Behdad Eghbali

But anyway, so we, we worked that out over time and they fell out.

Boehly and Clearlake's Behdad Eghbali just, you know, there, there was a...

Chelsea's only big enough for the one of them.

Only one of them could be sporting director.

And then what happened after that window, which did not go well for Chelsea, they, they s- they signed a lot of players for a lot of money that didn't really work out.

Uh, Wesley Fofana's the only big signing that is still at the club from that window.

Clearlake started to exert control, more control over strategy at Chelsea and, and functionally, that meant that Behdad Eghbali started to exert more day-to-day control over decision-making at Chelsea.

And that meant that when Boehly stepped down as interim sporting director in January 2023 and stepped back from day-to-day running of the club, I think he, he was, he was hoping that they'd hired this sporting leadership team.

Y- they were, Boehly was already, um, obviously when he came over, he was kind of the face of the club, and he sort of set the agenda.

Uh, but then Behdad Eghbali, who's, you know, is, is part of the majority, uh, group that, that owns the club, um, he really took over and he really set the tone.

And we've already seen a big shift away from, um, from what some of us like to call the model, the one that the five, count them, five directors of football, uh, put together.

Um, and it's gone more this summer into adding veterans and adding more of a mix, and here's Edmi Martinez and Welbeck and Jordan Henderson.

Like the clubs are being valued at massive amounts now.

Note the line in this statement which says, quote, "No changes to day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy of the club." Uh, this is only a financial s- uh, transaction, not a power shift, since Clearlake, principally through their co-founder, Behdad Eghbali, have been running the show at Chelsea for most of the last four years.

A key point of tension, of course, uh, removed from the boar- has been removed from the boardroom.

Boehly has not been comfortable as a backseat passenger, even if he's been careful not to air any grievances in public.

Uh, Clearlake are now closing in on a deal, uh, to buy those shares from the American, uh, which would obviously leave a vacancy as, uh, chairman of the club if he were to pull out.

Uh, Stefan Borson has recently suggested that, uh, Behdad Eghbali, uh, is the most likely candidate to step into that role, uh, at least in a sort of, uh, interim or early stage.

Do you think that's the right option for Chelsea short term?

Yeah, look, I think Stefan's right.

"CP, what is your reading of the latest regarding the boardroom situation at Stamford Bridge?"

Yeah, this is definitely picking up on, um- What we alerted our audience to two weeks ago, namely that the shareholder group around Todd Boehly, 38% of the, uh, total shares of Chelsea, uh, as opposed to the 62% owned by the private equity firm Clearlake and led by Behdad Eghbali.

The 38% grouping contains shares owned by Todd Boehly's mentor and partner of many years, Mark Walter, who we know has sailed into some tricky, uh, financial issues in America around his main businesses.

My understanding is that v- he continues to be exploring the sale of many of his businesses, including his and Todd's stake in Chelsea.

I think it's good for fans to have a better understanding of who's making decisions.

Although I, I, you know, I think most Chelsea fans that are plugged into what's happening and read our coverage and, and, and, and read and listen to, to a lot of other things that are being written and said about Chelsea have known for a long time what the situation is, that, that Clearlake Capital are controlling the strategy of the club, that Behdad Eghbali is the most actively involved representative of Clearlake at Chelsea and is involved in all decisions, um, and that Todd Boehly has really been in the back seat since really the summer of 2022 when he was interim sporting director.

I mean, uh, you know, there's probably some graying of that process as, as those months went through, but by and large, uh, certainly since January 2023, it has been Clearlake running the show.

Um, and so I think more than anything, if this goes through, uh, sooner rather than later, as Si says, it will remove an element of distraction.

Uh, Jack, just talk us through what's going on here and what it would mean for everybody else at Chelsea if he does sell.

Yeah, it's been quite a unhappy marriage at Chelsea between Todd Boehly and, and Behdad Eghbali.

Behdad Eghbali is the sort of day-to-day decision-maker, the power broker at Chelsea.

He, he's part of Clearlake Capital.

They own just over 65% of the club.

Two years ago, they started exploring the possibility of, of buying one another out when it was put on the back burner after a very heated sort of week or two and, and lots of stories around that, and it's been bubbling away ever since really.

It looks like Mark Walter wanting to get out as well.

One of the other investors who own- owns a, a similar amount to Todd Boehly has accelerated this, and now Behdad Eghbali and, and Clearlake are gonna be the, the controllers of the club and, and get to do things without consulting Todd Boehly.