Todd Boehly has admitted that he and the Chelsea hierarchy have made mistakes but insisted they will "figure it out" in the wake of stinging comments made by Frank Lampard.
Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the Blues last May and have already sacked two head coaches in the form of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter and splurged over £600million in transfer fees. However, Chelsea find themselves worse off and languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.
The Blues handed Lampard the reins on an interim basis earlier this month to give them time to conduct a thorough recruitment process, but results have been dire under the Stamford Bridge legend, who oversaw a sixth successive defeat at Arsenal.
And speaking after the match, Lampard made it clear that the current hierarchy have to take their share of the blame for the club's current state. He told Sky Sports: “Chelsea has been a big success for 20 years but at the moment we aren’t in that position.
“In the time I’ve been here it’s clear to see behind the scenes, on the training ground, the reasons why. If you’re going to be a nice team to play against all the time it doesn’t matter where you go. That won’t change overnight but we better get there quickly.”
Just days later, Boehly, who was speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, pleaded for patience from the fans before acknowledging that mistakes have been made.
The Blues chief said: “You know they want to win and we get that we want to win so you know I think our view through was that this is a long-term project and you know we're committed to the long-term.
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“We very much believe that we're going to figure it out. We've got the best league in the world, we've got what I think is the top city in the world and we've got an unbelievable location in the top city in the world.”
After taking stock of the club's situation after Potter's abrupt exit, former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is the frontrunner for the Stamford Bridge vacancy after holding positive talks with Boehly. The Chelsea chief and co-owner Behdad Eghbali spent the weekend in America discussing the potential appointment.
Although Pochettino is believed to be keen on the role, the former Paris-Saint Germain boss wants to wait until the summer before returning to the Premier League - meaning Lampard is likely to remain in situ until the end of the campaign.
After Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates, Chelsea are 12th in the Premier League but would be leapfrogged by 13th-placed Bournemouth if the Cherries beat them this weekend.
