If Chelsea fans have been wondering why their football club has been pretty slow in the summer transfer window compared to their rivals, well now we know.
The club announced today that chairman Bruce Buck will leave the club and new owner Todd Boehly will be the person who will take his position at the club. The statement read, “Chelsea Football Club today announced that Bruce Buck, who has served as Chairman since 2003, will be stepping down from his role effective 30 June. He will continue to support the Club as a Senior Advisor. During Buck’s chairmanship, Chelsea solidified its position as one of the world’s elite football clubs and a globally recognized brand followed by millions. In that time, the men’s team earned 18 major trophies (more than any other English club) while Chelsea FC Women won 12 major trophies.
“The club also grew its commercial revenues significantly, established world class training facilities at Cobham, and developed one of the best youth academies in football. In 2010, Buck, as Trustee and Chairman, helped establish The Chelsea FC Foundation, which supports a broad range of initiatives including increasing access to youth athletics, hosting education and employment programs, and leading anti-discrimination campaigns.”
But interestingly a few hours after this announcement, the Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph has claimed that the club’s director Marina Granovskaia will also leave the club. The 47-year-old Russian-Canadian business executive is currently serving as the director of the club ever since Michael Emenalo left the club back in 2014. Should the club announce Granovskaia’s departure before the end of the summer transfer window, Todd Boehly will not only take on the chairmanship but also lead over the transfer negotiations which Marina had been in charge of during the reign of Roman Abramovich. Her departure will mark the end of Roman’s entourage with chief executive Guy Laurence already leaving the club.
These events have led to the question being raised of the club’s technical and performance advisor Petr Cech’s future. The Chelsea legend was instantly offered a position by Marina Granovskaia after bringing an end to his illustrious career with a spell at Arsenal. It is said that the club’s new owners are ready to accept whatever decision the 124-capped Czech international makes.
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WHAT HAS MARINA ACHIEVED DURING HER TIME AT THE CLUB?
Granovskaia was effectively running the day-to-day operations of the club for Roman Abramovich after the UK government had blacklisted the oligarch. The club’s website itself says, (she has) “acted as a representative of the owner at the club and in support of the board of directors” since 2010.
Having joined the club in 2013, she had led the club to plenty of silverware during her time at the club and was named ‘Best Club Director in European football’ at the Italian-run Golden Boy awards.
WHAT COULD THIS MEAN FOR CHELSEA’S SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW?
Multiple reports have reported that it is the American who has now been handling the transfers at Chelsea with Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan being discussed via video conferencing. Head coach Thomas Tuchel has been given the full authority to make the transfer decisions at the club this time.
The Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over the club for a reported £4.25 billion ($5.2bn) now have to start the search for a new sporting director to take over from Marina with Atletico Madrid’s Andrea Berta being strongly linked to the job.
