Todd Boehly 'backed Mauricio Pochettino' as details of Chelsea civil war come to light

Recently departed Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino reportedly had the backing of Todd Boehly, as more details about the ongoing civil war at Stamford Bridge come to light.

Chaos has erupted at the west London club, with talk of a power struggle between Boehly and fellow co-owner Behdad Eghbali.

The latter is part of the investment firm Clearlake Capital, who own a majority share of the club following the £4.25billion takeover in the summer of 2022.

But it was Boehly, boasting a 13 per cent stake in the club, who oversaw operations in the early days, with the American businessman sanctioning a hefty spending spree upon taking over.

The big spending has been a constant throughout the new owners’ reign, with over £1b having been spent on fresh talent without much to show for it on the pitch.

That looked as if it might’ve been changing at the business end of last season, with Chelsea, under the tutelage of Pochettino, going on a five-game winning streak.

It was enough to drag the otherwise underperforming Blues into a European spot, but it wasn’t enough for Pochettino to keep his job, despite a concerted effort by Boehly and his camp to keep the Argentine at the club.

Instead, it’s claimed by Ben Jacobs that Eghbali was the one pushing for Pochettino’s exit, as he didn’t feel the ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss effectively fit into the structure at Stamford Bridge and had to be moved on.

The move wasn’t received warmly by supporters, who felt like Pochettino was beginning to get a tune out of the bloated, but admittedly talented, Chelsea squad.

However, it also meant another period of instability as Chelsea changed managers, with Enzo Maresca becoming the sixth (permanent and interim) boss of the Boehly-Clearlake era.

That has also led to a summer of several ins and outs, with a whopping £200million having been spent on new players, after deals for the likes of Joao Felix, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were all penned.

But the early signs have once again been mixed, as Chelsea have recorded one win, one draw and one loss from their opening three Premier League matches so far.

Maresca was supposedly hired to usher in a new-look style of play for the side, but given the ongoing off-field problems at Chelsea, the Italian might be under even more pressure to deliver immediate results on the pitch when play resumes after the international break.