Chelsea fearmassive cost of European failure
MISSINGOUTONCHAMPIONSLEAGUEWOULDHITREVENUE, RECRUITMENT
Aharrowing home defeat by Tottenham HotspuronSundayleft Chelsea eight points adrift of the Champions League qualification places with seven matches to play. Although the consolation of the Europa League awaits, next seasonwould be the second in three spent outside Europe’s premier club competition. Sowhatwould be the ramifications?
Financeswill take a hit
Failure to qualify for the Champions Leaguewill affect income, even with the sums generated through Premier League media rights. The club’s most recent financial figures, covering a 2016- 17 campaign spent out of Europe altogether, serve as a gauge. They show revenues rose by £ 32 million ( Dh165 million), yet that was less than half the increase recorded by Manchester United (£ 82 million), Arsenal (£ 72 million) and Manchester City (£ 66 million), who were competing in the Champions League. Match- day incomes fell 6 per cent to £ 66 million and, although the Europa League awaits, those games will not attract the same glitz, glamour or gates. A club, who made £ 193 million between 2012 and 2017 fromplaying in Europewill inevitably suffer another downturn.
So will the club’s reputation
In October Chelsea’s commercial director, Chris Townsend, targeted doubling revenues to more than £ 650 million over the next seven to 10 years “to be a top four or five club in Europe [ by revenues], rather than ranked eighth”.
The aim was to increase the number of sponsors from 12 to between 30 and 35 premium brands, plans considered highly ambitious in a market where clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid boast a significant head start. Yet will prospective sponsors find Chelsea as attractive without the Champions League? At a time when Roman Abramovich is hoping to push through a £ 1 billion redevelopment of Stamford Bridge, a scheme likely to require major outside investment, the suspicion Chelsea have regressed into a club who flit in and out of Europe’s elite competitionwould be damaging.
Pursuit of newcoach may be affected
The chances of Antonio Conte remaining next season were remote even if the team achieved a top four finish given his relationship with the hierarchy has long since fractured beyond repair. The Italian was plucked from his national association by a club apparently on their knees, but the worry remains that the recruitment of an elite successor may be hampered without Champions League football. Certainly any faint hopes of luring Mauricio Pochettino across the capital would have to be abandoned.
Retaining key players, staff will be tough
Chelsea retained their best players after the trauma of 2015- 16 but, two years down the line, concerns centre upon
their Belgians. Thibaut Courtois enters the last 12 months of his contract in July and the goalkeeper may not be keen to re- sign if the immediate future comes without the perk of Champions League football. Eden Hazard’s deal does not expire until 2020, with Chelsea apparently willing to offer him the moon, but he seems intent upon waiting to see if Real Madrid’s long- standing interest crystallises into a firmoffer.
Squad strengthening may be hit
Chelsea thrived in the summer of 2016, prising N’Golo Kante from Leicester, with David Luiz and Marcos Alonso also added. Theirs is a relatively young set- up and hardly in need of a radical overhaul, which is just as well because recruitment would be a challenge. They have spent relatively heavily in recent windows, for all Conte’s complaints.