Chelsea hasn’t felt so distant from fans since electric fences were mooted, Todd Boehly has done an impressively bad job
IT IS small beer to billionaires like Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
Understandably, the price of a pint at Chelsea, the cost of a coach to Bramall Lane or admission to a youth game won’t even register in the big men’s bank balances.
But when you run an English football club, even if you don’t know what’s of value to the fans, you should make sure there are people nearby that do.
Boehly and his sidekick are clearly failing in this regard and have scored an own goal just as spectacular as that from defender Axel Disasi against Leicester on Sunday.
The letter from Chelsea Supporters’ Trust to the chairman and his co-owner was not your usual fed-up fan rant.
It may have been a devastating four-page assassination job on Boehly and Eghbali’s entire regime.
But did you notice how little griping was aimed at some of the abject football played by a massively overpriced and underachieving bunch of players?
What two hard-nosed American financiers make of being warned about the “irreversible toxicity, almost irrespective of results on the pitch” in a withering assault on their ability to run a Premier League club would be a joy to know.
Way to go, boys.
It takes some doing to p*** off the normally mild-mannered CST, an elected group of diehards ranging from mid-20s to retirement age and made up of largely professional people.
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To them and many others who devote themselves to the pursuit of Chelsea FC, it is not all about silverware — contrary to outside perception.
There are some at Stamford Bridge with a sense of entitlement after so many years of winning trophies.
But to most, it is a cult, a religion, a devotion. It’s about belonging and feeling part of it. Like at other clubs, win or lose.
The price of a pint, a hot dog, a matchday programme, a season ticket or away travel may seem insignificant to those spending £1billion on a development squad.
But it means a lot to the fans who were there before and will be there long after Boehly and his pals from Clearlake Capital have cleared off.
And they don’t take kindly to being blanked either. The owners of Chelsea have predictably missed the point when it comes to the fan base.
Next month’s game at Sheffield United is on Sunday, April 7.
Kick-off is at 5.30pm because of the city’s half-marathon earlier that day. There is also a train strike.
Yet the away end at Bramall Lane will be full. Just like it was on Christmas Eve at Wolves.
A friend paid £600 on the black market for two tickets to see Chelsea the day before New Year’s Eve.
He still hasn’t told his missus the true cost.
He was at Middlesbrough when a pathetic Chelsea lost 1-0 in a midweek Carabao Cup semi-final.
Chelsea have been awful most of this season and last. Yet my friend will still go.
So will thousands of others who just want to feel part of the team, even a losing one.
The perceived lack of communication from the owners is seen as a rejection of worth.
The CST points to a disconnect between club and supporters not seen since the early 1980s.
That was when then chairman Ken Bates tried to electrify the fences surrounding the pitch to thwart the hooligans in The Shed.
With crowd numbers on the slide at Stamford Bridge as a result of Boehly and Behdad’s detached, lofty air, they may have to do the same again — only now to keep the fans in.