Why Todd Boehly Is Happy To Lose £1 Billion At Chelsea

Since acquiring Chelsea for £2.5 billion in 2022, Todd Boehly and his BlueCo consortium have spent more money in a single season than any other club in the history of world football.
It has come as a shock to a lot of people, who expected Chelsea's spending to decrease under the US consortium, following 20 years in which the club was financed by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
In this video, HITC Sevens goes inside the mind of Todd Boehly and BlueCo (not literally), to understand why they have invested so heavily in such a short amount of time at Chelsea, their approach to Premier League spending and UEFA FFP restrictions, and - ultimately - why they appear to be running Chelsea like a tech startup.

[@nathanb286]

Todd Boehly makes the PSG owners look frugal with their money

[@NickSandM]

1 differance is PSG ownership came in looking to win things and be the Big dogs, so they spent big on big players. Boehly is looking to make money so hes finding loopholes and investing in 3 teams work of "wonderkids" to either sell later and gain Revenue so this formula can then continue OR they actually become good and the risk was worth it. spend a Bill on players get a transfer Ban Oh no pay a fine and set back for 2yrs But they dont take the players off of Chelsea, so technically Boehly wins

[@williampotato1221]

​@@NickSandMand look how that panned out mate. Psg will never win the champions league 🤡... Arabs and Americans know nothing about football ⚽.

[@johnmitchell2269]

Messi, Neymar and Mbappe were all on around one million a week.

[@kingdaymon6433]

@@johnmitchell2269 Only mbappe was making more than a million a week. Neymar and Messi were both around 700,000 a week. Anyway I can argue that they deserve a million a week wayyy more than Mudryk or Caicedo deserve to be over 100m pound transfers.

[@ebnest123]

@@NickSandMWhat has PSG WON?

[@enthusiastofcute]

Honestly hope they spend billions more. I wanna see how much more money teams like Brighton can take from them

[@TheBarbahaba]

i am still in shock they paid 65 million pounds for cucurella ... just in shock .. Brighton are getting rich

[@apegraham9819]

😀😀 I like that

[@michaelpaye8861]

Evan Ferguson has £120million price tag on his head.

[@bretton_woods]

Rumour is they're going to buy the Amex stadium, ship it piece by piece to London and rebuild it at Earl's Court

[@kermitslimefrog]

@@TheBarbahaba and 115m for caicedo😂

[@craigwatts4493]

Bristol City handed 10 (TEN) year contracts out in the late ‘70s. Of course we were bankrupt within 3 years of doing it… but it’s not new!

[@mikelitorous5570]

The gamble is crazy though. By giving someone a contract that long you’re pretty much guaranteeing that they are going to be a worth while signing. Doing that more than once or twice is just asking for bankruptcy. I wouldn’t blame any player for taking that offer and riding out the contract while doing fuck all

[@Iamwhatyousayiam]

Bristol money is nothing compared to Chelsea money.

[@matthewcoombs3282]

There were 2 or 3 players who walked away without taking their contracted and legally allowable wages to save the club from going bankrupt. I like to think modern players would do this.....mmmmmmmm

[@RebelRebelious]

As stated, why points deductions are needed rather than merely slap on the wrist fines for FFP breaches.

[@KMD-qj1qc]

But they didn’t breach ffp that’s the whole point

[@TheRadPlayer]

Points deductions are, at most, a temporary measure. The measures need to be far harsher, and to be felt for decades. Permanent exclusion from leagues, dissolution of clubs, forced confiscation and auctioning off of clubs, lifetime bans, etc.

[@magicwanda8584]

​@@TheRadPlayerYou're talking nonsense. In your wildest dreams u wish.

[@painkiller8639]

@@TheRadPlayer "The measures need to be far harsher, and to be felt for decades" followed by "Permanent exclusion from leagues, dissolution of clubs, lifetime bans..." make up your mind, you want measures to be felt for just some decades, or to be permanent. I understand that there is a need for harsher measures, but what you propose is just total bollocks.

[@poptraxx418]

@@painkiller8639 you are insane

[@nicholasmele4250]

Chelseas strategy is dumb. They throw money out for players but dont actually plan. They end up buying really good players that have 0 chem with eachother making the team terrible

[@finesse3417]

It's not a terrible strategy Most top clubs are more concerned about commercial success than success on the field Signing super stars will lead to more advertisement money, and winning or losing won't really affect them as much clubs like Chelsea make most of their money from sponsors and TV right, and that money is much greater than whatever they'd make by making it far into the champions league or finishing top 4 You have to think of elite football clubs as giant billboards The more popular the players they sign is, the more people get to see their billboard

[@finesse3417]

This is also the other reason they were pushing hard for the super league It would maximize the revenue of the big teams Football is increasingly more business oriented than football oriented

[@konzza]

​@@finesse3417Witch superstar players Chelsea have signed? Enzo might fit the bill after his World Cup performance. Caicedo, Mudryk, Lavia, Madueke etc. are for the broader audience about as far from global household names as it gets.

[@mellomafia98]

​​@@finesse3417that's the problem,they are wasting big money for average players and hope they will become superstars while in reality most of them will flop. Only player that Is close to "superstar" is Enzo

[@DB-uf6md]

Look at you big brain

[@dazzaMusic]

Chelsea are playing career mode when you’re budget is unlimited

[@davedraycott5779]

And we were told it was Newcastle United who post takeover would inflate the transfer market.

