pay them, it isn’t my money and anyone that does get bothered by it is entitled to, I just don’t see the point.

On to the appointments of staff made and first up is Mr Potter himself, I will die on the hill that Graham Potter is not a bad manager and was incredibly unlucky at Chelsea and in hindsight he should have looked at the situation and waited for this summer or a future time, it was obvious from minute one he was destined to fail and he had to navigate an entire season before he was going to be able to strip the squad back and implement his style. A good manager and seemingly a decent bloke I hope his career bounces back.

Next on to our current SDs, we all have a similar opinion on these fellas, incredible Talent ID, awful negotiators and awful squad builders. I don’t think we can credit them with some of the sales last summer but in fairness they will have been involved in that incredible summer window where some of the sales we made were frankly excellent, some credit does need to go to Boehly/Egbahli there also.

The January 2023 window will go down in history for some good reasons but also for some poor ones, within the deals done we have signed some excellent players and some players that either will never be or aren’t good enough to play for Chelsea right now. Although I can’t lie I have never been as buzzing with a transfer than when on deadline day of that window about 2 hours before it shut Fab Romano dropped those 3 amazing words for Enzo Fernandez arrival to Chelsea, that was an incredible feeling after such a turbulent transfer saga. That window showed the level of talent ID our sporting directors have but also clearly shows their lack of being able to build a balanced squad.

On to the summer just gone by and the sales I have already mentioned and some of which were top class and I hope they can do the same again this year. The appointment of Mauricio Pochettino was an exciting one for a good chunk of the fanbase with a few being very skeptical about the appointment predominantly down to his lack of winning trophies (bottling) & the obvious Spurs connections. The majority though were happy, excited and ready for a fresh start, the way he dealt with his first few months were excellent, trying to bring a family feel, cutting anyone from the squad that didn’t want to be there and then the way we played on tour in the US was excellent, albeit in friendly games.

I really d think the start of Poch’s downfall came as early as that Nkunku injury in the states and then the club not being able to bring him in a striker, small-ish things that have accumulated along with multiple other issues resulting in where we are now and a lot of the fans being against him and Poch out. I won’t go as far as saying the grass isn’t always greener but are we proving now that if this ‘project’ is going to work and we are going to build a team and a culture to win we need to be patient, BUT we need to be patient with the RIGHT manager, I was never convinced Poch would be the right manager for the long term.

I always thought Poch would come in, stabilise things for a couple of years and then we would upgrade, sort of like Newcastle have done with Howe.

Ambition:

On to the owners ambition, there is no fan out there that can question their ambition so far even with a lot of the above being bad, awful and whatever else you may want to call it and some of their decisions haven’t been good. We all knew they were coming in with a plan and we all knew there was a lack of experience stemming from the very top, that has shown and with any job you need to learn from your mistakes which I am hoping the owners are starting to.

Their ambition cannot be questioned so far, breaking the club record transfer fee twice and potentially again this summer if they get their dream target (Osimhen), that shows ambition, the best thing they can do is own up to mistakes and rectify them, every mistake they make will cost them and that will lead to them taking longer to make the right decisions.

One of our subs on this site, Michael and I had a really interesting chat yesterday on our feelings of the current owners which got me thinking and ultimately drove me towards writing this article.

Michael said that “we have pocketed the worst owners we could’ve had conned us all”

I completely disagree with that, they have not started well at all, in fact it has been terrible and my response to Michael acknowledged that but also put across the point of experience which we seemingly lack all through our club right now, not just the playing staff.

“See I disagree Michael, they have made some awful decisions and have hired some people they shouldn't , but I am adamant about this next point, they are VERY ambitious, they just need to gain some experience into European sport and football obviously. They need to realise that they have made mistakes and rectify them. We could have ended up with a lot of owners that are worse than them.

They haven't started well at all and there is no defending that but with some tweaks, some tough decisions and hiring the right staff their ambitions and intentions will start to come to fruition.”

Michael then interestingly mentioned an article that I haven’t seen from Alex Goldberg and reading that I understand Michael’s thoughts and think he raises some good points

“Appreciate your opinions Luke, but I completely disagree. Alex Goldberg who has great sources has done an article saying Clearlake just want us to “compete” they ain’t that fussed about winning as long as they are making money. Hence the youth project. I believe Todd has good intentions. The equity guys don’t. Simple as that and I’m afraid you will be proven wrong”

As the chat continued Michael and I both acknowledge each other’s point whilst disagreeing I think we both raise key points and concerns.

“You are very entitled to your own thoughts and opinions Michael and I am not trying to persuade you of mine in any way at all. But did Alex’s article state how long they want us to compete for or just the entirety of their ownership? In my mind their is a slight contradiction there because the best way for the club and ultimately the owners to make money is by the team performing in the pitch, winning trophies, competing in europe, not paying managers out of contracts or taking losses on transfers?”

Michael finished the conversation giving me some more information on Alex Goldberg’s article which I have now read and see where Michael’s concerns stem from.

“Agree mate nothing wrong with healthy debate and the article was a piece basically saying that during their period of time here, the focus is on making money and that they just want to be in and around it. Not that fussed about winning. He mentioned an American team . Tampa bay something. Money ball. Nearly win but don’t quite get over line”

This entire article has been a little bit all over the place but I am merely voicing some opinions on the ownership, acknowledging their down falls and wrong doings whilst also saying the do still have a elements of my trust.

I have gone off on a tangent in some parts so I apologise for that, please give me your thoughts.

Thanks for reading

Luke Rushbrook