TODD BOEHLY has become a regular visitor to the Chelsea dressing room.It is almost a shock if he does not wander into the changing area after a game.
Todd Boehly has already sacked two Chelsea managers this seasonCredit: Rex
Next time, though, maybe he should stop before spouting off in order to take a long look in the mirror.
Chairman Boehly is spot on if he truly believes the club’s plight this season is an embarrassment.
The players have been awful, the results terrible and the performances well below minimum standard.
But what the players must have felt on Saturday following defeat by Brighton is anyone’s guess after hearing that from the multi-millionaire businessman who has played as much a part in the shambles as them.
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Boehly is into his third manager less than a year after taking over when he touted the ticket of long termism.
Almost £26million spent on paying off two managers in less than seven months.
He has splashed £600m on a record-breaking, mad-dash shopping spree for new players which has taken the club from third at the end of last season to 11th now.
That dressing room he went into at the weekend is a very crowded place, with 31 players in the senior squad according to the club website.
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If Chelsea fail to offload their unwanted stars quickly this summer to balance the books, the spectre of Financial Fair Play looms on the horizon.
Unless those struggling players can deliver a minor miracle tonight against Real Madrid, Boehly can forget about the handy income stream of European football next season.
It is a vast understatement to say that Boehly’s debut year in English football has not gone exactly to plan.
Stamford Bridge is an overcrowded, frustrated place and if it was not for Frank Lampard stepping in to help out as interim boss, the team would be rudderless.
Some people at Chelsea say the visit by Boehly, co-owner Behdad Eghbali and Swiss financier Hansjorg Wyss shows they are all in it together.
Others might see it as a total lack of self-awareness. The pot calling the kettle black.
Either way, Lampard says he has an open-door policy to anyone from the higher echelons of the club who wants to chip in to help turn things around.
Ahead of battling to overturn a 2-0 first-leg defeat in their Champions League quarter-final with holders Real, Lamps said: “I remember the moments as a player of owners first coming into the dressing room.
“It first happened at Chelsea, never anywhere else before, and I remember being really happy that they were there.
“You could touch them, you could high five them and listen to them and feel them.
Kepa was one of the players that spoke with the owner after the defeat to BrightonCredit: Getty
“That’s not a bad thing in terms of the identity of the club and where you are wanting to get to.
“These are just passionate owners who want to bring a real vision to the club. And we are probably at the early stage of the process in those terms.
“We want to rise and stay at the very top of the game and, at the moment, we are just off that level.
“People always question everything in the beginning and the early stages and at any part of the process.
“There is an important stage with the way we are working — we just want to get our heads down and get on with the things in front of us.
“Passion is normal. I don’t think that it is a problem. And I certainly don’t find it a problem.”
The simmering turbulence on the terraces culminated on Saturday with American Boehly getting a mouthful from an irate fan leaning precariously over the railings from his seat a tier above the chairman to vent his feelings.
Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was one of those who had a word with the top brass in the dressing room after their home defeat by Brighton — their fifth this season.
Kepa said: “Todd comes to the changing room in every game. He had different chats with us after different games. I am not going to say what he said. It is normal.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can involve all the fans, all of Stamford Bridge, deliver our best and make a different atmosphere to go through.
“It is not going to be easy. We have to go step by step and do the right thing in the beginning and then push as much as we can.
“What I can say is the atmosphere in the changing room, we are not happy, but the atmosphere is good.
“There is no fighting, nothing like this. We are trying to find a way to win the games.
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“We had a lot of changes. We know that. We know the situation.”
CHELSEA (likely): Kepa, James, Silva, Fofana, Cucurella, Kante, Fernandez, Gallagher, Sterling, Havertz, Felix. More
