Last night’s bombshell story that both of Chelsea’s major shareholders were keen to buy each other out after a “souring” of relations was quickly denied by briefs coming out of the club, but today has brought further updates on the potentially seismic story.
Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph is well connected at the club. He missed the initial scoop yesterday, but has come back with a vengeance today with a more detailed piece about what’s going on.
Law claims Todd Boehly thinks his relationship with his fellow owners Clearlake Capital are “at breaking point” and “civil war” could be about to break out at Stamford Bridge.
Boehly was the face of the takeover at the start, but has faded into the background a little as the moneymen in his consortium – Cleaklake Capital, headed by Jose Feliciano and Behdad Eghbali – took the spotlight.
Boehly and Clearlake are both interested in buying the other out, and they don’t really want to work together anymore it seems. But neither wants to sell either.
Clearlake are “adamant” they won’t reduce their 61.5% stake and won’t allow the club to be auctioned. Meanwhile Boehly thinks he can summon up £2.5bn from other investors to make them an offer that represents a profit on the share they paid two years ago.
Of course, if Clearlake don’t want to sell, there’s nothing Boehly can do.
What’s causing the rift
Most interesting than the money is the reasons given by Law for the “civil war.”
“While there have been claims that relations between Boehly and Clearlake remain professional, there are irreconcilable differences in opinion over the direction of travel and culture of the club,” the piece claims.
Whatever happens now, it looks set to be dramatic – and obviously very bad for events on the pitch too, which is brutal as we get started on a new season.