• April 3, 2022
• McKyleCFC

As the Raine Group bidding process progresses into a shortlist of four or five predominantly US-based consortium vying for ownership, uncertainty looms large and distrust of US ownership pervades the fan base. This here is the busy (US) billionaire bidders’ Top 10 Guide to earning the Chelsea FC supporters’ confidence and trust:

1. UKRAINE

The entire Chelsea community’s thoughts and prayers are with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people who have become the immediate casualties of this war. We hope for an immediate cessation of hostilities and support the use of peaceful negotiation for the resolution of all disputes. Please be mindful of their plight in the midst of your shrewd latest business acquisition.

2. RESPECT THE CLUB

Please be respectful of the sensitivities of Chelsea FC & its fan base at this difficult time. You now have a responsibility to earn our confidence and eventually our trust. You must start this work now. Restore security and stability to footballing operations at the Chelsea Football Club and by extension all its community ventures and charities.

3. #NoToRacism #NoToHate

Any party not embodying these values is not welcome to own the Chelsea Football Club regardless of the size of your wallet or egos. The fanbase have been unequivocal about it as witnessed by the #NoToRicketts movement and the efforts of the club and EPL to champion the #BlackLivesMatter & #Respect initiatives. Chelsea Football Club has a diverse team, from diverse ethnicities, diverse religions, and diverse national backgrounds. Chelsea FC also champions the LGBTQ+ community’s representation, dignity & rights within its own ranks. As we know some of the shortlisted bidders are known to have been insensitive at the least and perhaps openly racist at worst in their past dealings. As a fanbase we are appalled that such parties were even shortlisted in the bidding process by Raine Group, throwing the entire process itself and their own name into disrepute. As a modern fanbase, Chelsea fans do not want to be associated with such outdated discriminatory mindsets. So the expectation is for you to be an outspoken champion for diversity & equality for all by example, and to reject discrimination also, by example.

4. DEBT & LEVERAGING OF CLUB ASSETS

The fear is that the new owners will abuse ChelseaFC’s absence of debt by leveraging unnecessary new debt against its assets and valuation to pursue financial gain and profits. We want you to respect the financial integrity and financial dignity of the club and expect your fiduciary loyalty to the Chelsea Football Club & its supporters to be equal to your fiduciary loyalty to all your shareholders combined. Find win/win solutions. Don’t make the fans regret the day you took control of this club. We don’t want to become the next US-owned financially burdened English football club like Arsenal or ManUtd. Those two clubs have been set back for over 10 to 15 years under US ownerships. Learn from their example and do not make the same mistakes.

5. DO NOT FIX WHAT’S NOT BROKEN

DO NOT FIX WHAT’S NOT BROKEN The immediate concern I’ve been hearing and fearing, is that the new owner has new ideas and will storm into Stamford Bridge like a bull into the proverbial china shop, shaking up what is a delicate yet successful winning machine. Destabilizing the ongoing football project will be foolish. Both the Chelsea FC Men’s and Women’s football teams are reigning Champions of multiple of English, European, and FIFA World honors and are currently challenging for honors in the ongoing season again. As the new owner, we hope you are able to respect the winning machine in place, support it and grow it further. Oh yes, winning must remain a cultural requirement. We’re not interested in being a corporate franchise churning annual profits and dividends alone. We demand a winning football culture and expect to contend for & win trophies in every campaign. And winning as a team is the culture. Please don’t break it. Also, equally importantly, do study the success and failures of other big foreign-owned clubs in the English game, the EPL, over the past 20 years of the modern era of the game. The hope is for you to formulate a pragmatic path forward having taken it all on board as you go..

6. RECRUITMENT

The first order of business must be to secure the confidence of the two brilliant head coaches Thomas Tuchel & Emma Hayes. They are the best in the world & the envy of the football world. Rival clubs are unashamedly attempting to use the current instability to poach them off Chelsea FC. As the new owner, this is your first test. You must secure them both for Chelsea FC for the coming 5 years at least, so they may continue their winning philosophies and culture of winning trophies. These two are the Chefs in their respective kitchens, in charge of the daily football machinery on and off the pitch and what they’ve been cooking up has been sumptuous! You must continue to back them and give them the ingredients they need over the coming weeks, months & years, to keep delivering success, starting immediately.

Extend player contracts Some immediate items requiring your attention, too many players integral to the team have their contracts running out. While, they are already in talks with Chelsea FC (and with other top clubs, unfortunately) given that their contracts are running down and mutual terms have not been agreed upon, they need to be confirmed. These are huge name players like Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kante, and Jorginho to name a few with one or two seasons left or none at all as of this summer even. Christensen’s already leaving too as may Saul. The club must avoid having 4 or 5 starting XI players leave at the same time. Replacing them on short notice will be much costlier in financial terms and may not even be possible in footballing terms. Therefore, your second immediate task will be to extend some of these contracts after consultation with the Coaches. This is not the time to disband this group. They must not all be allowed to walk away on free transfers / Bosmans all at once. Yes, the rosters must be right-sized where possible, the good retained, the ones that didn’t work out and are not expected to improve, offloaded. Some young players can be given chances from the academy & loan army. But a winning balance must be retained into next season overall.