[@spat3305]

They will. Not now, but in a few years time. People will complain when you’ve broken £500 million in summer signings some time in the future.

[@davedraycott5779]

@@spat3305 aye, that’s as maybe get back to me when it happens for now it’s Chelsea inflating the market.

[@villek3722]

@@davedraycott5779 its premier league inflating transfers...

[@SpotlessLeopard]

Just seen Boehly in Tesco. He paid £849 for a box of oxo.

[@freddiejohnson6137]

Ah but he did plan to keep them for 9 years to get his moneys worth

[@SpotlessLeopard]

@@freddiejohnson6137 Yes, by which time they'll be useless and rotten. As will the Oxo's.

[@Eibarwoman]

You should see what Boehly was paying outfielder Carl Crawford of the Los Angeles Dodgers to not play for two whole seasons. He paid £325K a week to Crawford for 2 years so Crawford wouldn't play. How rich does one have to be to afford not playing a guy who costs that much unless he has sustained a career ending injury? The answer is very!

[@SpotlessLeopard]

@@Eibarwoman Absolutely crazy. It's as if he's trying to get rid of money for some reason. I'm gonna tell him we share initials and ask if I've won a prize of a million pounds. If you don't ask, you don't get.

[@Eibarwoman]

@@SpotlessLeopard It's like he'd be the perfect candidate for an Ali Dia type scam with futsal players if one can find a Kerlon 2.0 if you know what I mean.

[@georgef822]

Todd Boehly this morning: "how to buy West Ham United".

[@unofficialninjago]

Crazy 💀

[@adambartlett6277]

400 million and our team is nowhere near as good as it was before Boehly arrived. The man is destroying my club

[@badblood4727]

400m? Double that and you have a group of individuals

[@mac_-mtlmcal]

Give it some time. You guys bought some fantastic players

[@kukunase1686]

@@mac_-mtlmcal lmao no thats not how it works. Poch is having issues Potter had. none of the signings are his. First have a plan then buy players like City do

[@mac_-mtlmcal]

True but there's to much talent there, it's a question of time@@kukunase1686

[@Thrill_Hou]

Apparently he was a spurs fan.

[@NerreraFightStories]

Chelsea remind me so strongly of United under Ed Woodward, throwing money at every problem with no coherent strategy and guys with no football knowledge having input on transfers (Boehly). Teams know as soon as Chelsea are interested they can tack on an extra 25m to the price. Seems to be producing similar results thus far, a complete mess.

[@munashemaurukira7086]

Wrong no5 the same thing you will see the difference in a few years

[@badblood4727]

​@munashemaurukira7086 yea the club won't exist because the sanctions will cripple them

[@shawklan27]

Yep

[@lukealvarez3744]

except Chelsea are performing championship level

[@konzza]

​@@munashemaurukira7086He is right. We'll see another transfer circus for 20 players coming and going at january and another half a billion spent.

[@dontmindme6995]

So basically Chelsea or Boehly rather thinks that spending that money is worth conceiding all those punishments because he doesn't think we are good anough at punishing to actually make these actions on the transfer market unprofitable for Chelsea. What a mad lad. But looking at how UEFA and the FA have dealt with Man City, he actually might be onto something

[@kingdaymon6433]

Honestly when has any team ever been punished for breaking the financial rules? They talk a big game and make threats and then the club sues them and gets everything overturned

[@pritapp788]

@@kingdaymon6433 haven't Juventus just been demoted to 7th place and banned from European football for that reason exactly? Arguably, there is no willingness in English football to go to such lengths and the biggest clubs are never seriously punished.

[@kingdaymon6433]

@@pritapp788 Juventus were legitimately breaking the law though that's why they managed to get those punishments to stick. What they were doing wasn't just against football guidelines. Chelsea aren't doing anything illegal per say.

[@marineboy1964]

There is no relegation in American football, baseball so a points deduction and relegation for Chelsea will put all there plans in the bin

[@AdminAbuse]

Their

[@aldobonaso3481]

I would laugh so hard if they failed so spectacularly that they got relegated 🤣🤣

[@marineboy1964]

@@davidmontgomery1442 a points deduction wouldn't have any affect on Chelsea? More money that sense ,a 11 point deduction last season and Chelsea would of been relegated to the championship

[@marineboy1964]

@@davidmontgomery1442 I understand your frustration with city over the last 20 years BUT Chelsea have took it to a whole new level a billion in 2 seasons , it's just ridiculous and there's probably more on the way

[@marineboy1964]

@@davidmontgomery1442 bohley did the same in American sport he over rapid spent and took the wrap and no relegation and ended up with one of the top teams LA Dodgers in baseball they was crap before he arrived

[@fanofeverything]

Roy Hodgson was quite a jump scare for me

[@freddiejohnson6137]

I look at it this way now. If a player exists Chelsea will attempt to sign them at some point now. Yes they will simply sign all of the players.

[@jade67891]

I find it very difficult to believe that Chelsea was planning all along to finish 12th past season (I know that's not what you're saying). Faced with this initial setback it would have been wise to review their initial plan (and if they did it means their initial plan was to spend even more this summer). It's hard to believe this won't end in a massive failure for them if the club doesn't perform above and beyond expectations.

[@Dude0000]

You’re just Jade.d.

[@jade67891]

@@Dude0000 and you're just Dude. What are we playing ?

