Richard Keys has told Chelsea chair Todd Boehly he has "f***** up" in his latest blog post.
Former Sky Sports presenter Keys, who now works for beIN Sports, is not afraid to ruffle up some feathers with his blog and has criticised Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on several occasions this season. He appears to have found a new target in Boehly, however.
Boehly has spent millions of pounds on new players and replaced manager Thomas Tuchel with Graham Potter since purchasing the Premier League club from Roman Abramovich last summer. Yet his plan has backfired, with the Blues struggling for form this term.
Chelsea are 10th in the Premier League table - 10 points Manchester United in fourth - and have been knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup by Manchester City. Pep Guardiola's side hammered Potter's strugglers 4-0 in their most recent outing.
But Keys does not blame Potter for Chelsea's worrying form. He's instead pinned the blame on Boehly in his blog for "destroying the structure of the club" - highlighting the departures of transfer chief Marina Granovskaia and advisor Petr Cech last summer.
Boehly scrapped Chelsea's football operations team after inheriting the club from Abramovich and installed himself as an interim sporting director. He spent more than £250million on players last summer, but that investment is yet to pay dividends.
Do you agree with Richard Keys? Let us know in the comments below!
Boehly has since installed a new recruitment team - led by technical director Christopher Vivell - and appears to have taken a backseat when it comes to transfers. Yet Keys is not impressed by the American's work and has urged him to learn from his mistakes.
Keys wrote: "What I didn't expect was that they'd [Granovskaia and Cech] both quickly be shown the door by an American owner desperate for headlines and equally keen to show British Englanders how to run a soccer ball club. Of course, owner Todd knew best.
"A game that had stood the test of time had to change and he was the only one that knew how to change it. One of the most successful soccerball [sic] clubs in the world had been doing it all wrong. Owner Todd was about to show us how to do it."
Keys added: "Owner Todd has dug himself a huge hole and it won't be easy to get out of. His ego will be his biggest obstacle. He won’t like admitting he was wrong."
Keys also criticised the UK government for getting involved in the sale of Chelsea to Boehly's consortium. Under previous PM Boris Johnson's government, Abramovich was sanctioned for allegedly having ties with Vladimir Putin - something he denies. The Russian oligarch was forced to sell and Boehly was named as the preferred bidder.
Despite not blaming Potter for Chelsea's struggles, Keys wants to see a new manager installed. He added: "It's clear that without good people around him, Potter is deeply out of his depth. He's got to go... His players don't want him there. Nothing could be clearer."
