Is the Chelsea 'project' stuck?
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Why did Clearlake Capital take full control of Chelsea and buy Todd Boehly’s stake?
The athletic FC. Welcome to the Athletic FC Podcast with me, Kate Mason. Clear Lake Capital have taken full control of Chelsea, purchasing Top Bowley's minority stake. So today we're asking why Bowley's four-year affiliation with the club has come to an end and what it means for the Chelsea project. It is Thursday on the Athletic FC, so we're joined as ever by the big hitters. In studio, I have former England goalkeeper Rob Green.
Hello.
Hello. And our senior news and investigations reporter Matt Slater.
Hi, how are you?
Nice to see you. And on screen as well, we have our Chelsea correspondent Liam Toomey. Hello, Liam.
Thanks for having me.
Any time and specifically this time because we are talking Chelsea. Uh Toboli's affiliation with the club comes to an end after four years. His stake has been purchased. He will leave his role as chairman. Clear Lake has also purchased a stake belonging to Mark Walter, who co owns MLB side Los Angeles Dodgers with Boley Matt. Did this news come as a surprise to you, or from what you've seen, has Clay Lake always indicated their plans to take full control?
It's a little bit of both. So so so no, not sorry, not a surprise, and I'll I'll get to that in a bit. And it's yes to the second half of your question. So but with the confusion that for a while there was this dance as that Bowley might buy Clearlake out. So do you remember they bought this together? Clearlake about sixty one percent. Mark Walter, Todd Bowley, and Hans Jorgweiss, they're sort of Swiss Spillionaire buddy, they bought the rest as a sort of like the the three of those guys bought just under forty percent. So sixty forty split. And they pretty soon fell out. You know, Bowley was the front man, despite only owning just under thirteen percent himself. Body was very much the front man. It took us a while, I think, to realise that that actually the real money was clear lake, as in they put the most in.
But anyway, so we we worked that out over time. And they fell out. Bowley and Clear Lakes, Bayette Egg Bali, just you know, there there was a Chelsea's only big enough for the one of them. Only one of them could be sporting director. Although, of course, they then confused it by hiring five sporting directors. But anyway, so for a while it was like, well, who's gonna buy who out? And there was a little bit kind of, you know, well I'm gonna buy you out. No you're not, I'm gonna buy you out. And then then it was sort of like, Okay, well these we' we we're just gonna get on, right? Because maybe we just stick to the plan, right?
Wait, so is that posturing? Is it the Spider Man meme or is it Is it a Spider-Man meme?
A little bit, a little bit. Uh I I know Liam was sort of in the middle of it. You know, all the Chelsea Beat reporters were very much in the middle of it for a while. So anyway, so that so things settled down last year, and we sort of think, well, do you know what? These two probably are going to sort of see this out because You know, to take one of the other one to take the other out would cost an awful lot of money and clearly they're not gonna like play ball, they're gonna like you know, there's there's there's they're just gonna have to get on. Anyway, we then get to the first bit of your question. Yeah. So brief history on Mart Walter. I promise it'd be brief. A fellow from Iowa, you know, a finance guy, very, very shy, doesn't sort of say a great deal.
In the 80s and 90s, he he was one of the first to work out there was quite a lot of value in insurance companies, which have previously been very unsexy, boring things to invest in. I'm talking about the, you know, life insurance, college insurance. car insurance, these American state level businesses that would kick out very small profits, so therefore not attracting, you know, the mergers and acquisitions guys. You know, that's boring. That's these are these are like mum and pop type companies. He realized, you know what, this is really steady money here. So he starts buying them. Then he realizes something else. And this this goes into the naughty.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Clearlake Capital take full control of Chelsea and buy Todd Boehly’s stake?
0:01–3:56
2
How did the partnership between Todd Boehly, Mark Walter and Clearlake break down?
3:56–8:47
3
What does the £5 billion valuation tell us about Chelsea’s enterprise value?
8:47–14:57
4
How did Matt Slater explain the debt‑laden financial structure of the club?
14:57–18:47
5
What is the current status of Chelsea’s stalled stadium project?
18:47–25:14
6
How are the ownership tensions affecting the players and fan base?
25:14–29:00
7
What are the prospects for Clear Lake’s long‑term plan for Chelsea?
29:00–34:37
8
What are the key takeaways and next steps as the episode wraps up?
34:37–41:18
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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