My 5 point plan for the new owners of Chelsea Football Club
"Continued support" sounds good in statements, but we need details on what that actually means for Chelsea's women's team.
If reports in the Wall Street Journal, are to be believed, it appears that we are one step closer to knowing who the new owners of Chelsea Football Club, will be.
A consortium, led by part LA Dodgers owner, Todd Boehly, is, according to the article, about to enter exclusive talks, in order to complete a deal set to be worth over $3 billion, making Chelsea the most expensive sports team in the world.
Pretty much all the coverage and all the conversations around this takeover, is about what will happen with the men’s first team and how the team will be still able to compete for major honours without the financial backing of Roman Abramovich.
However, Chelsea Football Club is about much more than just the men’s first eleven, there’s the charity foundation that does incredible work in the community, there’s the academy set up, which has been England’s most successful set up in the last decade.
And of course, there’s the four time WSL, three time FA Cup and two time League Cup winners, Chelsea FC Women. Led by Emma Hayes, who is in her 10th year of management.
Hayes has over seen the transition from part time players, to full time professionals, and took the club to within 90 minutes of becoming European Champions, something she is still desperate to succeed.
However this will only be possible by further financial investment from the new ownership. As we saw in recent financial accounts, the women’s team is running on a £6 million loss, which was covered by loans from Mr Abramovich.
When the Chelsea Supporters Trust announced their proposals to whomever the new owners would be, they asked for “continued support” of the women’s team, but have since offered no further guidance on what that either, a, means or b, looks like.
So here is a five point plan for the new owners to implement around the women’s team so we can ensure our future as one of Europe’s leading clubs and continue competing for major honours.
1) Forgo current £6 million operating debt to ensure women’s team starts with a fresh start.
There is obviously a concern that the new owners could look at the operating debt and ask Adrian Jacobs and Paul Green to make sure the team ‘lives within its means’. Right now, we are experiencing a boom in women’s football, but we are still at a stage where you need to spend money to earn money.
Great teams and great players can be brought together for relatively small amounts compared to the men’s game, but if the women’s team are asked to become self sufficient, then we can say goodbye to challenging for trophies.
Clearing of our debt will ensure we start in the best financial state possible and have a solid foundation to start from.
2) Produce and publish a 5 year investment plan for women’s first team wage and transfer budgets to ensure the team remains competitive.
Hearing that potential new owners want to continue the fine work done by the current administration is obviously extremely positive, but, as we don’t know the new owners yet, and they have yet to win our trust, it would be incredible if a 5 year investment plan into the first team could become available to show us how committed they really are to the women’s team.
Financial accounts are available for previous years, so it wouldn’t be giving too much away to our rivals to showcase our planned spending ahead of schedule. It would also give us something to hold the new owners to account for, if this investment plan wasn’t being met.
It would also put pressure on other clubs to make sure that they were as committed to their women’s teams as we are, and that would only be a positive thing for the future of not just Chelsea FC W, but women’s football in general.
3) Produce and publish a 5 year investment plan for women’s team infrastructure, including academy, stadium, training ground and facilities to ensure an effective foundation for the first team.
Much like point 2, with our new owners, we need to see it, to believe it. Yes the first team gets the most attention, and them winning trophies is deemed the most important, but having the correct infrastructure in place will make that process even easier.
We’ve seen in recent years, clubs like Manchester United come under scrutiny for having poor working conditions for their players, and whilst it’s not like that for Chelsea now, if they don’t get the necessary investments, it could easily become a reality.
4) Explore possibilities of future expansion of Kingsmeadow and publish report so the club can continue organic growth of supporter base
We’ve seen in this years UEFA Women’s Champions League what can be achieved if the women’s game gets the right level of advertising, planning and marketing.
Over 90,000 filled the Nou Camp for Barcelona vs Real Madrid and then for Barcelona vs Wolfsburg. Over 40,000 watched PSG vs Lyon, and Wolfsburg had a record 22,000+ watch their second leg vs. Barcelona.
But we need to make sure that this becomes the norm, not a novelty. I do believe that somewhere along the line, the women’s team plays at Stamford Bridge in front of a sell out crowd week in, week out.
However I know that this time is a long way away, and we must continue to grow at Kingsmeadow before we think about moving to the Bridge.
The club has done lots to the ground, but there is plenty of potential for growth and the more bums we get on seats, the more viable it is that the long term aim of moving to Stamford Bridge can become a reality.
Supporters at Kingsmeadow produce a fantastic atmosphere every week, but if moved to a big stadium now, it could easily get lost, so that’s why moving Kingsmeadow towards a 10,000 capacity within the next 5-10 years should be our immediate aim.
5) Create an inclusive and diverse advisory group consisting of long term supporters, former players and current staff to ensure all club decisions around the team are well though out and taken with the team’s and supporters’ best interests at heart
Nobody knows this team better than the supporters who’ve been watching for many years, the new owner that comes in will not understand the culture of the club, and will need to lean on the experience of those that have been here before them to make sure they get things right.
Former players and current staff can act as advisories on the professional side of thing and give a professional viewpoint on any decisions or ideas the new board wants to implement.
Whilst the responsibility and ultimately the final say will be with the new owners, it will be positive to have an open dialogue with them and create a harmonious environment.
The story around Chelsea’s new owners is changing rapidly, as I’ve been producing this article, Jim Ratcliffe has had an offer to buy the club rejected.
We’ve also seen reports that Roman Abramovich has asked for the £1.6b debt owed to him to be repaid, after initially offering to wipe the debt.
However, we don’t know how much truth there is to that claim. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Ratcliffe’s camp have pushed that narrative to make their offer, which is worth more than Boehly’s consortium, more appealing.
What we do know, is that whoever Chelsea’s new owner will be, they need to put their money where their mouth is, and prove to us that they actually do believe in the women’s team and will show us the future investments to back that up.
They also need to commit to open and progressive dialogue with supporters who have the best interests of the team at heart, and can help guide the new owners as they make decisions which will ultimately effect the future of the team.
We hope that Raine, the bank in charge of overseeing the offers, the UK government, who sign off the deal and Roman Abramovich, who makes the final decision on who to sell the club to, makes the right decision which secures our future.