You're Breaking Fans Hearts : An Open Letter to the Chelsea Owners

We love our club, we can't bear this anymore

Dear BlueCo ownership group,

I’ve written a few of these letters now. It seems to be becoming a ritual. Just to be clear, this time I’m not here to tell you what you should be doing to sort out the problems at Chelsea FC, problems you’ve caused. I’ve written plenty on that, just look at my articles on this site.

I’m here to tell you something you probably don’t know but need to. What it is Chelsea fans are feeling.

I’ve been a fan since 1987. In my first season, I saw us get relegated. In the second, we got promoted with 99 points. I’ve seen us be a mid table side, fight relegation, on to winning every trophy in football. I love Chelsea deeply, its part of who I am, its part of my identity, its way more than a sport, its a way of life in many ways.

I’m not one of these entitled fans who demands success or else, who has impossible expectations, or reacts to every little thing. My desire, above all, is to have a strong, competitive Chelsea team I can believe in, root for and does the club proud. Obviously I want to win, and be successful, but being proud of my team and club, and enjoying football, is just as important.

I’m here to tell you, I’ve never felt as disillusioned as I do now. Never felt more disconnected from my club as I do now. Not to mention, after the Brentford game, I actually found my heart breaking, and actually crying. This fall from grace which has happened in recent years has played a part in this.

I want to be clear with you, this didn’t begin with your ownership, I don’t fully hold you responsible here. That would be unfair. It began for me in 2018, when we began to forget who we are (with a little return in 2019/20). But it’s not even that which hurts the most.

It’s the perception, the feeling, that those right at the top - the owners and sporting directors - either don’t care or are completely deluded as to whats going on. Now this may completely untrue in actual fact. I have no idea how you actually feel, which is kind of the point, there’s so little communication we don’t know what’s going on.

However, right now, for a lot of even the most calm, rational, patient, loyal fans, it at least feels, and is communicated, that there’s a lack of concern at results, and at the state of the club. Fans are reading into the silence, a lack of concern for the club or fans.

The bottom line is fans have seen us invest over £1 billion in players, without signing an elite striker, and the result of that investment so far is to take us from 3rd in the Premier League in 21/22, to 11th place now. And they’re angry and upset about that.

I’ll be honest, most of us sick of the cult worship of a mid-table club, Brighton. Brighton are a brilliantly run club and taking elements of their structure, scouting and recruitment isn’t a bad thing.

But many fans feel it’s gone too far. When I go on social media and talk to fans outside of socials too, the perception of many of them is that all you’ve done is turned us into a poor imitation of Brighton. We’ve been stuck in mid table for over a year, and the football side is run by people who might be very talented scouts, but appear to have no clue of how to run a big football club. Hire top scouts out of there, sure, we get it. But don’t put them in charge of running the most successful English football club since 1997.

Right now my heart is a little broken. I still want to believe in the ambitions stated by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali to various media in 2022, about winning, and wanting to have a winning product on the pitch.

But most fans I talk to have no clue as to what your ambitions are. People are sick of the briefings and PR statements with the same old phrasing, not to mention the patronising media articles telling us how great you are. I’ll tell you this, no one believes them right now, no one wants to know, and almost no one thinks you’re doing a great job.

Fans are primarily concerned with results. You might well be building a world class structure behind the scenes, but fans simply won’t care if results and performances are poor and we’re in mid table.

This may sound harsh, but so far the only thing you appear to have been “successful” at is, on the face of it, turning a great, proud football club into a national laughing stock. Comedians do sketches making fun of us and the owners, Spurs fans (they’re our biggest rivals by the way) mocking us, Gary Neville insulting us on national TV and it actually resonating. This is all we are right now, a joke in football, a joke in UK culture. This stuff angers fans, who don’t want our club to be the butt of jokes. But the thing is, the jokes currently ring true.

There are very few fans who currently think of the ownership as competent. I personally still think there’s a plan and have written about it recently on this site, but right now there’s no way I can persuade anyone of it, or of it being successful. You’ve never told us your plan, and the genuine perception from some fans (not myself) is that it’s to “restore” Chelsea to mid-table mediocrity. Some fans (again, not me), who read this site have argued in comments on various posts, that you only see Chelsea as an investment portfolio to make profits from young players, and nothing else. How can anyone persuade them otherwise right now?

Seeing the club this way, a national joke, a total disconnection from manager and club I love, has broken my heart. I can take us being mid-table or not competing with City, though I’d rather not to be honest. But what hurts is seeing our club become a joke, run by a bunch of investors who give the impression - however inaccurate - to either be oblivious to fan opinion, or simply not to care about fans or the club.