[@Robi2009]

Maybe they thought it works like NBA in the US, where the lower you get in the league, the better young prospects you get 😅

[@memofromessex]

Maybe he wanted a better choice when the draft comes around?

[@Micfri300]

Getting rid of petr cech was the worst decision

[@joshmiller8264]

Alfie, I'm keen to know more about where the £4bn Chelsea money that the UK government has promised to donate to Ukraine has gone

[@MrAdamc81]

It'll be in a bank promised to Ukraine to rebuild the country after the war

[@spat3305]

In politicians pockets.

[@punkygardenparty2550]

I’m really curious to see what all this financial psychopathy means for Strasbourg (my club) who were just bought by Boehly’s group. I’m pretty terrified

[@Alfie_1]

American owners seem to view France as easy pickings, right now, still got three UCL spots, and several UEL and UECL spots, promotion and relegation, but with relegation, due to play offs, being slightly less easy, and then can raise money and value by investing in the clubs. Red Star, for instance, were bought by 777, as well as Strasbourg.

[@punkygardenparty2550]

@@Alfie_1 I’m kind of annoyed because as an American I wanted to be the one to buy Strasbourg when I inevitably get rich somehow. Now I’ll have to settle for buying SC Schiltigheim and operating it like a de facto Strasbourg B

[@graydenlee7558]

It's likely you become a testing ground for undeveloped emerging talent. Honestly if you look at it there isn't much down side as you'll likely be looking at more investment in faxilities than you had before and probably better football

[@punkygardenparty2550]

@@graydenlee7558 yeah on one hand I’m optimistic because already we’ve spent a ton compared to before (broke our transfer record twice this window) but City Football Group did something similar with Troyes and so far it’s not worked out well. Plus Strasbourg is a very well supported club so I’d be worried it could lose a part of its identity and in doing so alienate some of its fanbase

[@victorhino26]

If i have to guess,you're gonna get handful of loanees from Chelsea,hopefully free of wages since chelsea as the parent club could take care of that. or their fringe players could also join in. In the hopes of, if they did well, they could be sold for better price. other benefits include a first buy option,as in,Chelsea have the first chance to buy a star or key players that Strasbourg might find or nurture. Kinda similar to what they did with Vitesse Arnhem in Abramovich's era.

[@seandelap8587]

Chelsea actually make Man Utd look competent with their spending and that says an awful lot really

[@hair6789]

In terms of spending sure, but United couldn't sell water in a desert

[@maciejbala477]

not necessarily. It's still too early to see if they have truly failed with a transfer. Koulibaly was a dud but then they sold him for good money too. Aubameyang, sure, but he is already gone too. The rest can still come good in due time. I'll judge Chelsea transfers a few years from now. If they sell any for a significant loss, then it's a bad signing, but otherwise? Most of them are young and have long contracts and a lot of time to improve. The only really bad signing so far was Potter, who isn't a player

[@thuo1000]

Now people are going to understand that money doesn't guarantee you success if the owner, top management, the manager, and recruitment team have no idea what they are doing. Spending for the sake of it has more disadvantages than benefits. A team like Man City is filled with geniuses from top management (Khaldoon, Soriano, Txixi etc), the genius manager in Pep Guardiola and so forth. City have a structure that know what they want and how they are going to achieve those goals. Chelsea have the money but have no clue whatsoever.

[@Iamwhatyousayiam]

Wouldn't be the first time someone said this about Chelsea. Abramovic was the best owner in football history.

[@maciejbala477]

true, but they might be too big to fail and have success with it anyway. Abramovich also didn't know what he was doing a lot of the time and signed Drinkwater for 35mil, or many random players he never needed like Batshuayi or Baba Rahman (whose existence was forgotten instantly). Tons of other examples. It's not the best use of money and City nowadays are doing much better with it, but it can still work for the big clubs. It can easily fail for smaller ones, like Everton or Hertha, but the biggest ones? Even Barcelona still find ways to manage

[@karabomafa5609]

​@@IamwhatyousayiamSilvio Berlusconi was better than Roman.. But I get your point

[@pritapp788]

Money guarantees success if it's a lopsided league like France's: that is you have one club with lots of money and others with little, the one rich club almost automatically triumphs. In England all 20 are richly rewarded in TV rights, so as you say the organisation and quality of upper management makes the difference. Arsenal and Man United are 2 other clubs burning through money without going anywhere.

[@JasperVH]

I really wish FSG would just spend some money on the club for once

[@kukunase1686]

or maybe FSG doesnt want to be like Chelsea.. All liverpool needs is another CDM

[@depekthegreat359]

By the way,congratulations to your beloved Hull City for shocking Blackburn Rovers away by 2-1,good friend Alfie!!!🏋‍♂️

[@4ktbry383]

Chelsea strategy is either going to go very bad or very good no in between. Because yes they are spending money on young players with Potential but if they don’t mesh together and get good then this will seem like the stupidest thing the prem has seen in a long time honestly.

[@siler22]

Chelsea are playing without any courage,heart or pride, there are no players like Azpi who was a low fee signing but who played s decade,no Kante, Rudiger was also a player with lot of heart and emotions, beside Sterling and Silva i dont see one player understanding the club or the system that they are playing

[@bupemofyalongwanikunda3772]

They obviously miss Bramovic

[@Dude0000]

What’s a Bramovic?

