Chelsea owners in balancing act as clock ticks on Boehly’s chairmanship
Chelsea owners in balancing act as clock ticks on Boehly’s chairmanship
Matt LawSun, June 7, 2026 at 5:31 AM UTC
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Chelsea co-owners Behdad Eghbali (left) and Todd Boehly have become increasingly unpopular among supporters since their takeover in 2022 - Robin Jones/Getty Images
As Chelsea prepare for Xabi Alonso to start work as manager, the clock is ticking on a change at the top of the club with the role of chairman passing from Todd Boehly to Clearlake Capital inside the next year.
To say Boehly's four years as chairman have been a roller coaster would be an understatement. But the final 12 months of his chairmanship may be the most significant yet in terms of the future of Chelsea's BlueCo ownership.
Telegraph Sport first revealed the extraordinary detail in the 2022 Boehly-Clearlake takeover that allows the chairmanship to pass every five years between Chelsea's co-owners.
Boehly, 52, has less than one year to run of his chairmanship and it is understood Clearlake intends to take over at the end of May 2027. It remains to be seen if co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali becomes chairman, whether the title is given to a different Clearlake representative or if Clearlake appoints a chairman.
Boehly is into the final 12 months of his five-year tenure as chairman - Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA
Some sources believe next year's passing of the chairman title could be a catalyst for decisions to be made regarding the future of Chelsea's ownership. Others claim it is no more significant than a pre-agreed technicality, but do not dismiss the prospect of change.
As Boehly counts down to the end of his spell as chairman, Chelsea's owners must work together to give Alonso, who starts work on July 1, the best chance of success and make progress on big off-the-pitch issues such as sponsorship and the club's stadium.
Failure to do so will fuel theories outside Chelsea that Boehly and Clearlake should use the passing of the chairmanship to confront their BlueCo balancing act.
Boehly and Clearlake have been targeted by unhappy Chelsea supporters and protest groups since the takeover, while there was a threat of civil war within the ownership in 2024 when it emerged both sets of owners were willing to buy each other out.
Chelsea fans protest against their ownership before last month's FA Cup final - Peter Cziborra/Reuters
Since then, Boehly has stepped back from the day-to-day running of Chelsea which Eghbali and Clearlake are far more heavily involved in. Every big decision still requires the signature of both men, regardless of who is chairman.
Boehly's day-to-day involvement has decreased, but he remains involved in strategic decision-making. All three co-controlling owners – Boehly, Eghbali and José E Feliciano – participated fully in the appointment of Alonso and spoke personally with the Spaniard ahead of him joining.
Boehly and Clearlake have no regrets over buying Chelsea and retain big ambitions for the club. But whether they regret doing it together might be a tougher question to answer and lies at the heart of how sustainable the status quo is. Sources at Clearlake describe Boehly as "a thoughtful, intelligent and good partner".
It has previously been suggested that Boehly is playing a long game amid claims he has spoken to business associates about the next 20-plus years at Chelsea. More recently, allies admit to being in the dark over his plans and the reasoning behind his more passive approach.
There were no new clues over his intentions during an appearance at the SXSW London business event this month. Boehly spoke broadly about the need for stadiums to be entertainment venues, BlueCo's multi-club strategy with Chelsea's sister club Strasbourg and global branding.
Boehly in discussion at SXSW London business event - Shutterstock/Tolga Akmen
Some supporters described Boehly's latest comments around Chelsea as "more word salad" and it remains a frustration for fans that neither he nor Eghbali have put themselves forward for anything more challenging than on-stage questions from a moderator during their four years in charge.
Boehly's commitment to ensuring on-pitch success could be questioned since he became more removed. He has been caught paying more attention to his phone than the football when attending games. Critics of Eghbali accuse him of paying too much attention to the running of every department of the club. People who have worked with him claim Eghbali's passion for Chelsea borders on obsession.
Having given Alonso the title of manager, rather than head coach, and promised him a more meaningful voice in decision-making than previous head coaches, it remains to be seen whether the different approaches of Boehly and Eghbali change.
External financial commentators have claimed that Eghbali and his Clearlake partner Feliciano have more pressure on them to achieve quick results from investors. Feliciano now has another sports club to think about after he and his wife, Kwanza Jones, bought the San Diego Padres baseball team.
