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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Jonathan Gorrie

Chelsea lack ‘class’ under the new Boehly-Clearlake regime, says club legend Didier Drogba

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has urged the club to go back to the “principles and values they had” during Roman Abramovich’s time at the club.

New owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have made sweeping changes both on and off the field since formally taking over in May.

Over the proceeding months, there has been a large-scale restructure of the board, with long-serving club director Marina Granovskaia and Blues legend Petr Cech, who had been working as a technical advisor, leaving.

Chairman Bruce Buck has also departed, along with head of international scouting Scott McLachlan in a major revamp.

While Graham Potter’s appointment as manager has been well-received so far, Boehly in particular was criticised by the likes of Gary Neville for a frantic summer of transfer activity, during which the American investor is believed to have worked as a de facto sporting director.

Speaking to French outlet Canal+, Drogba said: “I knew this club with a certain class during the Roman Abramovich era, but today I find it lacking.

“It’s very hard for me to see how they got rid of certain people, for example the physiotherapists, who were there for a very long time. They should go back to the principles and values they had.”

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