We’re not an investment portfolio guys. We’re a football club. Our fans fought for our club’s very existence in the past. Just google “Chelsea Save the Bridge” campaign. In the 1980’s our club was on the verge of going out of business, our ground sold off for property - something some extreme fans think you want to do (I know better, don’t worry). We raised money and campaigned to keep our club alive.

Only 3 years ago we (peacefully) fought and saved our club from the SuperLeague.

During the sale of the club we actively pushed the withdrawal of one of the toxic bidders and ultimately they took a step back.

We’ll always do what we can to help our club survive and keep it going. We’ll do whats right for our club, with class, respect and dignity, the Chelsea way. That’s what it means to be a football fan, because football clubs aren’t just assets, they are communities, almost religions, with a soul and a heart.

There’s a reason fans are protesting and jeering at games. They hate seeing the club they love in this state. Fans are not going to buy PR. We look at results and actions, not just talk.

You are continuing to back a manager who judging by his public comments on an almost weekly basis, doesn’t appear to give a monkeys about our club, is completely out of touch with fans and reality, ignores our academy (he had academy midfielders available he could have used against Brentford, it was a choice not to use them), has this squad mid table, bottled a final and above all is despised by the vast majority of fans.

He makes comments which honestly look on the surface like they are designed to bait you into sacking him. His comments and body language gives the impression he does not want to be here and is as annoyed with the sporting directors as most fans are.

I think the vast majority, probably 70-80% at least, of fans don’t want Pochettino here, regardless of results. They feel he isn’t Chelsea, never will be, doesn’t make any effort to connect with fans and doesn’t have the winning mentality or tactical nous of elite coaches. Much like Rafael Benitez a decade ago, most fans feel that although he might have pedigree as a coach, he’s simply not a fit with the club, and we’ll never be able to fully accept him, even more so when results are as they are.

Once fans make up their mind about a manager, especially when its this strong, its tough to change it - especially when its an ex-Spurs manager. If he did turn it around, it would be a miracle of almost biblical proportions.

Personally I respect what Pochettino has done in the game and there’ve been some positives from his reign, but like others I feel he’s not a fit, hasn’t made enough time to connect with fans, and tactically / mentality wise isn’t good enough. I feel we need to come to an amicable agreement for him to leave in May.

One area I feel sympathy for him is he’s not got profiles of players he asked for. He’s an experienced coach, and his opinions should have been taken on board, especially if you saw him as a long term coach. If you think an elite coach (or any self respecting coach), is going to come here in future and just let you ignore their expertise, knowledge and wishes completely, you’re just kidding yourself.

At Liverpool and Man City - the actual clubs Chelsea should be aspiring to be like - their head coaches Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola don’t have complete control or the final say, but their voices are listened to and acknowledged. If they want a profile of player, the club tries to make it happen. It’s proper collaboration. In a way I don’t blame Poch for being annoyed with you, given you’ve completely ignored him at every point. He requested leaders, he requested PL experience, he requested a striker. His voice been completely ignored.

You can’t run an elite football club that way.

I assumed - and still do - you understand the way to maximise the value of your “asset” (we call it Chelsea Football Club by the way), is to build a team which competes for the Premier League and Champions League titles every year and wins major trophies consistently. This brings you the biggest revenues in terms of TV money, prize money and commerical revenue, and thus the biggest profits. It also could potentially double or treble the size of your investment. And fans get a winning side into the bargain.

I still assume when you’ve invested the amount of money you have in this club, your goal is to double or treble that investment amount and maximise revenue. You’ve mentioned getting close to £1 billion in revenue, which will only happen if you have men’s and women’s teams which are playing Champions League football every year at the bare minimum, and preferably winning major trophies. Those things attract the biggest revenues, biggest profits, and grow the value of your investment the most. I know you’re smart investors, so I know you know this.

This is the only thing keeping me from becoming more cynical about your ambitions. I know you want to maximise profits and your investment, and winning is the best way to do that.

The problem is, many fans don’t think this way. Most fans think emotionally and simplistically in the now, and right now the perception (which may not be reality) is that it’s your mission is to actively lower the value of your asset and turn it into a mediocre side which turns a small tidy profit. If we’re still mid table in 5 years, honestly good luck getting any return on your investment or making big profits. You’ll be failed investors and seen as such.

By then, if we’re still mid table, our fans will likely be protesting and demanding you sell the club, and asking Roman Abramovich to give permission to break your 10 year commitment and allow someone else to buy the club. Indeed some fans are so despondent they are already looking for loopholes in Roman’s sale contract, that’s how desperate and upset they are.

I know several people on Twitter and other forums I’m a member of who defended your ownership to the hilt, even when it was bad last season, and have recently told me they don’t trust the ownership and don’t particularly like them anymore. Again I vainly, logically tried to defend you and your plan, but even as I did, I knew it wouldn’t make any difference and would disrespect their feelings. Many fans feel disconnected and ignored. They’ve had a tough two years, and they currently see no sign of improvement.

