Chelsea to make ground-breaking hire, other Premier League clubs tipped to follow
Chelsea are looking to appoint a management accountant to "keep an eye" on their SCR standings in the coming years.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the financial side of the club has become an even more "specialist area" in recent years.
The West London outfit received a fine from UEFA in the summer after breaching their SCR restrictions for last season, and they have also toed the line with the Premier League in recent years.
Wyness outlined that Xabi Alonso's side are the most "financially geared" club in the Premier League, and made it clear that their player trading model creates a need for the numbers to be monitored very closely.
He expects the incoming management accountant to keep a "watching brief" over all the financial restrictions that are in play, and he expects the role to become more commonplace with clubs moving forward.
Chelsea are publicly advertising for the position, which will see a new member of staff join the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea job hunt part of 'complex' plan
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Chelsea operate a "complex" model, given that they routinely hand out long-term contracts to senior players.
The capital club are also prominent when it comes to player trading at academy level, and their decision-making has seen them fall foul of the financial rules at times.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained how the new role they are advertising for should help to change that in future.
"Chelsea, as we've discussed many times, are probably the most financially geared club in the Premier League right now. And this is when this job gets bigger than just the spreadsheet," he said.
"They've got to have somebody hands-on monitoring all the different ramifications of such long-term contracts. They've also got the whole SCR situation, UEFA fines and UEFA sanctions, et cetera, the buying and selling from the academy.
"There's a lot of complex things that are coming together and having an impact on the different layers. And so I can understand why they would want somebody to specialise in that and keep an eye on all the ramifications.
"It does make sense to have somebody in charge of that whole situation and keep a watching brief on it. It's something that I didn't really have to encounter before, but it does become a specialist area.
"Chelsea have got to stay ahead of the game, given how complex their financial position is. There's a lot of spinning plates, and that's what I think this position is all about. I understand it. I think it's a position that may come into more and more clubs as we go forward."
Chelsea urged to move for 'heavyweight' chairman
Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier in September that Chelsea need to move for a "heavyweight" football chairman in the wake of Todd Boehly's exit.
The American recently completed the sale of his shares in the club, who have decided against appointing an immediate replacement as chair.
Wyness has urged the Blues to headhunt an experienced football chairman with ample "credibility" to help lead the next stage of their project.
He believes a move of that ilk could "salvage" the PR situation surrounding the club, which received plenty of hits during Boehly's tenure.