The structure of Chelsea Football Club (and how can it be improved)

Changes are needed at the top

The appointment of Man City CFO Omar Berrada as the new CEO of Man Utd, brings into focus again, the new structure implemented by Clearlake and Todd Boehly since their takeover in 2022.

Many of us have been critical of parts of the current football structure of the club and their lack of big club experience. So, I felt it might be good to actually break down our structure, see whats good and bad about it, how well or badly they’ve done, and changes which could be made.

So, here’s our current football structure at the club, outside of the owners themselves. I’ve included our CEO despite him not being directly involved in football, as he’s a key part of our structure.

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Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart - Co-Sporting Directors:

Role: According to the Chelsea website, its’ to oversee the entire sporting team, comprising talent, scouting, recruitment and data. They oversee decision making in both the mens and women’s teams, including the recruitment of Emma Hayes’ successor. Winstanley was key to the signings of Moises Caicedo and Kendry Paez, Stewart to the Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi signings.

Background: Paul Winstanley used to work for Brighton as Head of Scouting. Laurence Stewart was previously Sporting Director and Technical Director of Monaco, as well as working for Red Bull group.

Joe Shields - Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent:

Role: Joe is heavily involved in scouting and recruitment for the first team and young talent. He was involved in the Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia deals this summer, as well as the signing of several young talents for the multi club model and youth teams.

Background: Joe Shields was previously a youth scout for Man City, where he signed players like Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia and several others. He then briefly joined Southampton, for whom he assisted with the Romeo Lavia deal. He has a high pedigree.

Neil Bath - Director of Football Development and Operations

Role: Neil continues to oversee the Under-21s programme and first development loans as he did before. He works closely with the head coaches of our development squad and youth team. This is alongside an expanded operational remit at Cobham.

Background: We all know Neil’s background creating and growing the Chelsea academy almost from scratch to one of the best in the world. Neil, a Chelsea fan, is clearly one of the best in the world at what he does, and absolutely deserved his promotion.

Chris Jurasek - Chief Operating Officer:

Role: Oversee the day to day running of the club as a whole, in particular the business side. However he is not involved in footballing decisions, which are overseen by sporting directors.

Background: No previous experience in football. He was previously working as an operating executive for Clearlake Capital. He was also chief executive of a business funded by Clearlake, so is well known to our co-owners and has experience in business.

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So, that’s our current structure behind the players and coaching staff on the football side. We’ve also added several new scouts, including one from Manchester City, and grown our data analysis department and use of data.

So what’s the positives:

• Stopped signing deadwood: Since the sporting directors came in in January 2023, I’ve not seen any obviously poor signings. No Zappacosta, Drinkwater-type signings have come in the door.

• Signing top talent: You can’t convince me Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia, Benoit Badiashile, Nicholas Jackson, Carney Chukwuemeka, Malo Gusto and Christopher Nkunku, for example, aren’t hugely talented footballers. Not to mention the likes of Andrey Santos and Kendry Paez, both massive talents from South America.

• Extending contracts: Reece James, Levi Colwill, Ben Chilwell, Bashir Humphreys and others have signed contract extensions, some despite interest from big clubs. Of course there’s been failings in this department too but positives should be noted.

• Squad clear out: The sales last summer of many toxic, underperforming players, many of whom wanted to leave, some for massive fees (Kai Havertz in particular), was a great achievement. And barely any of them have performed at a consistently high level at their new clubs.

And now, the negatives:

• Lack of leadership and authority: They are not strong leaders, they don’t carry authority in the world of football, and are clearly not setting the right culture. The culture at Chelsea is not yet one of high performance. It needs to be.

• Lack of experience: Neither have been the sporting director of a big football club and been successful, and it shows, a lot.

• Poor communication: we’ve had one interview with them back in September, but there’s still no clear communication on the clubs vision, their plan and strategy.

• Poor squad/team building: They know how to spot talent, but building a balanced, coherent, squad, with a blend of youth and experience and different profiles, is clearly not their skillset, and again, it shows.

