Todd Boehly face  removal as Chelsea chairman as club ‘aims for new direction

Todd Boehly face  removal as Chelsea chairman as club ‘aims for new direction’

Todd Boehly will reportedly be ousted as Chelsea chairman by his fellow owners at the first opportunity after widespread criticism of the American.

Boehly has become the face of the Chelsea ownership group since they took over the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022. The 50-year-old has attended lots of games at Stamford Bridge and taken a more hands-on role than many of his fellow investors.

That is in spite of the fact that Boehly has a smaller stake in the Blues, with private equity firm Clearlake Capital holding 61.5 per cent while Boehly owns an equal split of the remaining 38.5 per cent alongside Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter. Clearlake is run by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano and it is they who therefore possess the most significant amount of power behind the scenes.

We earlier this month that Chelsea have a written agreement that they can change chairman every five years. The Daily Mail now reports that the Blues will make use of the clause to remove Boehly from his position at the end of the 2026-27.

While suggestions of friction between Boehly and Eghbali or Feliciano have been dismissed, Clearlake is keen for a change of direction. No decision on who will take Boehly’s role has been made yet, but it could be distributed internally, or someone hired to fill it. Under the terms of the agreement, Boehly could then take the chairmanship back in 2032, should he retain his stake.

The decision comes nearly two years into Boehly’s spell in charge, which has not gone to plan after the ownership consortium put in £2.5billion to take control of the club. Boehly has overseen a £1bn spend in the transfer market, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side are only 11th in the Premier League and were beaten by an injury-hit Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last month.

The news follows a turbulent few weeks for Chelsea, with divisions emerging in the fanbase, who booed Raheem Sterling and Mauricio Pochettino in the FA Cup win over Leicester. The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust released a letter which took aim at Boehly and Eghbali and warned about the threat of “irreversible toxicity” if things do not change at Stamford Bridge.

The CST said the club was “at its lowest since the early 1980s” and claimed the Blues had become a “laughing stock”.

That description was rejected by the Chelsea Fan Advisory Board – a group started by Boehly – which released a statement to say: “We don’t recognise the suggestion that fans are not being involved in the future of the club. This goes directly against our experience.”