The Chelsea civil war is underway as the two main groups in our ownership start to turn on each other. This is fascinating given we don’t have any idea what comes next – but it also gives great new insight on what’s come before, as explanations are revealed for all sorts of curious goings-on over the last few months.
One of the great mysteries of last season was Mauricio Pochettino. The club stood by him through some tough times, and he ended the season on a real high. Everything seemed to be falling into place, and he seemed fairly confident he would be keeping his job.
That sentiment reached its peak when he went for an end of season dinner with Todd Boehly. At that point, we were all still in the dark about what would happen, but as Pochettino himself pointed out in a press conference, you wouldn’t take someone out to dinner to fire them. A coffee, maybe, but not a dinner.
Dinner-gate explained by new revelations
It was strange then, that not long after, Pochettino was gone. But the revelations that the Argentine’s continuity became one of the main points of contention between Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali and his Clearlake Capital group explain all.
Boehly had that dinner because he wanted to keep Pochettino. Eghbali and his team wanted him out, and were frustrated that Boehly had given other impressions. And it looks like that big call proved to be breaking point for the American, who started seriously considering his exit strategy since then.
“Sources add [Boehly] considers Eghbali to be trigger-happy and the driver of the call to move on — an accusation that is strenuously denied on Clearlake’s side,” the Athletic’s long read claims.
There are many more stories like this to come, as we gradually see the whole picture.
Again with the “civil war” nonsense, lol! Knock it off already SuperFrank. You’ve obviously never seen or covered) an actual civil war!
I have to say, after reading “The Athletic” article, I’m more convinced than ever that I trust Boehly over Eghbali. Boehly was quoted as saying that building something takes time and patience, and so it’s easy to understand why he disagreed (as did most supporters) with Poch’s sacking. As we now learn the sacking at Eghbali’s fingerprints all over it, this whole picture starts to make more sense. Add to it the dizzying number of transfers in and out (with Gabriel serving as poster child—bought one year and sold the next) and you do start to feel that Eghbali is a trying to run a pro football club like a trading firm, whereas Boehly knows much more about how to run a championship sporting club (in the LA Dodgers)—namely, by hiring good people you trust and letting them do their jobs.