Chelsea ownership and supporters will confront each other this weekend as a sizeable protest, involving both Chelsea and Strasbourg fans, targets the group led by Clearlake Capital\u2019s Behdad Eghbali. The demonstrations have crystallised around transfer policy, managerial changes and the club\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the fans, we care,\u201d Eghbali stressed. \u201cWe want the club to be successful. We\u2019re focused on delivering that on-pitch performance.\u201d He acknowledged widespread criticism of a recruitment model that prioritises young, high-potential signings over experienced senior players, and accepted that adjustments are needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a full reflection on what we can do better, what we can improve on,\u201d Eghbali acknowledged. \u201cThere is a plan. We reflect on the plan. We try to improve the plan and tweak the plan if it\u2019s not working. The message is we\u2019re committed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve done a few things right, a lot of things right. We\u2019ve got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take [it] to the next level, to be consistent over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize we need balance. We have world champions, we have Champions League winners, we have elite, elite young players. Experience has developed now. The team has been together for two or three years. The objective is to keep your best players, and we\u2019ve done that, and there\u2019s no intention to rebuild every three or four years. You tweak a model, you improve, you learn from mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fan unrest accelerated after the January departure of Enzo Maresca. The sacking followed a reported breakdown in his relationship with those above him and prompted open criticism from some players and a vocal response in the stands, with Eghbali\u2019s name frequently sung alongside calls for the return of the previous owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur policy has been no in-season changes,\u201d Eghbali confessed. \u201cYou certainly review and hold not only the manager, but the management team, the sporting team, accountable, but typically in the summers, not in season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a change we wanted to make. It\u2019s a change that had a bit of a negative impact in the season, when you\u2019re changing systems and personnel, and it\u2019s one we\u2019ve got to fight our way out of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have six matches in the Premier League, and an FA Cup semifinal coming up. So hopefully the story of this season hasn\u2019t been written yet, and you\u2019ve got a lot to fight for. In my perspective, when you get punched in the face, you\u2019ve got to fight back, you\u2019ve got to stand up and fight. And it\u2019s going to hopefully show a lot about the character of this squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the perspective is stability, and frankly, getting that stability on the manager side is one of the things we haven\u2019t done right yet, and it\u2019s something we\u2019re striving to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam Rosenior, who replaced Maresca, has divided opinion. Eghbali defended him: \u201cOn Liam, we had the opportunity to work with him daily for 18-plus months, so we knew what we were getting,\u201d Eghbali continued. \u201cWe think he has every attribute to be successful here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got off to a great start. We\u2019ve had a tough past five, six matches, but I think we\u2019re behind Liam. Of course, it\u2019s a results business, but we think he can be successful long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
The summer will also bring questions over Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez after pro-Real Madrid interviews during the international break. Eghbali did not answer specifics but signalled Fern\u00e1ndez remains central to the club\u2019s plans. \u201cOur goal is to have elite, elite players on the pitch, elite characters off the pitch that our fans can bond with, that will be at the club, that will be club legends for the next 10 or 15 years and beyond,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eghbali responds to fan unrest, outlines recruitment tweaks, defends Rosenior and backs Fern\u00e1ndez…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,1383,969],"tags":[1505,1162,1530],"class_list":["post-12083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-chelsea-news","category-premier-league","tag-accountability","tag-analytics","tag-caretaker-manager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}