Babylon's Burning
Following a run of five consecutive defeats in the Premier League, when they haven’t even scored a goal, Chelsea have “a mountain to climb” to qualify for the Champions League, according to their head coach, Liam Rosenior.
As a result of the current slump, they have dropped down to seventh position with only the top five gaining a guaranteed spot in UEFA’s most lucrative tournament, though another place might become available if Aston Villa win the Europa League (and finish fifth).
Managerial Changes
Rosenior, who has been given the unflattering nickname of “LinkedIn Liam”, replaced Enzo Maresca in January after the Italian “parted company” with the club. This decision came as a surprise to many fans and indeed the players.
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella said, “If you asked me, I would not have made this decision. The instability around the club comes from this.”
There have been a succession of managers since the arrival of the consortium led by Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly, who acquired the club in May 2022 after Roman Abramovich was forced to sell his stake after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Thomas Tuchel was dismissed in September that year, when he was replaced by Graham Potter, but the Englishman was shown the door after only seven months. He was succeeded by his former assistant Bruno Saltor for one game, before the caretaker made way for the return of the prodigal son in the shape of “Super” Frank Lampard until the end of the season.
Next up was former Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, but he left the club by mutual consent after just one year in charge, making way for Maresca, who had led Leicester City to the EFL Championship title.
Eghbali admitted, “Frankly, getting that stability on the manager side is one of the things we haven’t done right yet, and it’s something we’re striving to improve on.”
2024/25 Season
Chelsea did pretty well on the pitch last season, as they won two trophies. They hammered Real Betis 4-1 to win the Conference League, while they also won the inaugural, expanded version of the FIFA Club World Cup, surprisingly defeating Paris Saint-German 3-0 in a tactical masterclass.
Importantly, they also finished fourth in the league, which was enough to return them to the Champions League. On the other hand, they were eliminated in the fourth round of both domestic cups, losing to Brighton in the FA Cup and Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup.
In addition, Chelsea’s women’s team won the Women’s Super League for the sixth time in a row, adding the FA Cup and League Cup to the trophy cabinet in a triumphant first season for French coach Sonia Bompastor. They also reached the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League for the third consecutive year.
Profit/(Loss) 2024/25
However, things looked a lot less rosy off the pitch, as Chelsea swung from a £128m pre-tax profit to an almost unbelievable £262m loss, an incredible deterioration in the bottom line of £392m.
The main driver was the £198m profit from the sale of the women’s team reported the previous season, though there was also a steep reduction in profit on player sales, which dropped £94m from £152m to £58m.
In addition, the club booked £50m of exceptional items to cover “legal and regulatory matters”.
This meant that the vast majority of the year-on-year decline was due to once-off factors, but Chelsea’s underlying figures were also a fair bit worse, as the operating loss widened from £213m to £258m.
Revenue rose £23m (5%) from £468m to £491m, but this was more than offset by higher costs, as operating expenses rose £67m (10%) from £682m to £749m. Net interest payable was virtually unchanged at £9m.
The principal reason for Chelsea’s revenue growth was broadcasting, which rose £40m (25%) from £163m to £203m, mainly due to the victories in the Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup. Match day was also up £7m (8%) from £80m to £87m.
On the other hand, commercial fell £24m (11%) from £225m to £201m, as the lack of a shirt sponsor continued to bite.
Chelsea’s staff costs increased, as wages rose £21m (6%) from £338m to £359m, while player amortisation climbed £22m (12%) from £190m to £212m and they booked £12m player impairment.
In addition, other operating expenses were up, rising £13m (9%) from £139m to £152m.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea’s £262m loss was the largest in the Premier League by a country mile, more than twice as much as Tottenham £121m and West Ham £104m.