The growing criticism of Chelsea’s ownership focuses on one thing above all – a lack of communication with fans about the club and its direction. It feels we only ever hear from them at big business conferences where supporters are being referred to as consumers.
So what better next move for Todd Boehly than… doing an interview with Forbes magazine.
It covers his whole career and portfolio, which spread over music and films and sport and all sorts of investment, so the Chelsea specific content is limited. But there are some unintentionally hilarious moments. It’s a long and fairly dull biography of how a rich man became rich by moving money around, but the writer does eventually get down to some questions about Chelsea:
“We just need to let the process develop and give them the time to go from being unbelievable individual players with great skills to fold into a team,” Boehly says of the catastrophe on the pitch in two years since he and his fellow owners took over.
“The good news is people care so much. And the bad news is people care so much. That leads to times when they’re frustrated with the team and the owners. I get that, but we just have to continue to stay the course.”
His summary that “people care so much” is a rather hilarious interpretation of the vulgar abuse that gets associated with his name at pretty much every away game with a bad result these days.
We’re sure Boehly had nothing to do with the sign off the piece, which basically reads as “he doesn’t care if people like him, he’s rich and only getting richer”, but it just happens to read as a perfect summary of what Chelsea fans are afraid of – that these owners are only concerned with getting rich, not in building a competitive team and connecting with the historic roots of the club:
“Love him or hate him, Todd Boehly knows that so long as fans show up or tune in, his annuity-holding backers will get paid—and his billions will continue to grow.”
It’s not really what fans want to hear, although it’s a good reminder that they can vote with their eyeballs and their feet if they really want to drive out this ownership.