Recall the on-loan players that are ready for Chelsea This is the great opportunity you have to use resources the Club already has and yet hasn’t tapped into. It is critical to bring back Connor Gallagher and Armando Broja for next season! Also, Emerson, Ampadu, Billy Gilmour, Levi Colwill, Faustino Anjorin & Ian Maatsen deserve to train directly under Tuchel & start getting game time when possible. Make them all part of the first-team squad. They are ready to step up in rotation with the more experienced senior players & be their understudies next season providing a critical overlap between the old guard and the new.

Continue to invest in the Cobham Academy and integrate its products from U8 through U21 development squads into the senior team. e.g. Harvey Vale, Webster, Mbuyamba, Lewis Hall, & many more up-and-coming others! The Cobham Academy project might need financial support given the incoming restrictions by UEFA bringing endless loan armies down to 6 or 8 maximum loanees allowed per season. What does this mean for the sustainability of the academy, the model? Cobham is the best academy in the land currently – we dare you to make it better to feed into 1st team more.

Get rid of the deadwood on the roster Not the high-performing high ceiling investment players. Deadwood are players who are perpetually sidelined for multiple seasons now and are perpetually out on loans, or never in the coach’s plans. Some examples are Barkley, Bakayoko, Batshuayi & Kenedy, Miazga, Drinkwater, Baba Rahman and possibly with Saul returning to Atletico will free up the wage bill for quality additions where needed. This will free up the wage bill for adding quality to the starting XI and first-team squad per the Head Coach’s suggestions this summer. Back both head coaches in the transfer market this summer. They’ve earned it!

Last but not least, recruit a Director of Football to provide continuity to the footballing philosophy and recruitment over the arc of 5 or 10 years. Petr Cech is an ideal candidate. Don’t run him out of the club at this stage. Use Cech to help provide continuity alongside Thomas Tuchel & Emma Hayes.

7. Data-Driven Analytics / Moneyball

In general yes, it makes good business sense to recruit sensibly. However, any new recruitment must be done in consultation with the two head coaches respectively, and with an intent to support their playing philosophies, not a math theorem! Yes, over the years, Chelsea FC were run somewhat eccentrically, the revolving door of managers led to the club often overspending on players merely because the purpose of the club operations was not to generate profits, it was to enjoy football as football was the owners’ passion first, business second. And he expected trophies every season. So, he’d buy each transitional new manager a few new toys too. Now we have Tuchel & Hayes to provide stability for once and at long last! Use your data analytics to meet their requirements, not those of the math professor.
Yes, in general, we like to buy low, sell high as much as the next club, however, when you announce you will introduce data-driven analytics for recruitment at this early stage of bidding – what we’re really hearing is that you (i) have a hesitation toward spending on recruitment to keep up with the competition (ii) You are looking to shake things up. This really it begs the question, why did you decide to buy this club? Do you really understand European football and where this club sits right now – at the very summit of it all !? If you start ‘Frankenstein’ football philosophies you risk derailing the current trophy-winning machine. Give the coaches the space to do their jobs. Chelsea FC are the reigning FIFA World Champions. This squad & coaches are at the start of their respective cycles. They are poised to dominate for years to come now. You may want to resist destabilizing them, resist going off on tangents from the get-go, just because you saw the movie too and who wouldn’t want to overcompensate for the perceived or real lack of understanding of the European game. While in the long run, data-driven metrics have a place in forging a culture of smart recruitment, right now all you need to do is listen to the two Head Coaches ahead of the transfer season, they are sensible people. You have the ability to continue this project & dominate world football for the next 5 seasons & beyond. Please spend when & where the coaches need you to, follow data when possible to help them only.

8. STAMFORD BRIDGE STADIUM CAPACITY EXPANSION

Focus is needed on expanding capacity to 60k+ as soon as possible. However, we’d caution against overspending on a mammoth cathedral façade and canopy as planned a few years ago. Keep the plans lean, emphasis needs to be on finding cost-effective solutions to increasing capacity inside the current stadium to around 60k with more tiers on top of stands and more standing allocation to increase affordability for all income brackets amongst the fanbase for match days. Ticket price inflation and availability is a huge issues right now for fans. And yes, then you may also add the more exclusive and profitable corporate hospitality boxes as well to make it a win/win.

9. NO, YOU MAY NOT MOVE THE STADIUM!

Whatever you do, please do not bring up moving the stadium all over again. It is tone deaf and disrespectful to Stamford Bridge’s 117-year history of being the clubs’ founding grounds. Ken Bates ensured the CPO retain control over the pitch & the club’s name to keep the future of both tied to its history no matter how many times the ownership changes hands. Figure out how to expand in place. The Chelsea Pitch Owners & Chelsea Fan Base want to remain connected to Stamford Bridge’s past, present & future.

10. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

As a reminder, we are not broken nor in need of fixing. We are Chelsea FC. Reigning FIFA WORLD CHAMPIONS, UEFA SUPER CUP CHAMPIONS, UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS. 21 major trophies in the last 19 years. We dare you to do better. Your job is to be a custodian of the club and ensure you provide the continuity of our current football project starting on DAY ONE. This is your duty in this transition and beyond. Good Luck, Good Winning, and Up The Chels!

_{This list has been distilled from the many discussions and debates over the past few weeks on the most excellent BlueMorning daily YouTube stream hosted by ChelseaPerspective YouTube Channel [@chelseaperspect on Twitter ]. BlueMorning is where Chelsea fans, young and ‘gold’, from around the globe participate to voice their opinion on all things Chelsea daily 11 am UK time}