Disillusioned and frustrated, Chelsea fans protest: 'We're left with no other option'

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsDisillusioned and frustrated, Chelsea fans protest: ‘We’re left with no other option’Chelsea fans protest against club owners, BlueCo, prior to the Premier League match against Manchester United Justin Setterfield/Getty Images Share articleThe side streets of Fulham Road are used to football fans, but they are not used to what unfolded on Saturday evening. Just over an hour before kick-off, ahead of Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United, a crowd began to gather around the corner from Stamford Bridge. Several hundred fans were holding banners and making their voices heard, their frustration with owners BlueCo, a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, bubbling into organised action. Diners eating al fresco nearby looked politely bemused by the bright blue flares and booming chants that were interrupting their Aperol spritzes, and no wonder. Protests have been fairly rare at Chelsea, and demonstrations against the current ownership — particularly one held before a home game against Brentford in January — have seemingly struggled to settle on a single message. But this time it was clear, held up on a huge white banner at the front of the march by Chelsea fans and supporters of sister club Strasbourg: ‘BlueCo Out’. “We’re very disillusioned with the direction that the club is going at the moment,” said David Cook from NotAProjectCFC, the organisers of Saturday evening’s protest. “The best way to unify (the fanbase), really, I think at this point, is to push the message of BlueCo out. I don’t have any faith in them at this point, and I think we’re left with no other option.” Chelsea’s season, in which they had hoped to kick on from winning the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup last year, has proved turbulent. The head coach who guided them to those trophies, Enzo Maresca, departed the club in January, and Liam Rosenior came in from BlueCo-owned Strasbourg to replace him. After a positive start under Rosenior, Chelsea are now faltering badly. Saturday’s defeat was their fourth consecutive Premier League loss without scoring and leaves them sixth in the table, seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool. A pack of clubs are breathing down their necks — they are level on points with Brentford and Bournemouth in seventh and eighth respectively — and without a swing in form, they are in danger of missing out on European competition altogether next season. Protesters’ complaints on Saturday varied. Some sported signs highlighting heavy spending, and multiple fans were unhappy with player recruitment. The ownership’s focus on youth is coming under increasing scrutiny, with suggestions recently — including from Clearlake Capital co-founder Behdad Eghbali and Rosenior — that a tweak to that strategy is coming. The chants for Roman Abramovich, which persist in spite of the circumstances under which he had to sell the club and the recent punishment doled out by the Premier League for rule-breaking under his ownership, highlight that many view BlueCo’s approach as inferior to their former owner’s. The name of the group organising the protest, NotAProject, points to frustration at what some feel is a strategy failing to deliver on-pitch success at the speed they want. In an open letter addressed to Chelsea’s owners, board of directors, and senior leadership earlier in the week, the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust raised concerns about BlueCo’s strategy, engagement with supporters, ticketing, and club finances. “At the heart of supporter concern is a simple point: the current model has demanded a huge amount of faith from the fanbase, while giving too little clarity in return,” the letter read. Organised action against BlueCo, beyond chants from fans in the stands, might be relatively new to Chelsea — but it is not to Strasbourg, whose fans have demonstrated against the ownership repeatedly. “We are fighting against multi-club ownership ever since Clearlake and Blueco took over,” says Alex, a spokesperson for the Strasbourg Supporter Federation. “We’ve been doing a lot of things inside the stadium, in Strasbourg, outside the stadium. And right now we are coming to London, it’s another way. “That’s the first reason (for coming to London). And the second reason is we got in touch with the Chelsea people from NotAProjectCFC, and we actually saw that we had a lot in common. We had the same troubles, we had the same problems with the owners. So it then came up pretty straightforward, the idea that we should make a common protest. And I think that’s unheard of.” The Strasbourg fans who travelled — around 30, in Alex’s estimation — were evidently keen to impart some of their protesting know-how. “Hands in the air,” one urged through a megaphone from the front as the protest prepared to step onto Fulham Road, aiming to get everyone clapping in time with a chant of ‘BlueCo out’. There was one moment a Strasbourg fan again tried to marshal the crowd through the megaphone, but struggled to be heard over a chorus of ‘Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea’. Overall, though, they were in unison. The ultimate question is of tangible impact. You only have to look as far as Saturday’s visitors, Manchester United, to see how long such disputes can rumble on; there have been protests against the Glazer family, still majority owners, for more than 20 years. Further actions are planned, Cook said, but the aim now was media coverage, “to highlight to their investors that this is failing.” He believed some of the pressure is already being felt: “That’s why Behdad Eghbali is coming out this week. That’s why we’re hearing so much about players and new contracts and how much they love being here because I think they’re scared. “But we’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep going until these unworthy custodians are out of this football club.” Speaking at CAA’s World Congress of Sports conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, an appearance that was scheduled in the autumn, Eghbali told Chelsea supporters that BlueCo were learning from their mistakes and were committed to the club, and hinted that the lessons learned would be shown in future transfer activity. “For the fans, we care,” he said when asked about his message for Chelsea fans. “We want the club to be successful. We’re focused on delivering that on-pitch performance. I think six months ago everyone was super-happy. Results have been mixed, disappointing more recently. There’s a full reflection on what we can do better, what we can improve on. “There is a plan. We reflect on the plan. We try to improve the plan and tweak the plan if it’s not working. The message is we’re committed. “I think we’ve done a few things right, a lot of things right,” he added. “We’ve got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take (it) to the next level, to be consistent over time.” It sounds as though changes are coming. But will it be enough for supporters to feel they have “their Chelsea” back? Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Cerys is a London-based writer covering Chelsea for The Athletic, as well as other London clubs and women's football. She joined The Athletic in summer 2025. Follow Cerys on Twitter @reallycerys