[@d.n.tranger1457]

Abramovich

[@AdminAbuse]

Brahmin

[@nishant54]

​@@Dude0000Croatian phantom

[@user-sd7vn6ue3e]

Its like the rich kid just buys all the toys and after that will throw him away. And the rich kid somehow doesnt like strikers hahah

[@klauskleber9250]

I guess at the end of the day it's up to UEFA and the Premier League. If they do find that Chelsea willingly and grossly break all kinds of regulations, they can just relegate them. That would instantly kill this entire venture. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see how serious they are about these things.

[@albertbrammer9263]

100% what should happen.

[@mirzaabdurrehmanshakeel136]

​@@albertbrammer9263there is a loophole Someone uses that to Profit himself Let's punish him rather than correcting mistakes Yes Almost every major business company will be shut if this happens

[@boltobolt12]

They didn't even deduct a single point for the super league fiasco. No teams were banned from European competition by UEFA. A team getting relegated naturally is fine, but with enforced relegation of one of football's biggest brands and a team that will bring 10s of millions of views, or hundreds of millions a season, broadcasters would revolt - I would be surprised if there weren't terms in the contract with the premier league surrounding this. I'm fairly sure, unless there's match fixing involved (or other serious criminal acts punishable by a court of law), no major team which gives the premier league the value it has is being relegated forcefully.

[@pritapp788]

Did you see what happened in Italy last season? UEFA itself is toothless and more or less openly admits it now relies on domestic authorities' investigations to handle punishments to clubs that breach rules, e.g. Juventus. Now Italy has a sports justice system which fast tracks cases. England or Spain have no such system so you'll never see punishments being enforced.

[@someguynamedmike4766]

I find backing Kepa as his #1 to then easily let him leave on loan with no fixed transfer fee & not replace him with a top keeper but instead expect Sanchez, who isn't that good & can't get in the Spain team ahead of him, to be good enough as a #1 for a team that needs top 4 & to win something this season extremely strange, for all the big spending nothing on a World Class goalkeeper ie Mike Maignan or even Livakovic who ironically would be great value for money being under 30 million

[@PaulHattle]

You need some team spirit, Todd. Unfortunately you can't buy it.

[@ibrahimchowdhury9779]

Owning a football club sounds like a financial nightmare. 😅

[@MAVJ]

I feel like I only ever hear how much debt every club (not owned by oil tycoons) is in, and I just keep thinking the same thing 😂

[@josecipriano3048]

But it's great for money laundering.

[@kingdaymon6433]

Unless you own Liverpool, then you just sit back and get rich off it.

[@pritapp788]

A reasonable price to pay when you're on the run from your country's judiciary, like a certain Roman A... *coughs in Russian*

[@leopoopsonyou]

ur video essays are really good

[@SilliusSodus]

It’s so depressing watching my team (Chelsea) get slapped up. Worst of all almost ANY TEAM can do it.

[@gothicgolem2947]

It’s so weird we get good quality players a good manager spend loads of money and still lose. Football is weird

[@SilliusSodus]

@@gothicgolem2947 this could be Poch’s Spurs juju 😭😭

[@gothicgolem2947]

@@SilliusSodus oh no

[@davedraycott5779]

@@gothicgolem2947no, Boehly is ‘weird’ Chelsea is ‘weird.’

[@gothicgolem2947]

@@davedraycott5779 no Bohley is not weird he’s doing everything right he’s bought quality players a quality manager and spent lot of money. As for Chelsea we aren’t weird we just keep getting unlucky with injuries and just for some reason not performing. It is football that’s weird as by all metrics we should be doing well but we aren’t

[@thesmilingtitan]

This is how City differs from them. City invested in the infrastructure, the health care (City had the lowest absence due to injuries last season), their academy that allows them to sell players, the world class support staff. City has invested very strategically. And city get the slander of pay to win

[@Sidneeey]

You think Chelsea aren’t investing in their infrastructures?

[@pritapp788]

@@SidneeeyLook at the stadium to start with. It's ridiculously bad for a club of Chelsea's stature.

[@glowwurm9365]

Chelsea have one of the best training grounds in the world, our academy is widely regarded as the best in the world (easily the best in the PL given the sheer volume of players coming through it).

[@glowwurm9365]

@@pritapp788 This more to do with local health and safety regulations than any desire to not invest. Chelsea have been exploring options in light of the Chelsea Pitch Owners stipulations re a local location.

[@user-rn9co7jc4t]

Bullshit😂😂😂Chelsea already did that when Abramovich took over There is no difference

[@antony558]

This video was incredible! Your ability to teach some really complicated topics and simultaneously entertain means you consistently create some of the best football content on KZbin!

[@charanb5026]

FSG strategy is really impressive and could really be a case study for business students But for god's sake man...we need transfers this season😭

[@yungguattari4924]

As a Liverpool supporter I strongly disagree about FSG, I want them out of the club, LFC is not a brand! We won the CL and nobody was brought to the club, then since the last campaign they have been talking about a midfield rebuild ─and we had an injury crisis solved by Arthur Melo's loan (???!)─ just to later say that during this summer all tranfers were planned to be done before the league started and where are we now? Exactly as you said, "we need transfers this season" yet you're talking about a "really impressive" business strategy. About that, I can't say you're incorrect, shirts and merch sales are better than ever, however, what about... you know... THE ACTUAL FOOTBALL CLUB!? Meanwhile the only transfers that have been done this summer were the easiest possible transfers, anybody can trigger a realese clause and when negotiation has been needed what has happened? That's right, if there was a strategy that strategy has failed because FSG itself let us know that they wanted to get all deals done while the pre-season was going on. Such failure. Moreover, do not reply to me telling me that they gave us a league championship and european club glory, no, mate, that was Klopp and the lads in red, FSG has invested poorly and since Michael Andrews left they haven't be able to have a consistent sporting direction of the club: we have been through 4 temporary sporting directors in just a couple of years... where's the planning? where's the strategy?

