Todd Boehly exits Chelsea diminished after having his fingers burned

Todd Boehly has not had any real control over the daily running of Chelsea since his failed attempt to get involved in the transfer market. Four years on, the American leaves football as a much smaller figure, along with his fellow investor Mark Walter. The main point is that little will change in the Stamford Bridge boardroom just because Boehly has left.

Clearlake Capital, the US private equity firm founded by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, was already the majority owner and guiding force. The trio of Boehly, Walter and the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss had an equal share of a 38.5% stake but have drifted into irrelevance since the BlueCo consortium bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich for £2.5bn in 2022.

Related: Boehly and Walter sell Chelsea shares as Clearlake Capital takes full control of club

Clearlake, with Eghbali taking a prominent role, called the shots long before Wednesday night’s confirmation that it has full control after buying out Boehly and Walter.

This split has been in the works for a while. It is two years since cracks within the ownership group spilled into public. There was talk of Boehly losing faith in his working relationship with Clearlake. Boehly wanted a resolution. People close to Boehly said he had investors ready to provide capital for a full takeover, although that drew eye-rolling from Clearlake.

Its response was to think about buying out Boehly. Clearlake also suggested that Boehly step down as chair and accept changes to how the club is run. Under this plan, the billionaire would keep little more than a ceremonial role.

There was clearly no goodwill between them, but neither side showed signs of moving right away. A truce followed, and Clearlake continued on its path. Eghbali has a lot of influence. Only in the past year have Chelsea fans, unhappy with the club's struggles since the Abramovich era ended, really begun to focus their criticism on Clearlake.

Feliciano recently became an investor in the San Diego Padres, a Major League Baseball team. He tends to stay out of the public eye. Eghbali is more often seen in public. Earlier this year, some fans repeatedly directed abusive chants at him.

There was a time when Boehly was the public face of the takeover. Clearlake stayed in the background and watched when Boehly made himself the interim sporting director after key staff left following Abramovich’s departure. He thought it would not be too hard. It turned out to be quite hard. Boehly drew a lot of public attention and was often in the spotlight. Agents found him friendly, but they wondered if he really understood football.

Some people felt that Boehly's lack of experience could be taken advantage of. Chelsea ended up spending about £300 million on a group of players who did not fit well together. The signing of Raheem Sterling on a contract worth £325,000 a week became an example of a deal that went wrong. Chelsea struggled to recover from the cost of these failures. The feeling of disorder grew when Thomas Tuchel was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter at the start of the 2022-23 season.

Boehly has since explained that he signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton because he heard Manchester City wanted the Spain left-back. There is probably more to being a good sporting director than just copying what a rival club does.

Boehly made costly mistakes. He became a figure people joked about, seen as the symbol of Chelsea's overspending. He also made himself unpopular more widely when he casually asked at a business conference why the Premier League had no All-Star game. He predicted Chelsea would beat Real Madrid 3-0 before a Champions League quarter-final in 2023, and that prediction went badly wrong, as expected.

Reports say Boehly never planned to be this involved. He always meant to step back once experts were in place. Chelsea's strategy has clearly changed since that first transfer window. They went from having one interim sporting director to appointing five permanent ones: Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Sam Jewell, Joe Shields and Dave Fallows. They have given out long contracts with bonuses and have focused on signing young players.

Eghbali has led the plan. It has not always gone smoothly. Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League only once under this ownership. Managers have come and gone. People close to Clearlake say important lessons have been learned this year. Last summer's transfer business was better. Chelsea hired a serious manager, Xabi Alonso, and signed experienced players.

Boehly has kept his distance and watched from the side. Talk about buyouts went quiet until this past summer. Reports say the trigger was Walter trying to sell off assets to deal with financial problems in the US. The clear sign came when he sold his stake in the LA Lakers.

Reports say Boehly and Walter made a small profit on their investment in Chelsea. Jonathan Goldstein, who is close to Boehly, has also left the board. Wyss has put money into a Clearlake fund and has not left the club.

Little will change. Day-to-day operations, leadership and strategy remain the same. The big issue is the stadium question. The exit of Boehly and Walter could lead to movement.

The Guardian first reported in September 2024 that Chelsea were in talks over leaving Stamford Bridge for Earls Court. The Earls Court Development Committee’s separate proposal for the site has not progressed since receiving planning permission. Chelsea’s interest remains, although they have not ruled out finding a way to make the more complicated plan of redeveloping Stamford Bridge work.

Whatever happens will take place without Boehly. Eghbali and Feliciano said in their statement that Boehly “will always be a part of the Chelsea story and family”.

That was a generous take.