Gary Neville has laid the blame for all of Chelsea's mess at the feet of Todd Boehly after Frank Lampard's side suffered a sixth-straight defeat in all competitions. The interim boss is yet to pick up a point since coming in as a placeholder until the end of the season.
Their latest reverse, a 3-1 loss to Arsenal, left them stranded in the bottom half and still not mathematically safe from relegation with five fixtures left and three of the top four still to play. Although dropping down a division is near enough impossible given the results needed, the very conversation being had sums up the state of the season.
For Neville, it has been a car crash from day one and Boehly is all to blame. Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast on Wednesday night, he launched into a passionate accusation of the US-based businessman. "It all comes from the owners, this," he started.
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"The fundamentals, you can't as players with the quality you have and the pride that you have, stoop to that level that we saw. I watched them a few weeks ago against Liverpool.
"I thought they played really well that night and went away thinking there was promise for what could come next season and what could come in the future because of what they showed that night. The lack of centre forward, they can't score goals, we knew all that but there was a lot of good come out of that.
"What we've seen since is nothing short of absolute disgrace. It all comes from the top. It's been chaotic and a mess from day one.
"I said it very early, Boehly has had a nightmare. He's completely misread this league and he'll learn very quickly I'm sure, just to stay in his lane, because what has happened this season is purely down to him.
"You come in and he needed somehow to keep the footballing department together. He's the non-footballing department by the way, remind himself of that, he's the owner, you're not a Premier League player, you're not a coach, you're not someone who's got experience in this English league.
"Stay where you are and allow the people who have run the football club successfully with a very different model to most clubs over the past 10-15 years, that was still there, somehow try to get a year or two out of them to learn the ropes, to see what goes on, to try and keep the stability and consistency of what Chelsea have been.
"Chelsea last season, we watched them in the Carabao Cup final, could have won the FA Cup final, they're still very close so Thomas Tuchel was doing a good job. Keep your manager in place for the season if you can because he's a very good manager, he's proven."
Since taking over 12 months ago Boehly-Clearlake have seen Chelsea slip from being reigning world and European champions to mid-table strugglers and amongst the worst teams in the league on form despite spending over £600m on new players and changing manager twice.
"Keep the majority of those players in place and add to it in three or four strategic positions," Neville explained. "He's got rid of the football department. Petr Cech has left, Marina Granovskaia has left, then the manager has gone and you're in complete turmoil.
"Then they start off with a strategy of older players with experience. Then all of a sudden they flip it into a model of giving 38-year contracts to 22-year-olds and thinks like that.
"The whole thing has been a shambles.
"The thing is we all know Chelsea weren't a mess. They were a very successful club with people who ran it very well for a long time.. He created this mess and this turmoil through a lack of experience, playing Football Manager. It's been terrible, it's been terrible.
"However, those players that crossed the white line for Chelsea are an excellent group of players. People might not agree with me but I looked at that teamsheet. It's the worst performance I've ever seen from that talented a group of players.
"I've never seen a performance that bad."
Boehly is now looking for his third permenant head coach and seems to have settled on former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino. Neville can see him turning things around. "I do actually think Chelsea, if they can get to the end of the seasson which they obviously will, and they can appoint a manager in the summer and the talk is of Pochettino, someone will be able to mould them into a decent team that can challenge for the top four and for trophies next season," he said.
"That's how bad this team is at this moment in time. I think they're capable of that, that's what makes it even worse. I think they can actually be a real challenger in the top three. People might think I'm mad after what we watched last night but that's what makes it worse for me.
"The players have stooped to such a level, we saw it with Manchester United last season. They're third or fourth in the league at this moment in time but last season under Ralph Ragnick they chucked the towel in.
"They've chucked the towel in those Chelsea players, they're not bothering at all. They may as well not turn up. They're not going to go down are they but if they weren't sort of mathematically safe, if they were on 42 points and you were Frank Lampard you'd leave them all out and play a bunch of kids."
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