Chelsea’s upheaval is set to continue with the impending departure of Tom Glick as the club’s president of business after only 10 months in the role.
The club’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, are planning changes on the business side after a difficult first year in charge. Chelsea, who are close to appointing Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach, are bringing in Chris Jurasek as their new chief executive.
Jurasek’s arrival is expected to coincide with Glick leaving Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have not commented on whether Glick has resigned, but a source denied that the former Manchester City executive has been pushed.
As revealed by the Guardian this month, Chelsea brought in an external law firm to assess whether 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 this year. The firm has sent a report of its findings to Chelsea and a summary of the report to Kim. Chelsea have declined to comment on its contents.
Glick did contact Kim on 19 September to say Chelsea were investigating Willoughby’s messages. He also emailed Kim to thank her for bringing the matter to his attention.
Glick arrived at Chelsea last July and was charged with building the club’s commercial arm. The American had previously worked at Derby County and was president of the NFL team, the Carolina Panthers.
However Glick is set for a swift exit, with control of Chelsea’s commercial activities handed to Jurasek. It means there will be more change at Chelsea, who have struggled since being bought by Boehly and Clearlake last summer.
The west London club are set to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League despite spending almost £600m on new signings. Chelsea, who have had four managers this season, finish the campaign by visiting Manchester United on Thursday and hosting Newcastle on Sunday.
