Todd Boehly has deep pockets but Chelsea need more nous in the market

This week it emerged Chelsea’s new owners are investing in major upgrades to Stamford Bridge, with renovations to the West Stand in the works and plans to install new murals around the ground leaving supporters excited about what the future will look like now Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are running the club.

It is an encouraging move from the new regime. Admittedly there has been no update on increasing Stamford Bridge’s capacity of 41,600, which would help Chelsea close the revenue gap on rivals with much bigger grounds, but the thinking is long-term. The board has sought out Janet Marie Smith, whose work on improving some of the most famous venues in US sport includes the rebuild of Dodger Stadium, home to the Boehly-led consortium’s Major League Baseball side, the LA Dodgers, and the aim is to improve the entire match-day experience for fans.

That said, those supporters can be forgiven for feeling anxious when they leave Fulham Broadway tube station and head down Fulham Road on Sunday afternoon. This, you sense, is not a good time for Chelsea to be hosting Antonio Conte’s resurgent Tottenham. Weirdly, given Conte’s side were miles off the pace when they lost three times to Thomas Tuchel’s team last January, it seems they have swapped roles: whereas Spurs feel calm and settled after moving away from their usual approach under Daniel Levy by sorting out their transfer business briskly, the season almost seems to have crept up on Chelsea, who are still hunting for signings with less than a month of the window left.

Of course, much of Chelsea’s scramble for attacking and defensive reinforcements is down to the mistakes made on Roman Abramovich’s watch. Is everyone still in awe of Marina Granovskaia’s negotiating