Chelsea’s PR gaffes sum up their biggest problem
Chelsea allowing a film promotion to take place mid-match is just the next in an ever-increasing list of PR howlersÂ
January 14, 2024 6:00 am(Updated 6:01 am)
The first 45 minutes of Chelseaâs 1-0 win over Fulham made it remarkably easy for the mind, and the eyes, to wander.
Luckily, Todd Boehly and co put on some light entertainment for match-going fans. Mauricio Pochettinoâs substitutes bench was flanked by seven well-groomed men in emerald velvet jackets. At five-minute intervals throughout the game, they simultaneously stood up and performed various banal tasks.
First they saluted, then they brushed their teeth, then they read books. It was not just odd, but unavoidably distracting, especially when the football was so mind-numbingly dire.
It transpired they were promoting upcoming âmeta spy action comedy filmâ Argylle. The film had also been promoted in Pochettinoâs pre-match press conference, when the Argentine had a GI Joe-esque doll next to his microphone.
It was the latest in an ever-increasing series of peculiar PR snafus the club continue to make.
Post-match, Pochettino said: âSomething happened before the game that I canât explain, but it impacted the team. Itâs nothing big. Small details that sometimes effect the team. Itâs not important for you or our fans to know.â
Despite refusing to give any further information, simply by mentioning this, Pochettino has opened the club and players to unnecessary scrutiny. Journalists will now know thereâs something to look for and whatever it is will inevitably come out. It was clumsy and naĂŻve from an experienced manager who should know better and who continues to baffle in his media dealings.
At club level, the past two months have felt like a constant cycle of both on-pitch and off-pitch drama. In December, Chelsea signed a shirt-sleeve sponsorship deal with a crypto company who have strong links to Russia. Players went on a Christmas night out in Mayfair having lost 2-0 to Everton earlier the same day. Former winger and long-term club co-commentator Pat Nevin was relieved of his duties without explanation in November.
Boehly watched on as a film promotion and football match fought for attention at Stamford Bridge. Without explanation he has gone from being the clubâs public face to operating in the shadows. He was present at the clubâs Christmas lunch, but sat at a table roped off from other attendees, and his âspeechâ was written in the programme notes. He hasnât spoken publicly about Chelsea this season, but still found time to emerge at the Golden Globes in Aviators and a fresh haircut.
The drama around Conor Gallagherâs contract situation also doesnât help. Attempting to make a lifelong Chelsea fan and academy product the fall guy for Boehlyâs failed profligacy is a decision which was never going to have a positive outcome.
âI was aware [of the movie promotion],â Pochettino said post-match. âIt didnât impact the spectacle. It did not affect the professionals. Itâs nice for the fans, nice to see the promotion of the film and Argylle looks very good. I hope I get invited to the premiere.â
Among the smorgasbord of bizzarro misjudgements in that short statement is that itâs ânice for the fansâ. Is it? Could they care less? Did any of the 40,000 people in Stamford Bridge (bar perhaps Dua Lipa) leave the house wondering whether their game would double as a film promo, or were they even pleasantly surprised when they saw what was going on?
Itâs not nice for the fans, itâs nice for the club, who presumably received a healthy fee, or anyone else with a vested interest in the box office sales of a tepid-looking, Kingsman-identikit production.
At heart, football fans are remarkably simple creatures. Their primary priority is success, then effort, then transparency. They either want their club to be good, or they want them to look like theyâre trying to be good, or at very least they want open and honest dialogue with their club about why theyâre not good. There have been numerous occasions this season in which none of those relatively simple demands have been satisfied at Stamford Bridge.
Of course, thereâs an argument that mid-match movie advertising is just where football is going, or already is, that when shirts and hoardings and half-times are already advertising space, nowhere is safe. Perhaps thatâs true, but there is something particularly grating about inserting something into the matchday experience designed to distract from the sport, rather than be passively consumed alongside it.
Chelsea have enough issues on-field without creating more for themselves off it. Until they understand what fans actually want, which is not to be used as advertising for a Hollywood blockbuster, among other things, this PR psychodrama will only get worse.