Making any kind of logical argument is pointless when there’s no results or trophies to back it up.

Some of what I’ve said is harsh, I know. I hope you’re mature enough to receive criticism. You’re new to football, I expected mistakes, and its a learning process. Hence I still have grace for you, because I hope you’re smart enough to learn from mistakes and do better.

Becoming an expert or success in anything often starts by acknowledging what you don’t know, and admitting mistakes. My heart is currently broken, and I’m doing what I can to save this club, and trying to do it respectfully. I’m trying to communicate to you how you’ve made me (and many many other fans) feel, and the depth this goes. Because I’m not really sure you understand the depth of feeling amongst fans right now and how close many are to breaking point.

Chelsea are one of the giants of global football and on the surface at least, we’re acting like we’re Brighton, or a poor version of Brighton. A new owner comes into Man Utd and he immediately hires someone who was not available from the most successful football club in Europe right now, and a top sporting director currently in work. Our previous owners first staff hire was Peter Kenyon, from the most successful club in England at the time, and his first manager hire was the hottest managerial property in Europe, a winner, called Jose Mourinho. Elite hires for an elite club.

That’s how we’re meant to behave.

All these things make some of your staff hires look embarrassing.

Big clubs, serious clubs, hire best in class people regardless of cost, regardless of whether they are in work. Indeed you told us you would hire best in class, and on the surface it looks like you haven’t.

Big clubs act decisively and with big ambition. They put elite people in charge of football decisions, not people who have never been sporting directors or worked at a big club. They listen to the elite people and listen to the managers, don’t ignore them completely.

Pochettino may not be the right manager for Chelsea, but he at least asked for leaders, for experienced players, elite players with PL experience, which was the right thing, and which anyone who understands football knows is required for a successful team.

That is, except our sporting directors who want to forget about the present, and turn Chelsea into a creche for all the best young talents in football with literally no clue how to develop them. Many fans think the owners only see Cobham as a way to make money, not to feed the first team. This perception is filtering down to parents of young players too.

Signing the best young talents is a good thing, but it just appears scattergun, that we’re trying to sign them all, but with no plan, and completely ignore any leadership, experience or intangibles. And you can’t build a football team without intangibles or leadership.

I’m not even going to start on the lack of communication between you and fans. Not one sit down interview in 2 years, despite promises of more communication. The interviews we do get read like PR exercises, not authentic statements from people who care about or respect the fans or the club. Many fans feel taken for fools, and we are not fools.

Oh and a piece of advice. I’d not raise ticket prices right now. All it will do is drive the wedge harder and it really could make things even more toxic. Read the room. When the “product” (we call it football) is awful, people get angry if you ask us to pay more for it, especially during a cost of living crisis. If you want us to pay more, give us a winning team who deserve it.

There’s a lot of emotion in this letter. I’m actually tearful writing this. I bear no ill will towards anyone at the club, this isn’t an individual or personal thing. I’m sure all of you who run the club are good, decent people. I still want to believe that you are ambitious and want to be successful, but I can’t possibly say that to any fan right now. The results don’t show it, and I can’t insult fans intelligence or feelings by trying to make some argument about what might happen.

I just love my football club, and what’s happening to it is breaking my heart. Like many others, I don’t recognise my club anymore and am wondering what we are, and I want the people responsible to take responsibility and take action.

I think I still know your plan, and I still like it and the vision, if that is the vision. But the execution of that plan appears, on the surface, to be delivering abysmal results thus far. If that changes, then you’ll get the credit you deserve, but in the present, it’s not.

I like to think you are people with serious ambition who simply are new to football and making a ton of rookie errors. I like to think you’re ambitious, and smart enough to admit you made mistakes and learn from them. I want to believe you’re willing to make big and tough decisions which show serious intent and ambition, and make some kind of move towards the fanbase as whole to apologise and take responsibility, outline your ambition and standards you want an expect - then follow this up with action.

Many other fans are more cynical about you now and I can’t blame them. However, though, I will continue to believe. I hope I’m not being naive or deluding myself about you, I’m someone who likes to believe in people.

Right now I have no choice, because the alternative is too painful to contemplate.

It might be just a financial investment to you, but to us, its’ a lot more. If you’re as ambitious as you led us to believe, it might be time to act like it, and it might be time to show more respect for the people who made this club what it is. The fans.

If you show this respect for us and show serious ambition in your decisions and actions, if you show some genuine contrition for the mistakes made and bad results, fans would have more patience and support. We want to work with you, but right now it often appears on the surface that you’re working against fans and the clubs best interests.

I’m just so sad at the state of my club. Its’ breaking my heart. Its’ breaking the heart of many others too.

We need something to change for the better. As soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

The Score