Boelhy faces huge FAN REVOLT over £65m purchase

Robin Bairner

• 23 Jun 2023 10:44 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has not had his problems to seek since taking charge of the Stamford Bridge club, with the Blues finishing in the lower half of the Premier League table after his first season in charge, despite a record transfer spend.

This has not put the American and his partners Clearlake Capital off expanding their reach to create a footballing empire, with a move to takeover Ligue 1 side Strasbourg for £65 million having been completed under the banner of BlueCo.

The deal, though, has not been greeted with any cheer by the Alsace club, despite president Marc Keller doing his best to quell fan anger.

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Towards the end of the Ligue 1 season, as rumours of Chelsea’s effective takeover grew, Strasbourg’s Ultra Boys 90 to protest during the club’s fixtures, with banners such as: ‘Boehly not welcome’ displayed by supporters.

It led to the ultra group releasing a statement in May: “The persistent rumours that have appeared in several media in recent days are of great concern to us. Let's not cut corners: if Racing were to be sold to a person who already owns one or more other football clubs, we would fight it with all our might.”

Their fears are well-founded. Manchester City-owned Troyes were relegated to Ligue 2 after a poor campaign, while Toulouse may be blocked from playing in Europe after winning the Coupe de France due to their association with Red Bird, which owns AC Milan and a small stake in Liverpool.

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Will Strasbourg raid Chelsea?

Strasbourg, meanwhile, are insistent that they are separate entity from Chelsea.

“We have the same shareholder, but we will be sister clubs with separate management,” Keller told L’Equipe. “There are several types of multi-club models, are is a growing phenomenon, with eight Ligue 1 clubs having foreign investors. We see that Red Bull with Leipzig and Salzburg is doing a good job. Others have chosen to aggregate around 10 clubs, this is not BlueCo's model.”

Strasbourg, meanwhile, have said they don’t plan a raid on Chelsea.

“That’s not our project,” Keller continued. “We’ll meet with the sporting sector to define our objectives. We’ll have more funds to be more ambitious. Recruitment chief Loic Desire will be able to discuss the players who could interest us. But they also have to want to come here.”

This is unlikely to appease Strasbourg fans, who are furious with the Boehly and Clearlake takeover.

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