Boehly must follow the Blueprint or risk being in a State wasting millions

TODD BOEHLY has wasted no time stamping his mark on Chelsea.

It’s a ballsy first step by the Blues’ new owner – booting out the old executive team and installing yourself as interim sporting director instead.

But when you’ve forked out £4.25billion for a football club, why wouldn’t you want to play fantasy owner?

After all, you’ve paid fantasy money for the privilege…

But the latest Yank to dip his toe in the murky workings of recruitment and the transfer market needs to beware.

It’s not gone well for a whole host of his predecessors – and unless he’s very careful, he could be setting fire to a huge cash pile.

Galacticos

Already there are stories about promises made to manager Thomas Tuchel about the string of galacticos who will be beating a path to Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, Juventus’s Matthijs de Ligt and Ousmane Dembele at Barcelona are all reportedly on his shopping list.

It appears the £200m earmarked for improvements is already burning a big hole in his pocket.

Never mind the fact that the Londoners already boast a squad that started last season as Champions League winners and became club world champions.

It looks to be a strange move, shifting on the first lady of Stamford Bridge, Marina Granovskaia (below, inset), without tapping into her knowledge. Roman Abramovich’s sidekick has been the power behind the throne with decisions taken quickly and decisively whenever it appeared as though Chelsea were losing their way.

A string of managers – including ‘Big Phil’ Scolari and Andre Villas-boas – felt cold steel on the back of their necks once results nosedived.

Yes, there have been mistakes in the market. Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres and latterly Romelu Lukaku have all flopped.

But there have been way more successes at the club that carried home 21 trophies under the Russian’s ownership.

Chelsea gatecrashed the cosy cartel at the heart of English football with all the finesse of a drunk rhino at a stag do.

They did that because they were armed with cash. But Granovskaia ensured it was well spent.

And that’s the point, really.

This week, Manchester United’s supporters have battered the Glazer family for taking out £11m in dividends. But the owners’ crime isn’t the withdrawal of the money. It’s loose change.

Clowns

The faux pas by the Americans has been allowing the likes of Alexis Sanchez to trouser £60m and deliver three Premier League goals by way of return.

Their problem has been entrusting the club’s riches to a bunch of clowns in the recruitment and executive teams who don’t have the first clue what they are doing.

It’s a similar story at Arsenal, protected for so long by Arsene Wenger – and how much has Stan Kroenke spent trying to put it right?

Last summer it was north of £150m and the Gunners didn’t even have Champions League football to soften the blow.

The Premier League is littered with those from Stateside who think they know better. So far, with the exception of John W Henry – and he was Liverpool’s second attempt at US ownership – it’s not ended well.

Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and Ellis Short at Sunderland are still counting the cost of their ‘expertise’.

And Mr Boehly (above) would be well advised to stop, think and learn from those examples.

In elite football, even £200m is easily spent.