Winning with patience and stability: Boehly/Clearklake's vision for Chelsea

Todd spoke at the Qatar Economic Forum.. here's his thoughts...

Chelsea Chairman and Co-Owner Todd Boehly spoke again in public last Wednesday, in a one on one interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, who were discussing Investment In Sports. He spent a lot of time discussing Chelsea and gave the most comprehensive public overview yet of the ownerships’ plans for our club.

I thought as with the recent Sportico comments, it was worth examining the key points and what they mean, and what this might look like for Chelsea.

Before we get to his plans for the team and his approach, we’ll start with the stadium plans.

"Long term we are working on the stadium plan. We have a really unique spot in London. So many people can come to a Chelsea game and we are basically in the heart of west London, but we only have a stadium that seats about 40,000.

To update the quality and size of the stadium is a priority for us over the next decade.”

Todd Boehly

This is good to hear, because there’s been a lot of silence on this in the last few months. Many fans feel we need a new, bigger stadium and this was one of the promises of the new owners, so to hear this is being worked on and is a major ambition/goal is very encouraging.

They seem to be hinting at a long term approach to it as well, which I think is far healthier. There’s a lot of work to be done yet, lots of people to speak to, lots of negotiating and building, but it's reassuring to me to know this is far from being forgotten about, in fact, the complete opposite.

So now we move on to some fundamentals, starting with his comments about his and the co-owners goals regarding his ownership of Chelsea:

“Winning is clearly the most important thing. We are focused on winning.

The second thing is having what we think is a really young and exciting team that will be together for a long time.

If you look at franchises that dominate for a long time they have real stability in the team, front office and coaching staff. So to be able to lay the groundwork and start with stability in the team, and having a young squad with longer than average contracts [is a good start].

The reality is in European football, a seven year contract is really a five year contract because you are never going to let a contract expire to the last year. You’re either going to extend the contract or see what’s best for the player. and the club. So you think about how you can have stability, how you can have a core.”

Todd Boehly

As before, Todd clearly emphasizes the importance of winning on the pitch, as the most important thing to their project. Despite what some have said, there’s a clear focus from the owners on producing a winning team - because, as I’ve said before, and they’ve said, this is how you get the most value and profit from your investment. You win on the pitch, you win off the pitch too.

The next paragraph is huge for me, and shows their ideal approach. To build a squad with the best young talents in the world, on long contracts, who can be part of the team for many years to come, and have success together. Ultimately this means you don’t need as much investment in the long term, or can be more selective with your spending, from a stronger sporting and financial position.

The next point is something I really want to draw attention to. Stability.

You could argue the last two years have been anything but stable, which is true. But this, to Todd, is the start of a 10-20 year project, and when you’re building a world class structure, scouting network, data analysis team, multi club network and coaching team, and a new squad, there will be some instability at first.

Ultimately though, Todd is saying they want stability in the long run because this helps facilitate success. He said this applies to the playing staff (the squad itself), the front office (sporting directors and head scouts), and coaching staff (head coach and his coaching team, including set piece coaches, fitness coaches etc).

Essentially, once they believe they’ve found the right head coach, and they’re being successful and developing and improving the team and set something in motion, they back them and give them a longer contract to lead the team for the long term and achieve success. This means winning trophies, playing regular Champions League football, and dominating in the league.

They initially believed Graham Potter would be this, but now Mauricio Pochettino is in charge and as we come to the end of his first season, we can see how over the season he has built and developed this team, both as players and as a squad. Players are improving, chemistry is improving, and team spirit, unity and strong mentality are all being developed. The squad believes in him and are right behind him. This improvement will likely continue the longer these players and new signings work together and mature as players and as a squad.

If the owners and directors do eventually decide Pochettino is the man, he will get time to deliver success and trophies. He has experience of being at a club for a long time, and in relation to their budget (a fraction of ours or Man City’s), he overachieved and was successful.

Here, with a much bigger budget, deeper squad, and some more experience, Pochettino will believe he can actually deliver major trophies and sustained success, and he is hoping he earns their trust to achieve this. But overall, the goal of the owners is to find the man for the long term and then work with him to achieve the long term targets, which is winning and success. Given how well he’s doing, there’s a fair chance Pochettino will get this opportunity.

Having a long term manager is something not really seen at Chelsea for about 50 years. Only 4 managers in the last 50 years have lasted 3 full seasons or more. Under this ownership, once they find the right man - who could be Pochettino, though most fans I know think this is still unlikely - there’s a good chance we finally have the long term manager many of us have wanted for years.

The stability and long term thinking is also the reason behind the long contracts. Enzo Fernandez, for instance, has a contract until 2032, a further 8 years on top of the 18 months he’s already been at Chelsea. Todd has done this at the Dodgers too. For example, their record signing Shohei Ohtani signed a 10 year contract worth $700m (£558m), with payment of the contract being spread over the next 20 years.

