Sports
Storm Gathers At Chelsea As Co-Owners Feud
Chairman Todd Boehly and majority owners Clearlake Capital are both prepared to take full control of the club.
Boehly has gradually lost power despite being named co-controlling owner after the club’s purchase from Roman Abramovich for £2.5billion in July 2022, with Clearlake, which owns a 61.5per cent stake, in primary control at Stamford Bridge.
Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali has become the most hands-on figure within the ownership group since Boehly stepped down as interim sporting director in January 2023.
Multiple figures in the senior hierarchy now recognise there is a rift between two main blocs, Clearlake and the group allied to Boehly, including billionaire partners Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter, which owns the other 38.5% of the club.
Any rift has previously been denied by sources at the club.
Clearlake does not want to sell any of its stake in the club and is open to expanding it.
But Boehly also wants to buy out that stake and is keen to see the situation resolved quickly.
The two parties have matching rights and blocking options, should third parties come to the table.
The issue has been kept from most involved in the sporting side of the club, but some senior figures believe work on revamping or moving stadium has slowed due to the situation.
As part of a written agreement, the chairman will change every five years, which is due to see Boehly step down in 2027.
Clearlake would need to approve any sale of Boehly’s shares to a third party.
Since the 2022 takeover, Chelsea have spent over £1billion on new signings and were criticised for hoarding players during the summer transfer window, with 42 senior players on the books at one point, although that number was cut to 36.
Current manager Enzo Maresca was hired from Leicester in July to replace Mauricio Pochettino, who left Stamford Bridge after only one season in charge.
Pochettino, who departed by mutual consent, was the latest boss to leave under the new owners, who had previously sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor