For the first time since 2017/18, Chelsea won't be playing in the Champions League next year. This season will be the fourth time in the past decade that the club have fallen out of Europe's premier club competition.
Having qualified via the top four for every season between 2003/04 and 2010/11, it is quite the drop-off with two finishes of tenth or below on the cards in the past five seasons as well. Although the Blues can still salvage a top half finish they have a ceiling of eighth and even that would require Aston Villa not to pick up any more points.
They are already 40 points off first-placed Manchester City and the gap is only expected to get bigger with the remaining games away to Pep Guardiola's men, Manchester United and Newcastle still to visit SW6. The 50 point 2015/16 tally is in sight but doesn't set much of a high bar.
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Between winning the league in 2015 and now, Chelsea have finished in the top two just once - the title winning campaign - and will now finish outside the top four on two occasions in the meantime. It is not only proof of the steady decline in league performances but it paints a worrying picture for Todd Boehly and the new owners.
Their massive outlay on players and managers wasn't with the plan of falling out of the Champions League and it opens up a financial abyss that needs managing carefully. Chelsea are already under pressure to sell off their squad members in order to comply with financial fair play but also need to account for no European football at Stamford Bridge, both in terms of prize money and sponsorship deals they will miss out on.
The benefit of matches on the continent comes at around $13.5m (£10.7m) just for qualifying for the group stages. Wins in the groups are worth $2.8m (£2.2m) each while draws earn an extra $1.1m (£870,000) a pop as well. Tallying up Chelsea's group stage results means that for the six games they played, as well as the entry bonus, they earnt $12.3m (£9.76m).
That is around the cost it takes to pay for Enzo Fernandez on the books each year or close to the fee paid for Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana, for comparison. Moving to the knockout stages, just getting to the last 16 is worth $10.4m (£8.2) whereas Chelsea went one step further. Their quarter-final appearance and eventual ending gained them $11.5m (£9.1m) extra.
In total it was a campaign worth $34.2m (£27.1m) or around the price of Malo Gusto's transfer fee. It is a total that they will have to not only deal without and factor into the accounts for next year - a set of figures that the owners are already working hard to try and improve.
Having lifted the trophy two-years ago, the drop-off across the board in the past 12-months has been staggering and something that Boehly himself is to blame for, Gary Neville has explained. "It all comes from the owners, this," he started. "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."
Boehly now faces the test of transforming Chelsea without the added bonus of having Champions League income to aid his ambitions. Chelsea are also set to miss out on a chunk of the $137.2m (£109m) that is gained through finishing fourth or higher.
If they were to come a realistic tenth place then it would be just $123.4 (£98m), another sizable blow.
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