Premier League Panel: Are Chelsea's off-the-pitch problems worse than their on-the-pitch performance?
With a new manager in the dugout, a chaotic transfer window in the rear view mirror and a boardroom battle brewing, our expert guests look at how things are shaping up at Stamford Bridge.
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00:00I do also need to ask, I'll come to you first for this one, George, because we talked a lot about
00:04the transfers and everything going on on the pitch and the dressing room, but there's an awful lot
00:07going on at boardroom level now as well. I mean, reports suggesting that Tom Bowley and Clear Lake
00:12Capital have fallen out effectively and are both trying to buy each other out, but neither wants
00:17to budge. There's going to be sort of, we suspect this is going to rumble on for a little while
00:21until some kind of resolution is reached. What do you think the best outcome is for the club?
00:26That's a real loaded question. It's really hard because the way it's worked, and I've read up on
00:33this, I looked at it and obviously Bowley came in at the start and he made his decisions, he made
00:37his signings. And if you compare the signs that he's made to Egg Barley, Clear Lake compared to
00:42the top Bowley, it's been really interesting to see the players at Bowley greenlit in the
00:47first place compared to what it has been now. It's really interesting to see how, I guess,
00:54sort of both parties have been a little bit obsessed with the market, but some sources that
00:59I read on The Athletic were claiming that Egg Barley is a little bit, he's obsessed with player
01:03trading. I don't know how good that's going to be long-term. I don't think this is something that we
01:10can continue to keep doing, to keep stockpiling these players. The signing of the Boca Juniors
01:1619-year-old centre-back for 18 million or whatever it was, he played three senior games at the time.
01:24I understand in the recent weeks he's gone on to have some man-of-the-match performances
01:29in the leagues, but things like that don't make too much sense to me right now in terms of when
01:35you've already made a lot of other signings. These are the type of players that are great
01:41for the feet. I understand why they've done them, but when they're lined up against so many other
01:45deals, it makes less and less impact. It's something that I worry about going forward in
01:50the future, but either way, both of them are very committed to the club and really want the success
01:55from the club and are putting a lot of money and can put in more money in the future. I understand
01:59the club is in safe hands in that regard. I just want a little bit more, I guess, the decision
02:05being to be a little bit more stable and for them to talk to the fans more and to give us a bit more
02:10of a message and just to act a little bit more safe, just to be a bit better in keeping with the
02:17club's ethos across the past years. We saw Bramovic. I just want a little bit more clarity,
02:22really. That's all I want to see. Whoever takes over, I guess, we'll just have to go with because
02:26what we've seen so far is they've both been very committed to the club. In that regard, it's a
02:30positive. Do you have a clear thought on what the best path forward for Chelsea is regarding the
02:36ownership situation, Rahman? What's your take on how it's all panning out at the minute?
02:41There's a proverb that says, I went to an elephant's fight, it's the grass that suffers.
02:47So, I mean, two owners who passionately love the club and I don't see any clear way at the moment
02:58because I'm told so many things and I literally started writing about the challenges behind the
03:05scenes way long before Bloomberg even wrote it up. It's just two people who wanted the best for
03:13Chelsea but with different ideas, but they all own the club. That's just where we are.
03:20They will have to find some sort of compromise to make it work, but Bully clearly owns a little
03:27bit of the club, 13% compared to what Kleric have, about 60-something percent. So, they have
03:33majority of the shares, but the problem is that they have different opinions when it comes to
03:39running the club to success and the players. One thing Kleric have done is that that first transfer
03:46window that Todd Bully was acting sporting director, every single player they've brought in,
03:51they've tried to move on. For one reason or the other, they've moved them on. I think
03:56Raheem Sterling is the last one they've sent on loan and they were so desperate to move him on,
04:01they are paying 50% of his wages so he can help Arsenal win the title.
04:06So, at the end, I think they will at least find a compromise because none of them want to sell.
04:12Owning Chelsea is a massive deal to them. Somebody very close to them said to me,
04:17they were billionaires before they came to Chelsea, but not many people knew about them.
04:21Now, they walk and fly and everybody says, those are the Chelseas.