Chelsea brought in an external law firm to investigate whether their president of business, Tom Glick, acted appropriately when he told a female agent that her complaints to him about the behaviour of a club executive did not interest him and were not relevant to his job.
The club sought outside help over Catalina Kim alerting Glick last year to historical messages of a sexual nature to her from Damian Willoughby, whose brief period as Chelsea’s commercial director ended last September with his sacking over the matter.
The episode was taken seriously by the hierarchy and the club offered safeguarding support to Kim. It is understood the law firm spoke to Glick and Kim earlier this year. The firm has sent a report of its findings to Chelsea and a summary of the report to Kim. Chelsea declined to comment on its contents. Glick, who had hired Willoughby days before the executive’s dismissal, remains in his post.
In an unrelated development Chris Jurasek, an operating executive at Clearlake, is expected to become Chelsea’s new chief executive. Jurasek, who would be above Glick, is set to take charge of the commercial side of the club.
Glick, who had hired Willoughby days before the executive’s dismissal, became the first appointment under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership last July. The American faced questions after he initially sought to play down Kim’s complaints about Willoughby. Glick initially said he had set the issue aside during a phone call with Kim.
When contacted by the Guardian over the story last September, Glick’s lawyers said that regrettably he had not properly reviewed the screenshots before their telephone call. He told Kim on the call that he had just looked at “the headlines”. Before their conversation ended, and after being pressed by Kim, he committed to looking into the issues raised. Willoughby was fired on 20 September, two days after the call.
Kim had been in talks with Chelsea and Glick on behalf of overseas investors looking to pump money into Chelsea’s academy, men’s team, women’s team and foundation, but developed misgivings after being informed on 29 August that Willoughby was set to join the club in a senior role. Glick, who worked with Willoughby at Manchester City, set up a meeting between the trio at Stamford Bridge on 1 September.
After this meeting Kim told Glick she felt “uncomfortable” working with Willoughby and on 3 September she forwarded to him eight screenshots showing messages Willoughby had sent her. Two days later Willoughby started his role at Chelsea, where he had previously worked as head of sponsorship.
After chasing Glick for a reply, Kim arranged a call with him on 18 September. Glick initially said: “I saw some of the headlines of the stuff that you sent and I just set it aside. So it’s not something I’m particularly interested in.”
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Pressed by Kim, Glick said: “It looks to me like something that is just not interesting or relevant to me in terms of running the business. But what is your view? Tell me what I’m missing.”
The messages shared by Kim with Glick showed that Willoughby brought up the subject of having sex and asked whether she was naked. Willoughby suggested he would arrange a meeting with the senior Manchester City executive Ferran Soriano if she was willing to be “naughty”. Those advances were repeatedly rejected by Kim.
Kim asked Glick in their phone call whether he had any concerns over how Willoughby interacted with women. Glick said: “What I’m saying is I looked at some of the headlines that you sent and I set it aside. So tell me what your view is. What is your objective?”
Kim said she was not comfortable with Willoughby’s behaviour and had concerns over his integrity. Asked whether she no longer wanted to work with Willoughby, she replied that it was down to Glick, as the person who had hired him, to review whether Willoughby should continue in his job. Glick responded: “So that’s your objective. I thought you wanted to try to create a partnership with Chelsea.”
That remark drew a surprised response from Kim, who asked Glick whether he was saying that she could not create a partnership with Chelsea if she could not work with Willoughby. Glick immediately denied that was what he was saying, leading Kim to question how her complaint was connected to her doing business with Chelsea.
Glick, questioned by Kim about whether he thought her complaint was relevant to his job, said that he had set it aside. He added that, as she had brought it up again, “I guess I’m going to have to deal with it”. Glick continued: “I’ll have to go back and look at what you sent. I did not look at the substance of it.”
When Kim responded that she had chased it up with him several times, Glick said that he had been busy and sick with Covid.
Glick contacted Kim on 19 September to say that Chelsea were investigating Willoughby’s messages. Staff at the club were informed in a memo on 20 September that Willoughby had been fired. Glick also emailed Kim to thank her for bringing the matter to his attention.
Chelsea said after Willoughby’s sacking that his behaviour ran “absolutely counter to the workplace environment and corporate culture being established by the club’s new ownership”.
