Chelsea have appointed a media expert with no experience of running a football club as the first chief executive officer of their women’s team. Aki Mandhar has been headhunted to run the Women’s Super League champions from her position as general manager of the Athletic, the sports website owned by the New York Times.
Mandhar is due to start work at Chelsea before the end of the year with a brief to ensure the club’s on-field success is replicated off the field. Despite winning a fifth successive WSL title last season Chelsea failed to attract big crowds when their games were moved to Stamford Bridge, in contrast to Arsenal’s success in filling the Emirates Stadium for women’s matches.