• Perception: they are perceived as poor, inexperienced negotiators, lacking authority or credibility as sporting directors. Probably because its’ partially true.

• Incompetence: The mess with Mason Mount’s contracts, the mess with Lewis Hall last summer, and having to have the owners step in to seal deals for Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are all examples of incompetence. This simply is not good enough at elite level, not to mention the pathetic attempts to force out Conor Gallagher.

To me, the issue with our sporting directors is not their ability to spot talent. Both Winstanley and Stewart have a good track record of spotting talented players. But this is the role a SCOUT plays, not a sporting director.

Being able to spot talent, is not the same skillset as being able to run an elite football club. The sporting director / director of football sets the mentality. They set the benchmark for expectations. They create a high performance environment with a high performance mindset. They know how to build successful football teams and squads. They carry authority. They are well respected within the game. They understand the big club mentality and fans expectations. They communicate well.

Our sporting directors do none of this, and don’t have the skillset to do this. They should be reassigned to roles which suit their skillset. For Winstanley, that’s being chief scout alongside Joe Shields, maybe as Co-Director of Recruitment. For Stewart, that’s overseeing the multi-club model and its development.

I see two roles opening up. A Chief of Football Operations (CFO), and Sporting Director. These two could work together. One of these could be an experienced, top level sporting director with a record of success in big clubs. The other could be a someone with executive level skills and qualities, but is more from the footballing side than the executive side. These two could work together on recruitment, team and squad building, and selling the vision to the fans and potential players, and as first point of contact with agents, with the final footballing decision being made by the Sporting Director ideally (though they’d probably make it collaborative).

So who could fill these roles?

Well, here’s a couple of suggestions.

For CFO/Director of Football, my choice would be Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth. Honestly, given our obsession with wanting to be like Brighton, and the recent disruption at Newcastle United, it’s a wonder we’ve not even tried to make a move for Ashworth yet. He’s highly regarded as one of the best sporting directors in the business, signed some top talent for Brighton and for Newcastle, an excellent operator, negotiator and leader, knows the PL very well. He’d be my choice and I think he’s attainable.

I don’t want to hear “he’s in a job already”. Berrada was well settled at Manchester City and it didn’t bother United. They just got it done. Chelsea need to start acting like a serious club with major ambition, and make a statement in the way Man Utd have just done. So get one of the best. Pay what it takes to get it done.

Now onto the Sporting Director role. This role needs to be the public face of the club. The man who sells the vision of the football club to players and fans. The one who sets the culture and standards and understand the particular nature of Chelsea Football Club, what the fans want, and can build a proper culture and connection with fans, as well as having an influence on team building and recruitment.

This simply has to be Frank Lampard.

He’s got a sporting director qualification. He’s an excellent communicator. His talent ID is simply off the charts, the number of elite players he tried to sign before they became “names” or big money players is incredible. He knows the club, he knows the expectations. He can set the standards and put in place a big club mentality. He’s well respected in the game, knows the game and is highly intelligent. He’s a natural leader and a winner. He also has a good relationship with our owners and current sporting directors.

Imagine Frank Lampard walking into a negotiation any player trying to persuade him to join. I guarantee we’d find it easier to attract elite talent.

Of course he wants to be a coach, but again, make an aggressive approach and sell it to him, offer him responsibility and influence. Sell him the vision. Make him, one of our greatest ever players, a football legend, the face of the club off the field. People will stop laughing and take us seriously.

To me, the Ashworth/Lampard team would be elite and take Chelsea in the right direction. You have experience of running big clubs and building teams, with Chelsea knowledge, leadership and mentality, who happens to have a great talent ID.

Put that in place, and we’d look and sound like a serious club again, we’d operate like an elite club with high competence, and with Frank things would “feel” more Chelsea again. We’d have a high performance, culture and leadership in place to take our club forward.

Smart owners learn from their mistakes, and its’ time to start learning sand follow this up with actions. If you really want to win, act like winners, appoint best in class people, and get this done.

The Score