Chelsea’s American project at breaking point as beleaguered team heads into FA Cup semis
Storm clouds are hovering over the American ownership project at Chelsea that has swung from being regarded as bold and exciting to now being considered reckless and damaging. Reaching the FA Cup final on Sunday likely will do little to change that. What should be an exciting weekend for Chelsea and its fans — another trip to Wembley Stadium, this time for a semifinal against Leeds — is backdropped by a growing crisis at a club that so often resembles a soap opera.
Anger is rising to the surface among fans and disillusionment among players after a humiliating exit from the Champions League — 8-2 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain — and a goalless streak amid five straight losses in the Premier League that marks the team’s worst run of league results in 114 years. Liam Rosenior, an inexperienced 41-year-old coach, bore the brunt of the ire and was duly fired on Wednesday , four months into a reign that veered badly off course over the last few weeks. During the 3-0 loss at Brighton on Tuesday, match-going supporters chanted — in no uncertain terms — for Rosenior’s departure and the coach himself called out his players in media interviews when he criticized their “lack of spirit” and “unacceptable” performance.
He was always unlikely to survive after such an outburst. Bubbling under the surface, meanwhile, is growing tension about the direction the U. S.
owners have taken Chelsea and the massive financial concerns that come with it. Since the 2022 purchase of Chelsea by a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and largely funded by private equity company Clearlake Capital, the club's leadership has spent around $2. 5 billion on new, mostly young and unproven players on long contracts and taken on a debt approaching $2 billion, according to figures compiled by The Athletic.
Chelsea's most recent financial results revealed the club made pre-tax losses of $350 million, a record high in the Premier League era. Concerns over future financial turmoil have been exacerbated by the fact that Chelsea has dropped to eighth place in the league and looks highly unlikely to finish in the top five to guarantee qualification to the lucrative Champions League. If they aren't playing in Europe's top competition next season, will the team's top stars — Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez , to name two — become disillusioned?
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