Chelsea's US owners suffer debut season flop despite huge outlay

LONDON : Chelsea's American owners saw their last hope of any glory in their first season crumble on Tuesday when the club they bought in a deal worth 4.25 billion pounds ($5.28 billion) last year were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.

Marooned in the unfamiliar bottom half of the Premier League, Chelsea are at risk of their worst domestic league finish in nearly 30 years and they also fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup and League Cup.

Their only chance of qualifying for next season's lucrative Champions League by winning the competition has also now evaporated after Real's 4-0 aggregate quarter-final win following a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.

The prospect of a drop in income is raising fears among Chelsea fans that some of the club's best young players will be sold to meet financial rules.

The spectacular slump in the 2022/23 season - during which Chelsea have had three different coaches - stands in contrast with the string of heady campaigns under previous owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

He was forced to sell the club by Britain's government last year following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Chelsea were the most successful team in England in the period between Abramovich buying the club in 2003 and its sale in 2022, a run that included two Champions League triumphs in 2012 and 2021 and five English league titles.

That track record - and the surge in global support for the west London club along the way - explained Chelsea's appeal to a consortium led by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and backed by Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm.

BIG SPENDERS, LOW SCORERS

On top of the deal to buy the club last May, they have invested a further 550 million pounds on players, spending in