Marina Granovskaia to leave Chelsea, Todd Boehly named Chairman and interim Sporting Director
It’s been overdue for a couple of days now since the initial news had emerged, but Chelsea have now officially confirmed in an official statement that director Marina Granovskaia will be stepping away from her responsibilities.
Chelsea’s new co-owner Todd Boehly has been named as interim sporting director until a permanent appointment is made, whilst Granovskaia will remain available if and when necessary to ensure a smooth transition of power.
Boehly has also been named as the club’s new Chairman, a role left vacant following the departure of long-time chair Bruce Buck. The new members of the restructured Chelsea board are as follows: (Credit to the official Chelsea website for the list)
• Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, co-controlling owners of Chelsea FC, and co-founders and managing partners of Clearlake Capital
• Mark Walter, co-owner of Chelsea FC, co-founder and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, owner of Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Sparks
• Hansjörg Wyss, co-owner of Chelsea FC, founder of the Wyss Foundation
• Jonathan Goldstein, co-owner of Chelsea FC, co-founder and CEO of Cain International
• Barbara Charone, director and co-founder of MBC PR
• Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, columnist and former executive editor of The Times
• James Pade, partner and managing director of Clearlake Capital
Granovskaia joined Chelsea in 2010 before joining the Blues board in 2013. She has been a trusted confidante to former owner Roman Abramovich and has built quite the reputation of being a tough negotiator.
Often dubbed “The Iron Lady” by sporting executives who have dealt with her, Granovskaia’s tenure at Chelsea has largely been successful. The Blues have won every possible trophy available during her reign as Director, but some failed high-profile signings over the years have cast doubt too.
Chelsea can now focus on things that need more attention
It seems that Todd Boehly and co. are in no mood to waste any time laying the new foundations of the club, and that’s understandable.
It is also refreshing to see that head coach Thomas Tuchel will have more of a say in transfers and will work closely with Boehly during the transfer window, as previously claimed by The Telegraph’s Matt Law (Subscription Required).
An agreement is also in place for the loan exit of Romelu Lukaku. As expected, the dust is settling on the chaos and finally, at long last, Chelsea can get back to business. Hopefully, this is the start of something good.
Piece by piece, we are seeing remnants of the Roman Abramovich era leave Chelsea. It is important that everything is in order by the start of next season. The last campaign felt wasted because of injuries and off-field issues regarding ownership.
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Now, it is time to make the most of the foundation we have created under Tuchel and properly challenge Manchester City and Liverpool. There is still a long time left in this window, and hopefully, the new personnel are up for the job.