Fans and an ex-player on new-look Blues board

CHELSEA’S new regime will consider adding a former player to the club’s board after completing their highly-anticipated £4.25billion takeover yesterday. The American-led consortium, spearheaded by businessman Todd Boehly and investment firm Clearlake Capital, was confirmed as the west London club’s new owners yesterday. The new-look Blues hierarchy is expected to be made up of Boehly and his business partner Mark Walter, Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali and Swiss businessman Hansjorg Wyss. Boehly is also set to have fan representation on the board with Daniel Finkelstein — who is a Conservative peer and columnist for The Times — and music broker Barbara Charone to take up nonexecutive roles. Sportsmail has also learned that the new owners will consider adding a former player to Chelsea’s hierarchy in the future. Such a move has proved successful in Europe. Bayern Munich legends Franz Beckenbauer and Uli Hoeness are honorary presidents at the German club, and Edwin van der Sar is chief executive at Ajax. In the short term, Boehly will lean on the expertise of current Blues chairman Bruce Buck and director Marina Granovskaia to help with the takeover transition. Buck and Granovskaia were influential members of Roman Abramovich’s support team during his 19-year reign as owner and have been crucial during the sales process. The duo are expected to stay at Stamford Bridge in the short term to help the new ownership bed in, but there remains doubt over whether they will stay at the club further into the future.