[@nishidkhode8604]

​@@davidmontgomery1442as an lfc fan I agree. I'm ok with this model and fans on yt who think they know how to run a club are always complaining.

[@kingdaymon6433]

@@nishidkhode8604 I don't want us to start spending like chelsea or anything but I just want to see the team actually get better every year. Yeah we added Mac Allister and Szob who are going to be stars but we lost Fabinho, Firmino, Henderson, and a bunch more as well. FSG needs to start being competitive or else at some point this strategy is going to fail

[@zd2593]

What people often forget about about the sale to the Boehly led consortium is that Abramovich wanted assurances of further invesment by the Boehly group in to not just the team, but the club as a whole. The money spent on the transfers is part of that and that is to some extent (not completeley) part of the reasons why Chelsea are avoiding FFP punishment. The acquiring of Strasburg and maybe other teams in Portugal and Holland are also included in that further spending. There are clear plans for the redevelopment of the Bridge in a few years with the agreement in principle to buy a piece of land next to the stadium (Earl's Court). As far as the academy goes i honestly do not know how or what is going to be done and what is going on because since they bought the club the academy is seen as pure profit only. Do i like this strategy of this early heavy investment? I honestly don't think so. But at the same time when i look at their tenure with the L.A baseball team i can't help but feel hopeful because of their ambition and determination to bring the club back to where it belongs, among the best in Europe. Add the fact that they have acknowledged their mistakes since last summer (that being Todd putting himself as sporting director dispite not knowing the basics of the sport, which led to bad transfers, the disaster sacking of TT and the Potter apointment, it goes on and on..) and hired experienced personnel to take care of the football side of running a club. Idk man some of you might say i have Chelsea bias but i want this to work so badly that that my brain has been programmed to only have faith in the project and let them do their job. Sry for the long read btw.

[@SaintCashel]

I feel the same way. I have more faith because I have listened to the interviews from Boehly, and they have huge ambitions for the club and want the youth to have a pathway to the first team, and this investment in youth is a step in that direction. Maybe the academy is seen as pure profit currently but I believe in the next few seasons we'll see academy products become regulars in the first team. They'll have a conveyor belt of talent at the club and will be assured by their youth.

[@Andremarkjohnson]

@zd2593. If the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge was straightforward, Roman would have done it a long time ago. The Chelsea Pitch Owners Association have a great deal of influence on the subject. Likewise the surrounding local residents, council and central government. With today's interest rates and because you're in Central London, this will be a few billion. This is the biggest challenge in my opinion.

[@nitro300]

Here's the thing why did he get rid of the minds he already at Chelsea? They knew what they were doing and who to get to help the team.

[@Bilegagn]

Todd Boehly is NOT spending massively, $1.5 billion was set aside in the sale from Roman per the agreement to invest in players. Another condition was that no buyer will be allowed to take money out of the club for the next 10 years and thereby the long contracts for the players. Clearlake Capital can only take money out of the club after 10 years and if the players gel very well with their 8-9 year contracts, the club will be very very rich and they can sell it or pull money out of it like the Glazers

[@mismisimognomo101]

AYYYY, HITC early gang, we here. Love you brother, lately your content has been the best stuff to watch while chilling, i've learn so much from the videos and your takes are always W's, thank you for bringing a fresh perspective and always having in mind the politics that goes with it while being objective and grounded ! 🖤

[@kaldkun]

stfu, he made no sense

[@giteausuperstar]

So Chelsea’s new midfield trio cost £280m…for context, the Saudis paid £300m for Newcastle!!

[@dinglshingle]

chelsea is not done spending yet

[@luccass6793]

I would love to see Chelsea have another trophyless season and no European qualification, at some point they must start to struggle with FFP, even with up to 8 year contracts the 3 year period already gets over 300mi spending from the last 3 windows, while some deadweight is still draining salary budget

[@zacsayer1818]

You deserve more likes than I can provide, bravo my friend! Bravo!

[@jeremyforbes5244]

I also think one thing that was not mentioned here is the fact that Boehly wants to build Chelsea a stadium as good as any itw. Thats likely several billion dollars in costs and maybe the idea is to spend big now on young players so they wont need to invest as much when spending on the stadium later this decade. Also there is always the possibility of outside investment if they need it (they are already looking according to reports). The Glazers for example are only selling Man United as they could not secure the outside investment needed for a new stadium.

[@GG-gt5ot]

To build a new stadium he will find an implacable foe, London nimbies.

[@untitleddocument4197]

@@GG-gt5ot and the Chelsea Pitch Owners, who actually own the stadium and the name of the club

[@asm7406]

​@@GG-gt5otaré you silly?

[@asm7406]

spend in pounds

[@badasstasticusbadass4908]

I am pretty sure that Chelsea this season will shut all mouths and proove all their haters wrong when they qualify to the Conference League.