That is rejected by sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Clearlake, who point out that investors who might choose to effectively cash out of Chelsea could be replaced. Despite buying the Padres, Feliciano is said to have recently reaffirmed his interest in Chelsea by attending a finance meeting in London.
Balancing power in a Chelsea relationship in which Eghbali, along with Feliciano, manages the 61.5 per cent Clearlake stake and the remaining 38.5 per cent is split equally between Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter is not an easy task.
Supporters have found it hard to know where to aim their frustration regarding issues on and off the pitch. First, Boehly was their main target. Recently, Eghbali's name has been chanted disparagingly more often. The third person listed as holding "significant control", Feliciano, has so far escaped mainstream criticism.
Jose E Feliciano receives the least amount of public scrutiny of Chelsea's three co-owners - Taylor Hill/Getty Images
The inescapable truth for Chelsea is that Boehly and Eghbali are very different people with very different approaches. Boehly prefers to let others manage the day-to-day running of the club these days, but will still grasp a photo or PR opportunity. Eghbali is more involved wherever he feels he can make an impact. Despite favouring a lower public profile, Eghbali is more likely to be present at big events that do not involve Chelsea such as this season's Champions League final.
Chelsea's former director of communications and public affairs, Steve Atkins, was appointed as operating partner at Clearlake Capital in August last year and is a regular face at Stamford Bridge and Cobham once again. Boehly's PR is handled by Prosek Partners, which is not visible around the club or active inside it.
Boehly temporarily made himself Chelsea's sporting director immediately after the takeover. By his own admission, he signed Marc Cucurella because Manchester City had been interested in the left-back. Eghbali has built a five-strong football leadership team he works closely with on transfers and has broadly favoured a data-led strategy.
Joseph Shields (left), Paul Winstanley (second left), Laurence Stewart (second right) and Sam Jewell (right) are part of Chelsea's football leadership team - Darren Walsh/Getty Images
Under the different approaches of Boehly and Eghbali, Chelsea have made some good signings such as Cucurella, Cole Palmer and Moisés Caicedo, and won the Club World Cup and Conference League. But there have also been a number of signings that have not worked out and failure to qualify for any European competition next season has prompted recognition that the strategy needs to evolve.
Four years since their takeover, the most positive description of the pair's working relationship you are likely to get from those who have dealt with them is "professional". They have separate boxes at Stamford Bridge and are rarely seen together. When they speak publicly, they do so without the other at their side.
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James Pade acts as a valuable conduit on the Clearlake side and Jeff Wilbur, head of sports and entertainment at Eldridge – the asset management company owned by Boehly – performs a similar role.
The one thing Boehly and Eghbali undoubtedly have in common is a desire to be successful with Chelsea, but achieving their ambitions together is clearly complicated.
Two Wembley finals perhaps best illustrate the change of dynamics. Boehly was still the face of BlueCo in 2024, when the club lost to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. But by the time Chelsea faced Manchester City in this year's FA Cup final at Wembley, it was Eghbali who the cameras looked out for.
The week after the Carabao Cup final defeat, Boehly was at the Bahrain Grand Prix fist-bumping well-wishers at the same time Chelsea supporters at Brentford chanted disparagingly about him.
Eghbali is the more present owner and was at Craven Cottage in January, when the Chelsea fans loudly took aim at him and Clearlake. The fact he had been sitting next to Liam Rosenior, who had been due to start his ill-fated reign as head coach, made the chanting all the more notable.
Eghbali faced criticism from Chelsea fans as he sat next to Liam Rosenior (left) at Craven Cottage following the Englishman's appointment - Getty Images /Vince Mignott
It is claimed by those close to them that Boehly and Eghbali have thick skins, but nothing will have prepared them for the personal abuse and barrage of criticism that owning a football club can bring. They would not be human if there was not a temptation to occasionally point to the other's mistakes when facing scrutiny.
Former head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was in charge of Chelsea for the Carabao Cup final, offered a glimpse behind the curtain by revealing he had received "a nice message from Boehly" after the defeat to Liverpool but had immediately met Eghbali personally. Some used it as the first confirmation of which owner had become more dominant.
Pochettino later revealed – mischievously or otherwise – he had dined with Boehly before the final game of the 2023-24 season. But it was two days of meetings with Eghbali and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart that ended with Chelsea announcing the Argentine's mutual departure.
