Stefan Borson reveals Chelsea’s ‘disruptive’ plan as new arrival heads in
Chelsea have made several changes behind the scenes in recent weeks as they look to put the pieces in place to deliver future success.
Chelsea confirmed their new business leadership team in September following the departure of chief revenue officer Casper Stylsvig.
Todd Kline is now the president of commercial, Phil Lynch is the new chief digital officer and James Murray has been promoted to chief operating officer, with all three reporting to president Jason Gannon.
Meanwhile, Chelsea announced on 1 November former Liverpool recruiter Dave Fallows has been appointed as part of a five-man sporting director team at Stamford Bridge.
Fallows will lead the Blues’ football development, focusing on scouting and data, loans and player pathways, and overall football staff development and evolution.
Chelsea make academy decision after new hire confirmed
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Chelsea are trying to be “disruptive” to the current way of doing things in England following Fallows’ appointment.
Alongside Fallows, Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Joe Shields and Sam Jewell will also operate in sporting director roles.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I think Chelsea just see the whole thing slightly differently from most people, where they’ve got really what is quite a successful academy business almost as a separate profit and loss.
“If you’ve got that, then you can perhaps invest more in leadership around that. I mean, certainly it seems unique to have a number of sporting directors, but this is a key part of their operation. I don’t know exactly how they’re all going to work together, but clearly they all know each other.
“I think part of Chelsea’s approach is to be disruptive to the current way of doing things in England and to try different things and to double down on what they’re good at, which I think clearly for many years they’ve been doing something right on the academy side.
“I think it’s a perfectly sensible, reasonable thing to do. We’ll have to just see how it pans out and whether it leads to more players in the first team.”
Reece James and Levi Colwill are two of Chelsea’s academy players to have nailed down starting spots in recent years.
Chelsea have agreed big-money academy sales
Fallows is set to play a role in player development at Stamford Bridge after few academy stars have managed to sustain a place in the senior squad alongside the likes of James and Colwill.
Enzo Maresca’s side have sold various academy players in a bid to balance the books following their heavy spending under BlueCo.
Chelsea smashed the Premier League record for player sales in a summer transfer window after sanctioning several exits before the 1 September deadline.
Armando Broja, Bashir Humphreys, Alfie Gilchrist and Lucas Bergstrom were among the academy products to leave Stamford Bridge in the latest window.
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