WHAT a difference a year has made for Chelsea co-owners Behdad Egbhali and Todd Boehly.
Last autumn long-standing rumours of a rift between the two billionaires proved correct.
Behdad Eghbali is a regular attendee at Stamford Bridge[/caption]
Todd Boehly has taken a back seat in the day-to-day running of the club[/caption]
News broke that each was trying to buy the other out in order to take decisive control of the club.
But amid significant developments on and off the pitch, Eghbali and Boehly have been able to put their differences aside and enjoy a professional working relationship.
The dramatic late win over Premier League champions Liverpool was the latest indication that, after investing more than £1.5billion in players, the Blues owners were finally putting together a team that can challenge for big trophies.
Chelsea also believe, after last month’s revamp of the senior executive team, they now have right people in the right positions to drive the business forward.
But the long-standing issue of what to do about the Blues’ need for a bigger and better stadium could well threaten the new-found harmony and re-open old wounds.
Right now, Boehly and everyone else seem to be pulling in the same direction.
Stamford Bridge is fun and exciting, a place to see and be seen which is keeping up the club tradition of attracting celebrities that began in the 1960s.
Madonna’s visit for the Liverpool game made the headlines and was her third in just over a year.
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Meanwhile in the directors’ box, pretty much the only person who didn’t lose the plot celebrating Estevao’s stoppage-time winner was Take That star Gary Barlow, who is a Liverpool fan.
Maresca’s success on the field – Champions League qualification and two trophies – is inevitably a key factor in the current harmony between Boehly and Eghbali.
Chelsea were mocked by Gary Neville as “billion-pound bottle jobs” after the 2024 Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool’s kids.
Now Eghbali, Boehly, the other co-owners and all their investors have something to show for their money.
It is so much easier for everyone to get on when things are going well.
Eghbali and Boehly are never likely to be best buds.
But they remain committed to the club and have found a way to accommodate each other. Both men went to Monaco for the Champions League draw in August.
It probably helps the relationship that Boehly, despite retaining the title of chairman, has taken more of a back seat in the day-to-day running of the business since he ended his spell as interim sporting director early in 2023.
Eghbali is very much the man in the driving seat but Boehly still has a higher public profile.
And earlier this year he made it clear the truce with Eghbali could be broken by the biggest issue hanging over the club.
The Blues need a new, modern stadium with at least 60,000 seats in order to generate more income.
At a capacity of just over 40,000, Stamford Bridge is the fourth biggest club ground in London, behind the homes of Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham, and only the 11th largest in the Premier League.
But there have been disagreements in the boardroom over whether to build on a new site (and where that site should be) or to redevelop the Bridge, their home since 1905.
The result is, nearly three and a half years after the takeover, nothing has been decided.
Boehly has long favoured a move to a new location, with Earls Court the only remaining realistic option.
In March he told Bloomberg he and Eghbali had been working together well but added: “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.”
Within days, Eghbali seemed to have come round to Boehly’s way of thinking amid claims the idea of revamping Stamford Bridge had been thrown out once and for all.
But in August it emerged there was still no final decision and the whole project was being delayed by spiralling costs in the construction industry.
The Earls Court Development Company submitted a planning permission application, with its own vision for the site, to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in July 2024.
If ECDC’s plans are approved – and some expect news before the end of the year – then redeveloping Stamford Bridge would be Chelsea’s only option.
Whatever the ECDC outcome, will Eghbali and Boehly be able to work together to resolve Chelsea’s biggest problem?
If the executive team, lead by club president Jason Gannon, can’t keep them on the same page, their marriage of convenience may end in a messy divorce after all.
PALMER CASHING IN
COLE Palmer’s ongoing injury issue has restricted his on-field impact but things are looking good for him off the pitch
The recent registration of “Cold Palmer” as a trademark is designed to help him exploit his fame for commercial gain.
But a glance at the last accounts of Palmer Management Limited, the firm which controls his image rights, shows he is already doing very nicely, thank you.
In the 12 months to October 31 2024 – basically, the first season and a bit of Palmer’s Chelsea career – PML’s net assets increased by nearly £800,000 to £1,271, 616.
That boost was due to a huge rise in the company’s cash in the bank, from just over £300,000 to nearly £1.7m – reflecting Palmer’s deals with sponsors like Nike, Burberry and Boohoo.