[@ThreeRunHomer]

😆 Best comment. 🥇

[@rishisahgal4529]

Big gamble

[@enffootballlab2022]

Is it written off as a business expense

[@klauskleber9250]

That Roy Hodgson clip blew out my eardrums

[@geordiedog1749]

I was just about to rage type “No!They (hedge funds) are all he same” but then you clarified it nicely.

[@rangersking6699]

What’s funny about this model is that if strasbourg ever make it to Europe, uefa will ban transfers between them and Chelsea like they did with Milan and Toulouse under redbird(who were never trying to transfer players between the two anyway, the investments in the clubs were parallel outside of using their data company). Strasbourg as a result might be headed the way of Troyes if they aren’t careful about how they deliberately don’t want to win too much or lose too much.

[@AdminAbuse]

Question regarding this, doesn't RB Salzburg and Leipzig do exactly that? Transfering players from one to another

[@NEELZE99]

​@@AdminAbuseyeah, but _officially_ , they don't have any relations.

[@rangersking6699]

@@AdminAbuse Ah yes but you see, Salzburg managed to avoid this through machinations that are extremely complicated and basically mean that on paper, Salzburg are not owned by RB, even though they basically are.

[@kingdaymon6433]

Yeah but at this rate Strasbourg is going to make it to Europe before Chelsea does😂

[@rangersking6699]

@@kingdaymon6433 if strasbourg ever does

[@charlesclinton3305]

Thanks for including the Dodgers/Chelsea analogy, it really drove the point home for me. For Blues fan there are some really bad signs if things go in that direction, just look up Trevor Bauer.

[@Eibarwoman]

Or Carl Crawford being paid $21.5 million a year to not play for the Dodgers. Which is a mind boggling amount of money for a guy to be paid to not play for a team.

[@deborahluck539]

Hope you have many followers as you are incredible ❤

[@dc9847]

Boehly might have zero ball knowledge but he’s 100% right about Europeans being bad at marketing and business. There’s no way the NFL should have higher revenue than the prem. The pl just look like marketing geniuses comapared to other top european league because the other leagues are embarrassing

[@the1HLT]

I would say that the theories and information put forward in this video are crucial to the conversation about Chelsea and their spending. Yet, I haven't seen any other media outlets mention anything about this, and usually they seem content with only counting the total amount spent and laughing at Chelsea's failures on the sporting side of things. Why is that? Anyways, very interesting video! 👌

[@reecesmit2097]

Can you do a video talking about the spainish womens football team and the controversy surrounding the manager and staff

[@denyrachmatramdhanynew2894]

For me, Todd Boehly was the culprit behind Chelsea's downturn in the 2022-23 season which made the Blues fail to complete in European competition since the 2015-16 season. This 2023-24 season, Todd has once again seen Chelsea's poor performance under the new coach, Mauricio Pochettino. He accidentally burned a lot of money just to buy a lot of top players. You name it, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Mykhaylo Mudryk, etc. Maybe Chelsea feel ready to face the transition from a team that many other club fans laugh at to a club that has returned to normal. However, it seems their transition is not going well.

[@trippdavidson8174]

I loathe chelsea but I wouldn’t be so quick to write this season off. They were good in their first game and I think the young squad they have now could work now that poch has gotten rid of a lot of the deadwood. A lot of similarities to his early days with spurs except a much bigger budget.

[@Fmfcg]

I don't understand Chelsea fans because they welcome every signing with open arms but then blame bad recruitment 2 months later

[@zerofox641]

@@trippdavidson8174​​⁠idk to me this feels more like Poch’s time at PSG. Lots of big names and fees, but no one is being bought with the system in mind. Granted a few of those big signings happened before Poch got there. Hopefully he’s given enough time to make things work but seeing as it’s Chelsea, probably not. As a Spurs and Argentina fan, I’ve got such mixed feelings. I don’t want Chelsea to do well but I still have a soft spot for Poch

[@middler5]

​@@zerofox641Are we sure? I presume they're using data and will aim it towards going and buying every youngster who fits certain profiles linked to the manager's preferences.

[@lorddarlo6194]

He appointed Poch to get them success I assume yet signs more youth players. If he was logical he would ask Ok Mr Pochettino you have been here for 3 weeks you have got to know the squad what do you need to improve who do you not want. Say Poch says I need a Striker I have let's say Harry Kane in Mind I need a Midfielder I have say Slojzbai in mind and We need a new keeper I would quiet like Maignan or Onana if possible please. Bohely would be like sure we will try. Instead I doubt Poch wants any of the players they are signing neither did Tuchel they sacked him and I doubt Potter wanted as many as he got is pheasible Potter wanted Young Uns like he had at Brighton but then no doubt they will sack Poch buy a shed load more players and bring in say The Dortmund Manager sack him as yet again he has more new players to many to get to know and see if he can gel and even ask to loan out and then he gets sacked. If he actually tried to involve the Managers for Youth players ie we have this goal for the Club who do you want for your team which youth would you like to work with and so on. Let's say Poch says Jude Bellingham or Musiala please Bohely could be like OK yeah sure. Half of the players he has signed I have never heard of Murdyk, Jackson so I know Enzo, Sterling, Fofana, Sanchez, Cuceralla, Caiceido and so on. But who are the others

[@davidpyott3710]

Very interesting Did you study economics? I really like your videos that discuss finance, politics, human rights etc. You don't mince your words unlike other sports broadcasters who rarely mention uncomfortable subjects. Please do more like that. The football is interesting but not as interesting as the aforementioned topics. Thanks for the fantastic content.