It is believed that Boehly had wanted Pochettino to stay for a second season in charge, but accepted his view was not the majority inside the club and decided around that time to allow other people to take a lead on football decisions.
Boehly was understood to be in favour of Mauricio Pochettino continuing after Chelsea won their last five league games of the 2023-24 season - Darren Walsh/Getty Images
Those close to Boehly stress that his idea was always to step back and allow others to deal with the day-to-day running of Chelsea after the initial chaos of the takeover. He remains engaged and this season represented the club at Champions League dinners with opposition dignitaries.
In his role as chairman, Boehly was front and centre of the celebrations after Chelsea won the Club World Cup under Enzo Maresca. It was Boehly, rather than Eghbali, who was pictured during the medal ceremony and trophy lift with United States president Donald Trump.
Boehly alongside Donald Trump as Chelsea are crowned Club World Cup champions in July last year - Mike Segar/Reuters
Last summer's Club World Cup success, together with qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Conference League, offered encouragement that Chelsea were on the right track. But Maresca's exit contributed to a campaign of regression and posed questions over what exactly prompted him to claim he had experienced his "worst 48 hours" as head coach just a couple of weeks before leaving.
Chelsea believe there will eventually be greater clarity regarding Maresca's departure and his candidacy as a successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
It had been only a few months into Maresca's reign that a report emerged that Boehly and Clearlake, led by Eghbali, were prepared to buy each other out. Telegraph Sport reported at the time that Boehly believed their working relationship was at breaking point.
Since then a truce has been maintained, with both men opting against outright civil war. But there remains a belief that it is a matter of time before Chelsea's billionaire co-owners will have to consider the permanency or otherwise of their unconventional arrangement.
There has still been no tangible progress over Chelsea's stadium four years after Boehly and Eghbali committed to its redevelopment or rebuild, either on the current site or elsewhere, as part of their takeover.
As he reiterated at SXSW, Boehly has made it clear that his preference would be to move Chelsea from their current site into a new multi-purpose stadium. In March last year, he suggested the issue was critical to BlueCo's future by saying: "We have a big stadium development opportunity that we have to flesh out. That's going to be where we're either aligned or we ultimately decide to go different ways."
Stamford Bridge's capacity is little over 40,000, making it only the 11th biggest club stadium in England - Rene Nijhuis/Getty Images
Clearlake has not made their position on the stadium public, but it is believed to broadly align with that of Boehly. At least one proposal to build a stadium at Earl's Court was put forward, but has not been acted on. Those originally in charge of the project were replaced, with president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon now heading it.
Chelsea do not own any of the land at Earl's Court and have not asked the Chelsea Pitch Owners to vote on a proposed stadium move, which suggests clarity on the matter is not imminent.
Wyss, a close ally of Boehly, last year broke ranks to tell Chelsea Fan TV: "Earl's Court will be the best option we can think of. But if it's going to happen, I don't know. There's a lot of obstacles and right now we don't have one person who drives the project.
"That's what we need, in the meetings, the directors' meetings. Until we have one project, where someone says 'I'm going to make it happen', it's not going to happen."
Just as there have been changes to those in charge of the stadium project, there has been a shuffling of positions around sponsorships and marketing. Todd Kline's appointment as president of commercial coincided with the departure of Casper Stylsvig, who the club claimed had "played a key role in driving the club's commercial development".
What has remained consistent is the difficulty in securing a long-term front-of-shirt sponsor. According to The Sponsor, an independent sponsorship and valuation publication, Chelsea's sponsorship value has fallen by £16.7m to £33.7m which is almost half of what the club is thought to have been seeking.
Chelsea have started each of the last three seasons without a front-of-shirt sponsor - Steve Bardens/Getty Images
Chelsea contest that estimate, believing their sponsorship value remains closer to £50m following their £25m front-of-shirt deal with IFS for half a season, but failure to qualify for Europe has undoubtedly impacted the club's earning power in the short term.
That will only be boosted by improvement on the pitch, which Eghbali acknowledged at last month's CAA World Congress of Sports event in which he said: "Can this be successful without winning? The answer is no. We've got to win."
The next 12 months may be crucial to whether Boehly and Eghbali believe they can win together at Chelsea. If not, and assuming the status quo is not disrupted in the meantime, the change of chairmanship may have to be the start of something much bigger.
Source: “AOL Money”