Todd and Clearlake feel giving players the stability of a long term avoids all the distractions of contact negotiations every 2-3 years and gives the club protection in terms of losing players, and also gives the players more stability and allows them to focus on their game.

It protects the club, because even if the player chooses to leave after 4-5 years, the club is still protected and can make money back on the players. It also means the core of a squad can potentially be together for a long time, grow together and win together. This can be conducive to good team spirit and a positive atmosphere at the club, so I definitely see their perspective here. It’s certainly worked at the Dodgers, where they’ve had tremendous success under Todd’s co-ownership.

This brings me to the next quote, on having a long term perspective:

"The number one thing is you have got to be patient. You are putting something together and expecting it to come together really quickly, but the reality is anything really good takes a little bit of time. Patience was always a thought for us.

"When we bought the Dodgers in 2013 we started 15 and 25, but we kind of just kept sticking to the plan because we believed that it was right. And we went through a similar thing with Chelsea.

"You have to have the resolve to not hear all the noise around you and remain committed to the plan. And since Boxing Day, we are the fourth best team in the Premier League. When you look at what is going on now, it feels better and better."

Todd Boehly

This is HUGE, I think. One thing I know almost for a fact is the ownership came in in very difficult circumstances. Sanctions and their impact, and the lack of a modern football, data and scouting structure at the club, not to mention the information on some of our dealings under Roman which they had to self report - and in my view, led to the scorched earth policy they took - meant there was a lot of instability behind the scenes, and a lot of change. This undoubtedly had an impact on the playing side, especially last season.

The new ownership had a very difficult job, and had no time to prepare for their first transfer window either. Bottom line, for them to get the club infrastructure in place and have it all running smoothly, was always going to take time, and by time I mean years.

Yes, they have made some bad decisions along the way and should be held accountable for those, but the circumstances were unique and difficult for anyone to navigate.

Todd Boehly has a long term perspective to all his investments. His ability to see further ahead and plan accordingly is one of the reasons he’s been so successful. He had a long term plan at the Dodgers, stuck to it, and now the Dodgers are thriving and successful. It’s hopefully going to be the same at Chelsea.

Todd would rather suffer for a short term and then have long term, sustainable, consistent success, than go for quick success at the cost of the long term. Something unfamiliar to Chelsea and our fans, who went the instant success route for the last 20 years under Roman Abramovich.

Personally, I’ve dreamed of long term, continued, sustainable success for a long time. I loved the Abramovich era, he helped make all our dreams come true and we’ll always be grateful for his contribution to Chelsea. But I knew in the long run, we needed a more sustainable model so the success could have a strong foundation, and continue year on year without much drop off, plus ensuring the club is financially sustainable and can pay for its own success.

We’re only two years into the ownership. This isn’t a long time. People look at Roman’s instant success but that was a unique situation. Chelsea already had a core, and no other club in the world could compete financially. Instant success ws easier to achieve (still not easy, and he deserves a lot of credit for the success), but it wouldn’t have been possible in today’s game.

A good comparison to us now is Liverpool, owned by FSG, who are also investors and had previous experience in sport, didn’t achieve almost anything for years under FSG. First five years of FSG, Liverpool had only one top 4 finish, only one league cup win, and lots of wasted money. Fans complained the club had lost its soul, the owners were making a ton of bad decisions and couldn’t get it right. 3 managers in 5 years.

Sounds familiar right?

Todd and Clearlake have had 3 years less than that, and you could say we’re ahead of them in terms of our progress. After an awful season last year, we’re highly likely to secure 6th place this season, as well as the cup final and semi final (both of which we could have won). We’ve had 54 injuries and 4 key players out almost all season. We’re seeing patterns of play on the pitch, more chemistry and performance levels are improving, and we have a good team spirit, with the squad unified and behind the manager.

The structure behind the scenes is taking shape and has a bit more stability to it (though I still think we need a football number one to lead the club and make the decisions). I think our trajectory is starting to look up. This is what Todd is referring to, and he’s not making immediate emotional judgements, he’s seeing the trajectory and acknowledging it will take time, but the destination will be worth it. He believes keeping stability in terms of the core of the squad, the coaching staff and structure, will, in time, deliver sustainable success.

Something I increasingly believe is important to Chelsea this summer is stability. Keep the coaching staff, keep most of the squad, sell those you need to sell, and add what you need to take us forward. Then with injured players hopefully back as well, you’d expect the progress to continue next season, which for us would look like finishing top 4 and winning a trophy of some kind.

There’s no question, the owners want to win. They want titles, they want Champions League, they want to be the best. They simply want to achieve this in a sustainable, long term way, and have the patience to do so.

Todd Boehly is calm about this, he can see where it's going, and in my view, he’s supportive of Pochettino and sees how we’re improving under him, and wants this to continue. He’s a winner, and he wants to win with Chelsea, and he believes we’re on the path to do this.

Certainly when I hear Todd Boehly speak, it gives me confidence about where we’re going as a club. Now, we’re starting to see the first fruits of this on the pitch too. Let's all hope this can continue.

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