It’s been a day of intrigue for those who are interested in the mechanics of how football club ownership works – or doesn’t work.
Firstly we had the financial details of Chelsea’s holding company released, then the Blues put the summary of their own 22-23 financial year online.
That was followed this evening by a fascinating Matt Law deep dive on how the ownership structure of the club actually works – something we’ve not had broken down before.
Private equity fund Clearlake Capital owns 60%. Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano own part of that each.
The remaining 40% is split between Todd Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter equally.
The juiciest detail in this is the chairmanship. That will apparently change hands every 5 years between the two groups. Boehly has operated in this role since the takeover happened in 2022, so in 2027 Eghbali and Feliciano will have their chance to pick someone to put in charge. That’s how we understand it.
Boehly’s role at this point is fairly minimal anyway. As a “Yank” he’s a convenient scapegoat for the always disgruntled fans, but it’s been quite some time since the owners appointed football personnel to oversee day-to-day management of the club (including transfer policy).