William Gallas pulled no punches in his assessment of Todd Boehly’s first year as owner of Chelsea, claiming the “arrogant” American owes the fans an apology after a “big mess” of a season.
Boehly took over from Roman Abramovich towards the end of last season, has spent £600m on new players and has already had four managers in charge in his short time at the club.
Chelsea currently sit 12th in the Premier League having finished third under Thomas Tuchel last term, and Gallas says it’s clear Boehly had no “clear strategy” when he arrived at the club.
Gallas told Genting Casino: “He has to come out and give the fans a mea culpa, hold his hands up and admit that he has made errors. Him and the board have made so many mistakes. We judge them on their results, exactly the same as players and managers. People will always judge you on your performance. The owner hasn’t performed at the required level for a big club like Chelsea.
“It’s simple. The owners didn’t know what they were doing, and they came into the season without a strategy, without a plan. I’ve said this throughout the season: Todd Boehly doesn’t have a clear strategy.
“This season has been a big mess. Yes, they’ve bought many players and spent a lot of money, but some of these players don’t have the required quality to play for Chelsea. Don’t forget that Chelsea over the last few years have been one of the best clubs in Europe. What we’ve seen this season has been so far from that level.
“I don’t think that many of the players they have signed have the required quality to wear the Chelsea shirt. That is why I am disappointed about the players they signed – they signed a lot of average players.”
Gallas is particularly irked by to openly criticise the players.
He added: “As an owner, that is one thing that you must never do. You can’t go into the dressing room and start shouting at players or criticising players. The only people that should be allowed to be critical of the players in the dressing room is the manager and maybe the Sporting Director.
“As I said, I think Boehly came into Chelsea with an arrogant approach. Maybe the owners in America do this; maybe they go into the dressing room and criticise the players. Todd, you’re not in America anymore. This is the UK; this is a different culture. This is not how owners behave in this country. English sport is completely different to the USA.
“He needs to be patient. Take a look around and understand the culture here. Just because you bought the club doesn’t give you the right to enter the dressing room and undermine the players and the manager. Just because you spent millions of pounds on players doesn’t mean that you can do what you want.
“Perhaps going into the dressing room, speaking to the players like this surprised some of them. I played at the top level for almost twenty years and not once in my career did an owner come into the dressing room and criticise the players.”
When Man Utd look a whole lot more sensible than you, you know things are messy. Chelsea fans will wish they got Sir Jim Ratcliffe, not Todd Boehly.
We’ve added four more Todd Boehly mistakes since the last update two weeks ago. Busy boy. Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix make the cut.
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