But since then the England star has signed a new lucrative Nike contract and added brands like Beats by Dre, British Airways and the FC video game franchise to his portfolio.
The trademark enables Palmer, whose contract as a Chelsea player brings him £130,000 per week, to explore a wide range of new product endorsements and opportunities.
But we won’t know how much they are all worth until PML files its latest accounts in or before next July.
Palmer has piqued the interest of big brands[/caption]
SEMENYO BARGAIN MISS
ANTOINE Semenyo moving to Chelsea would likely now cost the Blues north of £80m, given he has developed into one of the best wingers in the Premier League at Bournemouth.
But, just six years ago, the Blues and Maurizio Sarri could have signed him for just TWO MILLION POUNDS from Bristol City.
As SunSport reported at the time, Chelsea were keen on bringing the then 19-year-old forward to the club, initially as a member of the Under-23 squad.
Semenyo had been on loan at League Two Newport County for part of the 2018/19 season, scoring six goals in 32 appearances.
Manchester United were also interested, but neither they nor Chelsea were willing to pay much more than £1m for the promising but still raw player.
So Semenyo stayed in Bristol, apart from a short loan spell at Sunderland, and enjoyed his breakthrough season in 2020/21.
Bournemouth bought him for £10m in January 2023 and the rest is history.
Semenyo has become a star at Bournemouth[/caption]
MESSI CHOOSES TWO CFC STARS OF THE FUTURE (AND ONE EX-CHELSEA)
LIONEL Messi has tipped two current Chelsea players and one ex-Blue to be among the top 10 stars of the next generation.
The Argentine legend namaed youngsters Andrey Santos and Kendry Paez, who is currently on loan at sister club Strasbourg, as part of an Adidas campaign where he was asked to choose 10 players to keep an eye on.
He also named Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha as the only English representative, a former Cobham starlet himself.
The rest of the list was made up of his compatriot Nico Paz, as well as Brighton midfielder Brajan Gruda – who you wouldn’t be surprised to see join Chelsea at some point – given their history…
Rodrigo Mora (Porto), Mika Godts (Ajax), and Kader Meite (Stade Rennais) were the other male representatives, with Lily Yohannes (Lyon) and Clara Serrajordi (Barcelona) being the ladies’ stars chosen.
CUCURELLA ISSUES YAMAL THREAT
CHELSEA’S home clash with Barcelona in the Champions League on November 25 is the most anticipated fixture of the season for the Blues.
Perhaps for nobody more so than Marc Cucurella, a product of Barcelona’s La Masia academy, who is likely to have the task of marking Ballon d’Or runner-up and Spain team-mate Lamine Yamal at Stamford Bridge.
Cucurella, when asked during the current international break about the prospect of facing Yamal, joked he would give the young winger no quarter at the Bridge – safe in the knowledge there was plenty of time for him to recover before next summer’s World Cup.
The Chelsea left back laughed: “I won’t hold back there. The good thing is that there’s still a long way to go before the World Cup. If I knock him out, he’ll have plenty of time to recover!”
“I like playing against people I don’t know, I feel more comfortable. And I’m not one to send messages to opponents before games if they’re friends.”
Cucurella will have a tough one-on-one battle[/caption]
WHOLESOME CAHILL/TERRY MOMENT
GARY Cahill was part one of the most wholesome moments of the Chelsea Legends match, as they faced off against the Liverpool Legends at Stamford Bridge.
After the final whistle, a young fan ran on to the pitch, sprinted PAST John Terry and co, and straight into the arms of Cahill, who had been outstanding in central defence.
Some were a little shocked that the young lad ran straight to Cahill as opposed to Terry or some of the other high-profile legends.
But it was good to see a youngster recognise Cahill as a Chelsea hero, a great servant who won every major domestic trophy, the Champions League and the Europa League during seven seasons at the Bridge.
Terry got his moment not long after, with another kid invading the pitch and this time going straight to the former Blues captain.
Terry showed his class, gifting the lad his captain’s armband, taking a picture with him, and most importantly, making sure he got back to his family safely in the stands.
You can read how Terry, Cahill, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and others were rated in the game here.
Cahill played nearly 300 games for Chelsea[/caption]