[@larsonawitz]

Alfie. I think we need to have a chat about how money and its place in society. You make a considerable amount of content on finances of football clubs so I thought it might be something you would be interested in. You knowing how it works under the surface from the inside would be a real eye opener.

[@AdminAbuse]

"about how money and its place..." Okay dude, form a proper sentence first

[@larsonawitz]

You forgot the period at the end of your proper sentence. @@AdminAbuse

[@rodditorium8543]

the "shaw" thing got me good lmao

[@drs-xj3pb]

Almost as good as "what's more" with Duncan Watmore.

[@windofhorus666]

Jesus I think that Roy Hodson cutaway burst a few ear drums!

[@niallowens6312]

Too much praise for Elliott management, the decisive factor in Milan winning the Scudetto and qualifying for the CL was Ibra. They blocked his signing a year before but finally gave in after the Bergamo huiliation. How badly the team is playing this year despite the summer transfer and how they're begging him to take a directors role is telling.

[@johnnymoi1227]

ngl the intro was class hahahhaha

[@beatenbytheclown]

Wouldn’t surprise me if there was some sort of footballing equivalent of Brewster’s Millions going on here.

[@santosh92]

Guys he is in 15th place they are pretty closw to making the playoffs

[@GG-gt5ot]

About that signing duds on long contracts, they are on track.

[@MaceWinduDuHuen]

4:24 i love that a lot

[@poliver1980]

Is my laptop speaker that's the problem or your microphone?

[@cbarclay99]

Alfie failed to mention the European Super League. It's possible that Boehly and Co are banking on an American style league with no relegation and want to make sure that Chelsea are a member. That would certainly increase revenue and Chelsea's valuation. Having little knowledge of the history of British football, they may be unaware as to how little legacy Chelsea had before the Russian millions arrived.

[@pritapp788]

I think of that too. More and more Americans are buying football clubs not just in England but across Europe (and the crash of the GBP engineered by Liz Truss has made British assets even cheaper to buy for Americans tycoons). Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool - the big 4 of the 2000s - but also Lyon, Roma and AC Milan are all owned by Americans. The day these owners decide to join forces to form a lucrative closed shop league, not even the threat of sanctions will be able to deter them. They'll operate entirely outside the UEFA-Premier League ecosystem and be happy to rely on other sources of funding.

[@dinglshingle]

@@pritapp788 this should be upvoted

[@kieronparr3403]

Isn't there a clause if they build a new stadium?

[@RebelRebelious]

As Tony Bloom gets a notification and his eyes light up $$$$$$$$

[@Asshat237]

16:30 wow. Boehly has a point that the premier league has potential for increasing revenue. That point about the NFL having triple the revenue with 5% of the fanbase is kind of crazy.

[@Moinul987]

We spent all that money, just to have the same end result as last year

[@louisjagger2177]

Was starting to boggle at Alfie's financial literacy, and then noticed 'The Reluctant Investor' in his alt channel description. Alfie 4 Chancellor

[@glowwurm9365]

The clubs owned by a private equity firm, it could provide the financing itself (that's how private equity works) should it wish too which would not incur any interest obligations. In fact having the financing in place to develop the ground was one of the conditions of sale so I assume that money is already available. Having checked there is a provision for a further $1.75 billion to be invested into the club in the form of ground development and player acquisition, this formed part of the total investment of $5 billion. Estimates are that the wage budget was reduced by £120 million per annum this year. The basic wages on offer are lower, a lot lower, meaning over the 5 year period Chelsea will save an estimated £600 million on wages alone. This isn't to say 8 year contracts aren't risky, but at the same time not all of these players will be duds and not all of them are subject to vastly inflated wages. So whilst it may prove difficult to offload some of them, there not on £300k per week. There is a method to the madness, and i suspect they are only to aware of the risks (risk management being key for private equity firms). But from a personal perspective i'm far more comfortable with there model than the ones being deployed at Liverpool or United.

[@robertpelzer5041]

hakim ziyech is a stark warning for every footballer

[@kingdaymon6433]

One of my favorite players of all time to watch and he just got thrown on the bench for years and then shipped out to Turkey. This man lead Morocco to the semifinals of the world cup and that still wasn't enough for him to get a real shot at Chelsea. They just threw him in at the 70th minute and if he didn't score a goal or get an assist in those 20 minutes it was back to the bench for another month or 2

[@SamButler22]

It's got to be that they're anticipating a European Super League revival, or a Premier League flix. Either of which would send the value rocketing

[@kadirkaita4862]

Another certified Alfie banger

[@MrReese]

Still hoping for that Austrian Wunderteam video 😇✌.

[@tomojevdenic996]

thats funny you mention Hansjörg Wyss my Father works in this Company since 91 so you know where im from :)

[@paulgilliland2992]

Liverpool seems like such a bargain today . Smart businessman is John Henry.

[@deborahluck539]

DAMN, YOU ARE THE BEST! I NEVER MISS YOU❤

[@davidpalin1790]

Well said Roy Hodgson 😅😅😅😅

[@nicocorbo4153]

the reluctant investor with another banger !

