Pride and Prejudice at the Bridge: How to Destroy an English Football Club in 12 months.

The term ‘organizational transformation’ has become popular in the modern-day business lexicon. No shortage of individuals and businesses tout their unique abilities to revitalize a failing business and breathe new life into a stagnant employee base. Most adverts highlight dramatic success stories of down-and-out organizations being resurrected from despair to reach previously unattained levels of profitability and employee satisfaction (and retention). However, what is the organizational transformation model for businesses that are already very successful but undergo an unexpected change in leadership? Rarely addressed, this niche market needs more data points to identify the best strategies to employ in such a scenario. Examining the most successful football clubs in the world, we analyze a catastrophic organizational transformation design that reduced an organization at the pinnacle of accomplishments to a current state of disaster and dismay. We start in West London amid the all-persuasive culture of English Football.

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The Chelsea Football Club, aka "The Blues," is a long-time member of English Football, dating back to 1905. By all accounts, it is considered one of the most successful football clubs in England and throughout Europe, supported by millions of loyal fans spanning the globe. In 2021, Chelsea reached the pinnacle of European Football, winning the UEFA European Champions League trophy. Rivaling (and, according to some, surpassing) the World Cup in prestige and competition on a national scale, this tournament pits the best teams of various European leagues against each other. With a demanding owner, a talented manager, and a well-constructed and complementary (though not overly talented)?assortment of players, underdog Chelsea prevailed against favorite Manchester City in the finale to claim its prize.

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Unfortunately for the loyal supporters of the Blues, the cheers of victory and the vision of continued success with the current incarnation soon succumbed to unexpected geopolitical issues. Russia's invasion of Ukraine shed an international spotlight on Russian oligarchs connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin. One such figure was Roman Abramovich, the long-time owner of Chelsea. For 19 years, Abramovich oversaw a winning enterprise at Stamford Bridge, the home venue of Chelsea, known by Chelsea supporters (and detractors) as "The Bridge." Eager to win at (almost) all costs, Abramovich was unafraid to spend lavishly on players he felt could produce a winner; he was also unapologetically fierce in replacing managers he felt no longer fit for the task. While player signings and managerial decisions retained a spotty track record, the run of success Abramovich enjoyed is difficult to diminish. Abramovich was unafraid to change course drastically and rapidly in his dogged and unrelenting pursuit of victory. Trophies often found their final resting place at the Bridge, courtesy of victory in national and international competitions.

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Nevertheless, Abramovich's relations with Putin proved to be a bridge too far for the mercurial Chelsea owner within the context of the bloodbath in Ukraine. The end came quickly, to varying levels of surprise. The war in Ukraine started on February 2, 2022; six days later, Abramovich handed over the stewardship of Chelsea to its charitable foundation. On March 2, he confirmed he was selling the club due to the conflict in Ukraine. Unsurprisingly, numerous suitors quickly vied for Chelsea ownership. Eventually, American billionaire Todd Boehly led a group of investors who purchased Chelsea for $5.25 billion in May 2022. Boehly was no stranger to owning high-profile professional sports organizations; he was a member of the group that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball in 2012 for $2 billion. He reached the pinnacle of MLB ownership in 2020, as the Dodgers won the World Series. When discussing his sports investment philosophy, he touts the structural advantage of high-revenue organizations such as the Dodgers and Chelsea while maintaining that a super customer experience can be a win-win for both the fan and the owner. From this base, reach, revenue, and rewards can grow. Chelsea's 2022 season schedule ended on May 28, three weeks after Boehly assumed ownership. With such a condensed timeframe and few data points, his first full year at the Bridge offers a much better evidentiary set to analyze. Hopes were high that Boehly and his ownership team could help Chelsea return to the form that had the Blues win Europe's most coveted prize a mere year and a half ago.

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As we enter the final quarter of the EPL 2003 season, few (if any) knowledgeable football observers could categorize the Blues' season as anything other than disastrous. Chelsea, a usual fixture among the top clubs in the league, find themselves in the 11th spot (out of 20 clubs), eliminating them from international competition next year, which requires a top 5 finish. A review of Boehly's tenure reveals clear-cut missteps that have led to the current debacle. In his efforts to transform the Chelsea organization, how specifically did the club arrive at its current state of affairs?

