Chelsea co-owner Behdad Egbali said the club would begin signing “ready-to-play” players and revealed that the departure of former head coach Enzo Maresca was “not the change we wanted”.
Egbali, co-founder of Clearlake Capital, the majority shareholder in Bruco, the consortium that bought Chelsea, and the owner of Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, gave a rare interview about a range of issues at the club, including head coach Liam Rosenior.
Chelsea are in danger of not qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a four-point difference from fifth-place Liverpool. They have won only one of their last seven league games, losing the last three, and Rosenior was unable to cheer the club up after Maresca’s sudden departure on New Year’s Day.
Chelsea co-owner Behdad Egbari
“Our policy is not to change (head coaches) during the season,” Egbali said Thursday at the CAA World Sports Conference in Los Angeles. “Certainly the responsibility of not only the coach but also the management team and the sports team is considered and questioned, but this is usually done in the summer rather than during the season.
“This is not the change we wanted (Enzo Maresca’s departure). It’s a change that had a bit of a negative impact on the season, changing systems and personnel, and it’s a change that we have to fight to overcome.”
“There are still six games left in the Premier League and we have the FA Cup semi-final coming up, so I hope the story of this season hasn’t been written yet, but there’s a lot to fight for. The way I see it, if you get punched in the face you have to fight back, you have to stand up and fight. And that will say a lot about the character of this team.”
“I think the point of view is stability. Frankly, getting that stability on the manager’s side is one of the things we haven’t gotten right yet and it’s something we’re trying to improve on.”
Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior (left) and Behada Egbali
Mr. Egbali supported Mr. Rosenior and brought him success.
“With Liam (Rosenia), I’ve had the opportunity to work with him every day for over 18 months, so I knew what I was getting,” he added.
“We think he has all the qualities to be successful here. He’s made a great start. The last five or six games have been tough, but I don’t think he’s as good as Liam. Of course results are important, but we believe he can be successful in the long term.”
Egbali also spoke about the club’s youth-oriented transfer policy and promised further experience.
“Frankly, the idea was to recruit and develop elite players who can be cohesive and consistent within the team. We’re still in the 40-50 minute stage of that process,” he said.
“But the idea was to keep some of the best players in the world, sign them, retain them, compensate them, extend them, and ultimately the idea was that you need eight, 10, 12, 15 elite players to win every year and win sustainably.
“I think we did some things right, I think we did a lot of things right. We need to improve on some things in order to add more established players in this part of the project and take it to the next level and be consistent over the long term.”
Chelsea co-owner Behdad Egbali and chairman Todd Boley
Some Chelsea supporters plan to meet Strasbourg fans and demonstrate against the owners before Saturday night’s home game against Manchester United.
Egbali insisted that Bruco is fully committed to improving its ownership strategy and is focused on delivering the biggest trophies in line with Chelsea’s approach under former owner Roman Abramovich.
Egbali said: “We care about our fans. We want the club to succeed. We are focused on performing on the pitch.”
“Six months ago, I think everyone was very happy. We’ve had mixed results, we’ve had some disappointing results recently. We’re fully reflecting on what we can improve on, what we can do better. We have a plan. We reflect on the plan. We try to improve the plan, and if it doesn’t work, we tweak the plan. The message is we’re committed.”
“Can you be successful without winning? The answer is no. You have to win. And that doesn’t mean winning every game, it doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes, it doesn’t mean you don’t have slumps, but ultimately the goal, especially for a club like Chelsea, is you have to win, you have to win trophies and you have to win consistently.
“I was lucky enough to do that last year. This year has had its ups and downs, but the goal remains the same.”
