How much trouble are Chelsea in after posting record losses?
London, United Kingdom - January 21: Flag during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Chelsea FC and Pafos FC at Stamford Bridge on January 21, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Vince Mignott/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images) | DeFodi Images via Getty Images Chelsea’s full accounts for 2024-25 were published earlier this week, revealing details behind the record £250m+ losses posted for the fiscal year. This is all funny math to me, but I suppose the big question is, are we in trouble?
As in, is the club’s existence or viability as a top-flight institution being threatened? As far as I can tell, the answer to that is a “no”. Or at least, “no … not yet”.
People far more knowledgeable than me in such matters have made some detailed, smart-looking posts online in recent days, analyzing the accounts. Here’s one from The Athletic . Here’s one from @theesk, Paul Quinn .
Here’s one from a random Reddit expert . There may be others. Still waiting for Swiss Ramble.
But my main takeaway from all those is confirmation that a) we’re leveraged to the hilt, with growing risk; b) we’re not terribly well managed on the commercial side; and c) our model of success is not looking very sustainaable, let alone profitable, certainly not anytime soon. Chelsea’s losses are dwarfed by the over £700m losses posted by our parent company, 22 Holdco Ltd. Holding companies are great ways to hide debt at certain reporting levels — Chelsea were technically “debt free” back in the Abramovich days because the club’s debt, owed to Abramovich himself, was at one point written down and moved to the holding company, Fordstam.