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An element of organizational transformation that is often problematic is new leadership. Boehly inherited a manager and a roster fresh off a string of victories under a former boss removed for non-football-related reasoning. Inexplicably, this fact has been lost on the part of Boehly. Instead, he approached Chelsea Football as an organization that enjoyed "structural advantages" (i.e., an enormous budget and a fiercely loyal worldwide fanbase) but was underperforming. Even a casual English football fan would recognize this was not the case with Chelsea; how Boehly and his team came to this conclusion is nearly inexplicable but, perhaps upon further review, predictable. Boehly has had tremendous success in his personal and professional life. From his business earnings which created his billionaire wealth, to his ownership of the Dodgers, which produced a championship in 2020, he created and has elaborated to many about his "system" for organizational design, management, and leadership. Success created confidence in this system that flew in the face of facts on the ground. Moreover, the facts were daunting; Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is widely considered one of the best in the world, taking two different clubs to consecutive UEFA Champions League finals, an accomplishment buttressed by multiple domestic-level club championships as well. It appeared early that Tuchel was not Boehly's "guy." Later media reports confirmed that the owner and manager were not on the same page. Most concerning was disagreement on the strategy and vision going forward, as later claimed by Boehly. Whether a different strategy and vision or a preference for a personally selected manager personally, plus accompanying poor results on the pitch, led to the dismissal of Tuchel. Allegations have also surfaced that there were non-football reasons for the dismissal. Either way, Boehly made his decision. Boehly then hired Graham Potter, a reasonably successful manager with a reputation for working with developing players and smaller-budget clubs, exactly what Chelsea is not.

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Before and especially after sacking the manager, Boehly targeted the roster, still littered with players instrumental in obtaining the trophies visible during guided tours at the Bridge. With little to no experience in the EPL, Boehly led the way in obtaining a bevy of high-priced players. In total, 17 players were acquired for over half a billion dollars. While rugged and dependable players that were vital cogs of championship-winning teams were either benched or allowed to leave for other clubs, huge sums went to promising but relatively young players with little experience. Further complicating the impending 5-alarm fire at the Bridge was the lack of a coherent vision for what the Chelsea product would look like on the pitch. The sum of players represented a cobbled-together conglomeration of parts that do not fit together. Instead of complementary pieces assembled to execute a pre-determined vision, Boehly ditched hardworking team players for an all-star type of team that seems allergic to consistent effort. Potter tried valiantly to use different combinations and find the right mix, but inevitably he could not, leading to his dismissal. Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, a former Blues manager whose tenure was particularly unsuccessful, was hired to serve as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season. More of a public relations move than a commitment to better the squad, Chelsea players responded to the new leadership with another uninspired performance in a loss to a club with a fraction of the payroll and currently resides several ranks below the Blues in the standings.

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Meanwhile, the pedantic offerings of Boehly about his system and philosophy have subsided, and rightfully so. If his system is about defying the foundational organizational transformation concepts expounded upon by dozens of models, then he has achieved his task. Many have speculated that the current situation's root cause resides within the owner. He fired the manager. He sidelined proven winners for new players. Both the coach and the new players were his "guys." While doing that, he arrogantly ignored core concepts of organizational transformation. Pragmatic, not revolutionary, steps are readily available via a simple Google search. However, success can breed overconfidence, the antithesis of self-evaluation within a learning organization. Whom did Boehly consult when making a catastrophic string of decisions? The results are indisputable whether he acted alone or in conjunction with upper management. His lack of accountability in addressing the legions of irate Chelsea fans has only fanned the flames of turmoil. Instead of showing some level of culpability, he instead has been relatively silent on the issue, apparently hopeful the anger will subside. This approach demonstrates that he is entirely out of touch with the EPL, Chelsea, and its fans. Most egregiously, it reinforces the root causes of his amateurish attempt at ownership at Chelsea: pride and prejudice. Prejudicial to his judgment, too prideful to admit wrongdoing. Opening up a textbook on organizational transformation and reviewing a few core concepts might go a long way on the road back.

However, first and foremost, humility must be exhibited. Admit that mistakes were made. Consult those who know Chelsea and the EPL. Trust the subordinates. Solicit feedback. Chart a new way forward. Communicate the vision. Make adjustments as needed while operating on a platform of transparency with a professional commitment to returning to winning ways. The veracity of the Chelsea fanbase is also a strength; there is a road back, and winning can quickly gloss over simmering sentiments. Blue is indeed the color for the legions of loyal Chelsea fans; let them sing it again at full throat after a win, an occurrence that has been increasingly rare this season at the Bridge.?