Chelsea owner Todd Boehly awkwardly didn’t recognise one of the club’s biggest former stars when they met, it has been revealed.
He led the consortium that took over the Blues around three years ago after the UK government froze former owner Roman Abramovich’s assets, forcing him to sell the club.
Boehly has been the face of the ownership group since their arrival in 2022, but this latest reveal from a former Chelsea player and coach suggests the new figurehead may need to brush up on his history.
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Ruud Gullit reveals Chelsea owner Todd Boehly had no idea who he was
Ruud Gullit – ranked at no.30 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest players of all time – is a legendary player, most associated with his time at Milan and in the Netherlands with PSV and Feyenoord.
But he also made 64 appearances for Chelsea, before leading 83 matches as the Blues’ head coach. All that seemingly did little for his standing at Stamford Bridge, judging by Boehly’s hospitality.
Gullit told the Stick to Football podcast: “I met the Chelsea owner, Todd Boehly, and introduced myself, ‘Hi, I am Ruud Gullit’. Todd said, ‘What do you do?’
“Well I played football, I also played for and coached Chelsea. Todd said, ‘Oh yeah, when did you play for Chelsea? What did you do for Chelsea?’ He didn’t know.”
The Dutch legend didn’t take the incident to heart, but did ponder the connotations.
He continued: “Can I blame him? No, I don’t think so. But this is what it is a little bit because they don’t know what the club is all about.”
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, while Boehly clearly can’t be expected to know every player to have played for the club since its inception, Gullit is a pretty big deal for anyone with even a slight interest in football.
Given Boehly’s fingerprints are on a lot of the vast number of transfers Chelsea make in any given window, it may leave Blues supporters questioning whether he really knows his apples from his onions.
Chelsea next face Liverpool when Premier League action returns this weekend.
