However, there have recently been signs that the new owners may actually have a method to the madness of their unprecedented transfer strategy.
Despite this, Chelsea’s operations have not deterred fan optimism. Studying sports betting behaviour on the UK’s best betting sites, which are featured on a leading sports betting comparison website, shows us the short odds on most Chelsea games.
Fans and sports bettors have been willing to back them to win the Premier League title, although they have yet to deliver a winning return under the current owners, and their inconsistent form sees them languishing sixth in the Premier League.
With that in mind, read on as we assess whether Chelsea’s economic strategy is sustainable and if its delivering the desired results.
BlueCo Continued Chelsea’s Free-Spending Legacy on a Much Bigger Scale
When Roman Abramovich left Chelsea in 2022, it marked the end of an incredibly successful era in the club’s history, leaving BlueCo with big boots to fill.
While their ownership has produced two trophies, the hallmark of their early spell has been dominated by ridiculous spending. They have done so at a much larger scale than Abramovich.
He paid for Chelsea largely out of his own pocket and was willing to cover losses without worrying about the club’s long-term financial sustainability.
BlueCo came in with a different style but were just as ambitious. However, they have struggled to achieve stability on the football side. Current manager Liam Rosenior is the fifth permanent boss to work under BlueCo since the takeover.
Chelsea have only finished as high as fourth place under the new ownership, but their spending and economic strategy are still the envy of many clubs across Europe.
The Billion-Pound Spending Spree
Chelsea’s spending under BlueCo is unprecedented in football history, completely taking the Premier League and the entire world by storm.
The club spent £1.297 billion on permanent signings between July 2022 and June 2024. No club in football history has ever moved at this scale, in this timeframe.
Chelsea’s strategy focused on signing young, talented players from around the world and tying them to ridiculously lengthy contracts. The idea was to spread their transfer fee over several years on the club’s accounts, making the annual cost look like a fraction of their initial investment.
The players became valuable assets that could either develop into world beaters or be sold later for profit. This strategy helped Chelsea assemble the most expensive squad ever.
Chelsea’s squad was worth over £1.4bn by the end of the 2023/24 campaign, £300 million more than Manchester City, who were previously considered the Premier League’s biggest spenders.
Their approach helped them pay more than £100m each for Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez without breaching the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
This did not sit well with their Premier League rivals, and the loophole was subsequently closed.
Using Creative Accounting to Comply with Financial Rules
PSR was designed to prevent big clubs from flexing their financial muscles, but the Blues found loopholes that allowed them get around it.
They sold the Chelsea women’s team for £200m to a sister company within the same ownership. That was after selling several properties to themselves, which generated a £76.5m profit in 2022/23.
Combined with previous sales of hotel and club property, Chelsea booked more than £275m in profits by basically doing business with themselves. It was a clear attempt to sidestep PSR limits, but Chelsea were not breaking any rules, so there wasn’t much that could be done to stop them.
Chelsea insisted that the sale of the women’s team was about repositioning it as a standalone asset, but the reason didn’t make a difference. What mattered economically was that Premier League rules allowed such transactions to count until that loophole was also closed.
The club’s smart accounting has left them in a ridiculously strong position PSR-wise. By conservative estimates, the club could lose up to £300m in a single season and still remain compliant.
That kind of headroom is unheard of at the elite level and gives Chelsea freedom to continue spending while their rivals struggle to keep up.
The Cost of Instability
Despite significantly lowering their wage structure, Chelsea are still one of the Premier League’s highest payers. That is the cost of instability on the field.
The club spent £338m on staff costs alone, which is only slightly higher than what it was during the Abramovic era. Around £250m of that total is used to pay wages alone.
Chelsea’s wage-to-revenue ratio has dropped to around 70 percent, but they are still worse off than many of their rivals, mainly due to missing out on Champions League income.
The managerial sacking spree hasn’t helped either. Chelsea have spent around £129m on sacking managers since 2008. There have already been five permanent managers under BlueCo, with the cost of removing Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino running into tens of millions.
While BlueCo is still striving to achieve sporting and financial stability, Chelsea’s losses are not threatening the ownership model, as the owners have invested nearly £800m in the club over just two seasons.