The protest plans of Chelsea fans have been gaining momentum due to the accusations of the club’s supporters, who claimed that the ownership of the club does not meet the required standards after another turbulent period. The protest has been arranged after the increasing anger over the leadership and the club’s direction.
The Report reported that the demonstration will be organized by a supporter group named Not a Project CFC, before the next home league match of Chelsea, on January 17. The move comes after the resignation of their coach, Enzo Maresca, a move which, according to proponents, revealed more structural issues.
Participants in the planning believe the model of ownership that is being created by Todd Boehly and the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, Behdad Eghbali, is more focused on long-term trading rather than on short-term competitiveness. They state that Chelsea has been used as a developmental project as opposed to being an elite club that can play at the highest level.
The primary complaint is managerial instability, where the number of head coaches hired in three seasons is several, and the sporting strategy has not been very consistent. Advocates think the departure of Maresca occurred due to a failure of the relationship with the board and may not entirely be because of on-field reasons, which still raises concerns about the issue of internal decision-making.
Fans, who were part of the protest by the fans of Chelsea, have also given heavy criticism of the recruitment policy, including the use of a youth-based transfer strategy. Although this has largely been in terms of investment, critics believe that the strategy has created an unequal team with no experience at critical times of the year.
The issues go beyond the football issues to control and responsibility in the chain of command. The protest group has demanded greater accountability in the boardroom as well as termination of what they term as over-micromanagement of football activities.
On the field, Chelsea are now in 5th position in the Premier League table despite the claimed transfer expenditure of over 1.2 billion since the ownership acquisition. Fans are concerned that the club might have to put up with a third season without any qualification to the Champions League, and this is something that is deemed unacceptable on the basis of the amount of money invested.
Monetary issues have also enhanced the tension with fans referring to the issue of league financial regulations and the increased price of match tickets. These problems have led to the move to hold the protest by the Chelsea fans as a form of protest by the masses.
The demonstration will most likely occur on January 17 when Chelsea are expected to play Brentford at Stamford Bridge. The club hierarchy has not openly reacted to the intended protest, but the incident is bound to highlight the growing distance between the supporters and ownership.
