sheikh

[Bobby F. 🍁 @bobbyfairview]

Dear @ebehdad

RE: The Conflict of Perverse Incentives

I want to be fair to you. You had less than a month to structure a complex billion pound transaction, so some mistakes were always going to happen. But the mistake I’m describing isn’t an execution error. It’s a conceptual flaw baked into the deal from day one, and it has permanently poisoned your strategic position.

You built a structure with three stakeholder groups, and you only have a fiduciary duty to one of them. That was always going to end badly. Let me explain why.

A man came to you and said he had £300m and wanted to buy a business for £4.2bn. Two of his mates would chip in £300m each. You lent him the rest. To their credit, they’ve been matching cash calls ever since. But here is what you actually agreed to: you needed Boehly’s money, which meant Boehly got something in return. What he got was influence over the sporting operation. And the first thing he did with it was sack Thomas Tuchel so he could have his dressing room access.

That decision, made to protect your financial relationship with a co-investor who couldn’t actually afford the asset, is what set everything else in motion.

Roman left you a blueprint. He won trophies, built a global brand, and maintained a fair value that always exceeded his cost basis. Central to that was Cobham. Fans across England sing “he’s one of our own” for a reason. That bond between a club and its homegrown players is not sentiment. It is enterprise value. You dismantled it. You sold the graduates and killed the pipeline, not because it made sporting sense, but because your financial model required short term asset monetisation over long term brand construction.

You have now spent more on transfers than any ownership group in the history of football. Chelsea are currently 9th. Below Brentford. Below Brighton. That is the sporting output of your model, and those fans who sang “he’s one of our own” have noticed.

Here is where your conceptual flaw becomes permanent. Boehly has £100m of interest accrued and payable to Ares. You have at least £600m sitting in the Cayman Islands, accruing and payable to COP III. Across the group the interest bill is approaching £400m this year. That means you have no choice but to run this club for one purpose: to make debt service payments. Managing a football club to pay interest has never worked in the history of this game unless you’re Manchester United. Your problem is that you don’t have their revenues. So you are flipping players to fund cash flow.

There will be no properly experienced signings. No manager with real authority. No trophies. You’re caught in a sell-to-buy death spiral and fans have worked out exactly what is happening.

If you’ve made it this far in my letter, this is the part I’d encourage you to sit up and focus on. You need the fans more than they need you. Every day more of them are learning what this structure actually means for the club they love, and they are making a rational decision: do not buy the brand of an owner who is just here to pay interest.

Your perverse incentive is to balance the books, manage the asset, and extract the best possible valuation before the debt matures. Their perverse incentive is to make sure you never get there, because the only exit that actually serves their interests is Ares foreclosing and forcing a sale to someone who can run this club properly.

Think about what that means. The fans who generate the revenue you need to service your debt are now rationally incentivised to undermine that revenue.

You created a structure where your key stakeholder group is rooting for your creditor to take the club from you. That is not a communication problem or a PR problem. It is a structural conflict with no resolution inside your current ownership model.

I’m not sure what the long term prognosis is for a business in that position. But I think you already know.

Yours truly,

bf

[Chels HQ @Chels_HQ]

Clearlake may not be accepting new Google reviews, but a little bird told us Guggenheim Partners and Eldridge Industries would definitely like to hear from you.

[ChelsTransfer @ChelsTransfer]

🚨 “We’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep going until these unworthy custodians are out of this football club.”

(@NotAProjectCFC via @TheAthleticFC)

[George Benson @MrGeorgeBenson]

The facts are Chels and Strasbourg fans showed up in serious numbers today. Then we saw the exact reason why the protest existed for 90 minutes! It needs to continue. Blue Co Out! Great job @NotAProjectCFC

[ChelsTransfer @ChelsTransfer]

“You greedy bastards, get OUT of our club”

“You’re NOT wanted here”

(🎥 via @MrDomSmith)

[Conn @ConnCFC]

#BlueCoOut

[Vᴅʏᴋ @VdykCFC]

Today feels like we’re one step closer to Clearlake/Eghbali selling the club

#EghbaliOUT
#ClearlakeOUT
#BlueCoOUT
#WinstanleyOUT
#StewartOUT

Don’t give up people, we WILL win in the end. Keep letting your voices be heard🗣️

[Younes H-Hamou @youneshhamou_]

STRASBOURG ULTRAS REP EXPOSES BLUECO & EXPLAINS JOINING CHELSEA PROTEST:

https://t.co/1WeVOlDfh0

Many thanks to @mineralsfc for hopping on and Alex for explaining all on the Strasbourg end and what BlueCo have done to them. Also many thanks to all four Strasbourg fan groups taking part in the #BlueCoOut protest on 18th April!

@UltraBoys90
@fsrcs
@Kopcieletblanc
@PariserSection

[Rubin Weston @RubinWeston]

It’s about a lot more results. It’s the disrespect to Cobham, it’s the briefings against players, it’s Vivid Seats, it’s the celebration of mediocrity, it’s the Bomb Squad, it’s the commoditisation of footballers. It’s BLUECO OUT. Their values do not align with the fanbase.

[Johnny Minerals @mineralsfc]

PROOF THAT BLUECO CAN SELL CHELSEA!!! w/ @youneshhamou_ | https://t.co/A6K5f3t1q4

[Younes H-Hamou @youneshhamou_]

BlueCo can sell Chelsea. Pass it on and let's get things going as a fanbase. No excuses. Enough is enough. Many thanks for the collab on this @mineralsfc #BlueCoOut
https://t.co/DXpegJhGZa

[Frank Khalid OBE @FrankKhalidUK]

This project is going nowhere and I just don’t understand why the owners can t see this.

[Dev ☆☆ @devsbluearmy]

Get these clowns out now!

Parasites

[Just Talk Chelsea @JustTalkChelsea]

It’s time to intensify the protest this week 🔥�

[Bridgways. @Bridgways]

I’m done for the season. See you next season.

🤡

[Futebol Chelsea @FutebolChelsea]

GET OUT OF OUR CLUB @ebehdad @paulwinstanley9 @Loz_Stew

[Chels HQ @Chels_HQ]

All everyone needs to be doing for the rest of the season is spread the message and join the protest to get these disgusting rats out of our football club. They have completely destroyed us.

#BlueCoOUT

[MOSS 🗿 @blavkmoss]

#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea
#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea
#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea
#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea
#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea
#stopbuyingticketstowatchchelsea

Please help me retweet 😭😭😭 enough is enough

[Conn @ConnCFC]

Struggling for top 5, getting embarrassed in the Champions League, getting bullied in the domestic cup by Arsenal. What’s happened to this club man. Each year that passes, the more of a joke we become

[Frank Khalid OBE @FrankKhalidUK]

These owners are a joke, we could have had Luis Enrique as our manager but decided to pick yes men.