Chelsea Club launch ‘momentous’ Fan Advisory Board amid Todd Boehly’s Graham Potter sack plan
Chelsea has formed a Fan Advisory Board (FAB) comprising six members to collaborate with the club’s board and other senior officials.
The group will meet thrice a year to discuss potential decisions that may affect supporters in the medium to long term.
The idea of FAB was first proposed by Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium, including lifelong Chelsea fan Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, during the takeover process last year.
They aimed to be trailblazers in supporter participation if their £2.5 billion acquisition of the club succeeded.
The formation of the FAB by Chelsea is a way of keeping their promise to involve supporters in decision-making.
The club has announced that the board’s primary purpose is to have discussions, exchange information, and share insights on decisions that could affect Chelsea fans.
The focus of these talks will be on the club’s strategic vision, objectives, and medium to long-term decision-making.
The Fan Advisory Board will have six members, out of which three will be Supporter Advisors to the Board, while the remaining three will be selected through an open application process. Chelsea has invited interested supporters to apply for these three positions. The Fans’ Forum and Accessible Fans’ Forum will continue to hold meetings alongside the FAB.
Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, a director on the Chelsea board, will be responsible for the strategic oversight of the FAB. Being a lifelong Chelsea fan and season ticket holder himself, he is honored to serve on the board of his beloved club. He was also a member of the panel in the Government’s fan-led review and is dedicated to fostering fan engagement within the club.
“Through my position on the board, I want to ensure the club has the ability to respond reactively to supporter issues. Through our Fans’ Forums and other communication channels, we believe we are working well to capture this feedback and will continue to develop mechanisms to do so.
“In addition, I want to ensure our supporters are represented when we are considering long-term plans for the club. Our supporter advisors to the board have been an important step in the right direction, and we know we can do more. I believe the Fan Advisory Board is a critical step in this process and look forward to working closely with the members of the FAB.”
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) has been campaigning for supporter representation at a senior level in the club since its formation. While the creation of the FAB has been welcomed by the CST, they have expressed their concerns that three spots on the board will be filled by representatives who are not elected by the supporters.
A statement read: “We have worked closely with Chelsea FC on this proposal and are delighted to deliver a commitment that we made to our membership.
“While this initial proposal issued by CFC forms a good base and addresses many of our asks, we believe that there is still a significant amount of work still to be done before many of our concerns over the unelected nature of a large percentage of the FAB are removed. It must go further than what has been included within this initial proposal before it is fully endorsed by the CST.
“Nevertheless, we will engage with the club and work within the parameters they have initially set. The CST Board would like to place on record its sincerest thanks to CFC for the continued efforts on this proposal. We appreciate that the FAB is a complex concept and believe that getting this right for supporters will be beneficial to the long-term prosperity of our football club.”
Chelsea Club launch ‘momentous’ Fan Advisory Board amid Todd Boehly’s Graham Potter sack plan
