It is the biggest shipwreck of a football ship. In just nine-and-a-half months, Chelsea have experienced a sporting collapse that is as unusual as it is dizzying and has removed them from any chance of success in the near future. The captain of this ship was not going from England to the United States, but in the opposite direction. We do not remember a similar collapse in at least sixty years of football. The economic losses are astronomical, but when it comes to people they are well on the list ForbesA thousand million more or a thousand less is an anecdote. Not for the fan. The club that was the star protagonist of the last two decades fell from the precipice of defeat.
Fan pride, unbreakable love
Apart from the casualties and destruction of the invaded country, no one lamented the war in Russia and Ukraine more than fans of the London club. Reason? The British government, which already wanted it, took advantage of this circumstance and expelled the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich from the country. This one, like many powerful people, was covered by millions, but few knew of her existence. And, like others from his lineage, he entered football, which gives notoriety, fame. It’s expensive chic, but seductive. Suddenly, one of these ‘Forbesman’ spends a billion or two billion, buys a club and becomes popular in the media, signs contracts with world stars and invites princes, sheikhs, directors for champagne in his presidential box. , politicians, personalities of all colors. after deportation expressAbramovich was forced to sell his most precious toy: Chelsea FC.
Undreamed of: four goals against Real Madrid
Haaland, Mbappé, Vinicius…?
An American group appeared headed by Todd Bohely, the owner of a huge business empire, whose fortune is estimated at 6000 million dollars. On the sports front, Bohely is one of the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers (baseball), the Los Angeles Sparks (women’s basketball) and the Los Angeles Lakers (men’s basketball). He was accompanied on the adventure by Mark Walter, also co-owner of the Dodgers (baseball), Swiss millionaire Hansjorg Wyss and the American investment company Clearlake Capital. Bohely and his partners bought the club for 5.312 million dollars. Their purchase was approved on 25 May 2022, and a few days later they took over Stamford Bridge. In such a short period of time there was so much stupidity and on such a scale that today Chelsea is a football ruin with a very complex treatment.
Chelsea was a traditional club but won only one league (1955) until Abramovich’s arrival on July 1, 2003. There he began a remarkable rise and became a planetary club, winning 21 titles, including 5 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups , 2 Champions League, 2 Europa League, 1 World Club Championship, 2 Community Shield, 1 European Super Cup. It was phenomenal for his fans and for English football. Almost identical to the film of Manchester City, which, with the arrival of the Emirates investment fund, became the leading club in the world. Twenty-one crowns in Abramovich’s 19 years. The blue color of the jersey became universal, Chelsea entered the Bix Six Premiera (six big teams), its rivals became Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich… He did something very good Abramovich.
As soon as they arrived at the club, the new bosses took immediate action. The first was without the prestigious German coach Thomas Tuchel, who had to be compensated with 15 million euros. Bohely wanted to sign a contract with Cristiano Ronaldo to make commercial use of his figure, and Tuchel stood up with a firm NO, he knew he was not giving him solutions on the pitch. That and Tuchel’s sensitive nature led to the break. Graham Potter, manager of Brighton, was then in vogue. They took. They paid 34 million euros to Las Gaviotas as a penalty to be able to remove him, along with his contract. In the meantime when Potter took over and developed his business, the new management employed a staggering 17 players, distributing €628.5 million. Many of them at overvalued prices like the €68m for Marco Cucurella, a discreet left-back, or the €70m they paid for Mikhail Mudryk, an unknown young Ukrainian, the insane €121m for Enzo Fernández or the insane €80.4m from Wesley Fofan . Such a series of new ones led to the establishment of 32 members. “The dressing room had to be expanded so that everyone could enter,” said Thiago Silva, the team’s captain, sarcastically but very critically. Didier Drogba, the legend of Stamford Bridge, added to the condemnations and regrets: “I don’t recognize my club anymore. I knew Chelsea had a certain class in the Abramovich era, but today something is missing. It’s hard for me to see how they got rid of some people. They should return to the principles and values they had.”
The football collapse started in the League Cup, where he played one game, as he lost to Manchester City 2:0 in the first round. Exactly the same thing happened to him in the English Cup, in the first game he was defeated 4:0, also by City. In the Premier League, after years of fighting for the title every season, it is 12th, 40 points behind leaders Manchester City. And in the Champions League, that rubber boat that he left to avoid being swallowed by the sea broke in the quarter-finals against Real Madrid, falling 0-2 and 0-2 in Madrid and London. It was necessary to reverse the result at home and take the field without a striker, with Havertz, an attacking midfielder, as the only striker. “It’s one of the greatest mysteries of all time,” quipped Michael Owen, turned commentator, like every former England player. How can you spend 600 million and not bring a striker? Instead, he got rid of Tim Werner and Romelu Lukaku, who moved to Leipzig and Inter. Lukaku is a semi-finalist with Milan. Chelsea have amassed 20 defeats so far in the 2022-2023 season, horrible.
Five months after taking over, Graham Potter was fired due to poor results. He waived the €55 million release clause, but still took €17 million. His assistant Bruno Saltor took over temporarily for a few games until old acquaintance Frank Lampard arrived, with such bad luck that he lost all six games he managed, including two against Madrid. Now we are looking for a new strategist for the 2023-2024 season. Top trainers are already starting to avoid him in fear of new shipwrecks.
Chelsea is the first English club with losses exceeding 1000 million euros. This does not worry its extremely rich owners too much, but the immediate future of the club is that next year only internal competition awaits it. Every coach who comes will ask to throw out at least ten professionals from the team, nobody can train with 32 players. But they have to give them, nobody wants to leave until they have paid the entire contract.
All this disaster happens because of a common thing: ignorance of things. In football, two plus two equals seven. There are no rules to understand. A man who graduated from Harvard can acquire a colossal fortune in banking, industry or business and at the same time blow up a successful football project. And another minimally educated gentleman, like Alex Ferguson, is capable of turning a very good club with 80 employees like Manchester United into one of 800 and turning it into a world reference. It’s not just marketing, cheerleading and popcorn. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