[@cyn1clcynide]

I think what Chelsea are gambling on is that these young talents would go on to become world class talents, who could then be sold off at a decent rate. Thing is though, Chelsea have been a results oriented business for the last 20 years, and bad results usually gets the manager booted off, giving the players no time to gel. Whether or not the players become elite then, remains to be seen. Though I suppose the Saudis would salivate at the prospect of buying off any young, promising talent, so Chelsea must have that as a back up plan.

[@rishisahgal4529]

Maybe, but that doesn't explain purchases like Mudryk...

[@kingdaymon6433]

But how do these young talents become world class when theres 8 players fighting for 1 position. All I see is a bunch of Hakim Ziyechs and Christian Pulisics who waste their prime years sitting on the bench. Chelsea at one point had Ziyech, Pulisic, Hudson Odoi, Werner, Havertz, and Mason Mount all fighting for the same 3 positions on the field, is it any wonder that they have all left now?

[@rishisahgal4529]

@@kingdaymon6433 true to an extent but when you're playing 60 odd games a season you'd probably need at least 5 ... unfortunately for Puli, he got injured quite a bit early on and seemed like a guy who was a bit of a streaky player...which is tough when there is competition. Odoi had chances but just never seemed to be able to recover the confidence after his injury...sucks because he has the underlying talent. Ziyech turned out to be a much more limited player than we thought... amazing left foot but just not versatile and mobile enough in the 3 man attacking system. Werner was just not that good...he had loads of time to prove himself so can't blame game time...he just wasn't as good as we thought...loads of pace, hard working, but wasteful and poor decision making. Mount is definitely unfortunate...he definitely suffered from the instability at the club...a more stable club would have allowed him to play through his dip in form.

[@semjonbart5371]

I guess they are planning long term and try to bind young talented players as long as possible to the club to create the ultimate team with a few years developement

[@user-cm2ge4fp3e]

The harmony of the team and club is ruined by their spending, the club is actually worse off since the sale, THATS the biggest problem

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

Disgusting what they did to the original owner

[@SKa-tt9nm]

The original owner? The one from 1920??

[@stopspyingonme9210]

They also have commercials every 15 seconds in the nfl and sell $15 beers 3 hours before the stadiums even open and most public transportation sucks so people can’t just hit a pub and take a short train ride to the stadium it’s an entire day thing

[@ph2il]

brilliant take from 4:08-4:38

[@stephentyas4698]

and they ain't even got a shirt sponsor.

[@RomaInvicta202]

But Nerflix IS profitable, they also lost over a million subscribers last year - if that is example Chelsea follows I'm not sure if that's a good idea

[@markpotter544]

Now if spending was done on good players i would have thought differently, like if they bought mbappe abd Bellingham, if there is no success on the field then you can grow revenue

[@bernhardsonn8996]

5:08 what is that xs

[@nicholascombe806]

When Chelsea was near bankrupt! & we all laughed Ken Bates bought us for a £1 & the, rest is history! You, build a Squad before Stadium Totty's 😅

[@rupamaditya0]

Day (lost count +10): The despicable despotic president of Bangladesh Football Federation

[@deecunningham9719]

the broadcasting rights are also based primarily on affluent fan markets though too? so they aren't going to grow the profitability in less affluent markets only in more affluent ones. this hypothesis appears to be missing some detail. I don't disapprove of your skepticism of the theories behind the TB approach overall tho. not a chelsea fan. *I wouldn't compare anything to the NFL though as it is quite unique in all aspects including the fact that NFL match going fans may be more affluent but not the entire viewership, which can be done in groups privately or at businesses. That statement was misleading.

[@jggonzalez6299]

Frank McCourt used to be the Dodgers owner and let me tell you this Marseille not in a good situation

[@rishisahgal4529]

As a Chelsea fan this whole thing concerns me. I dont think they really have a grasp of it. Spending yhat much money on mostly very promising but unproven players makes little sense.. .its hard to recoup money if you spend 80+ mil for a player ...so if you do spend it, it should be for proven talent

[@skrrttz]

He can't take money out the club until 2030. Part of the deal with government and roman.

[@Jack-uv2wh]

They will have a hard time recreating what they've done in the US because they're all franchises. Over there money from TV rights is always increasing and financial penalties are very manageable and no relegation of any kind. Expansion with new franchises have to be confirmed with the owners so they pretty much have a license to print money.

[@SKa-tt9nm]

None of those differences matter as long as Chelsea don’t get relegated.

[@Jack-uv2wh]

@@SKa-tt9nm another season or two without European football could spell disaster. Or if a couple of these players on 8 year contracts turn out to be flops and they can't get a good return. Or if FFP actually penalises them. So many ways this can end in tears. If was a Chelsea fan I'd be shitting it.

[@seandelap8587]

Never has a team spent so much money and still look so awful as Chelsea do its embarrassing actually just how ineffective they appear despite this sort of investment

[@zetineb88]

They’re good

[@danpalmer9600]

Brilliant video ty great research and Chelsea owners don't care about the club hope the prem league does give them sporting penalties

[@markwillis2800]

Chelsea have got their version of Tony Fernandes.

[@kth6736]

Ofc Bohley bough Chelsea at a massive discount. So he has plenty of money left over to blow on transfers. He bought an asset worth £4bn for just £2.2bn.

[@Drunken_Master]

Chelsea is not worth 4 billion, even with the billion he just pumped in the club. It may be valued at 4 billon, but it's not worth that much. Worth and valuation are not the same.

[@gregoryatkinson9461]

Chelsea was bought for over £4bn , look it up