Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly breaks silence on shock Thomas Tuchel sacking; claims decision not result-based

In a decision that took the sporting world by shock, Chelsea sacked manager Thomas Tuchel last Thursday (September 8) just 12 hours after suffering an embarrassing defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the opening game of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League.

Although Chelsea are a club used to quick turnovers of managers due to previous owner Roman Abramovich's highly successful model that saw a ruthless approach with those at the helm. However, the decision to part company with Tuchel came as a surprise as it comes just a month into the new season and Tuchel was a coach who helped the club become European and World Champions in his 18-month tenure.

Moreover, it has just been 100 days since the new ownership took charge and a major decision like that caught many off-guard especially after their heavy spending in the transfer window with Tuchel overseeing operations in the absence of a sporting director.

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has rejected claims that it was a panic decision after a poor start to the season and stated that the decision was not results-based. Boehly explained that the new ownership and Tuchel did not share the same vision for the club's future and explained that he wants a more collaborative approach at the Chelsea.

"When you take over any business, you have to make sure you’re aligned with the people who are operating the business. Tuchel is obviously extremely talented and someone who had great success at Chelsea. Our vision for the club was finding a manager who really wanted to collaborate with us, a coach who really wanted to collaborate.

"There are a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea. Before, the first team and academy didn’t really share data, didn’t share information about where the top players were coming from. Our goal is to bring a team together, all of that needs to be a well-oiled machine," said Boehly at the SALT Conference in New York.

"The reality of our decision was that we weren’t sure that Thomas saw it the same way we saw it. No one is right or wrong, we just didn’t have a shared vision for the future. It wasn’t about Zagreb, it was about the shared vision for what we wanted #Chelsea to look like. It wasn’t a decision that was made because of a single win or loss. It was a decision that we thought was the right vision for the club," he added.

Chelsea have confirmed ex-Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter as their new head coach. The Englishman will take charge of the Blues for the first time on Wednesday (September 14) at Stamford Bridge in a Champions League game.