Wrexham's Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have shown Todd Boehly how to do things after the American was widely criticised for addressing Chelsea's squad after their 2-1 defeat to Brighton, labelling the club's current situation 'embarrassing.'
It comes after Frank Lampard's side were condemned to their third defeat in a row under the caretaker boss ahead of the biggest game of the season against Real Madrid in the Champions League tonight (Tuesday).
Chelsea were outplayed by their south coast visitors throughout the game and were lucky to be within reach of Roberto De Zerbi's side, only staying in the game due to a mixture of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, wayward finishing and the woodwork. It leaves the Blues without a win in five games as they search for their third permanent manager in 10 months.
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Having purchased the club as reigning European and world champions, reaching two domestic cup finals last season and winning the UEFA Super Cup alongside a top four finish, Boehly-Clearlake currently see their side in 11th, stranded even from the top half now.
Lampard himself has already addressed the owners coming in to speak after games, saying: "Yeah I am comfortable with that. For me, there may have been some criticism of our old owner for not coming to games. Not being around and that wasn’t always true to be fair.
"But when an owner is invested in their interest in the team and wants to help and improve it’s the prerogative to have the input they want. I remember the moments as a player of owners first coming into the dressing room. It first happened at Chelsea, never anywhere else before and I remember being really happy that they were there.
"You could touch them, you could high five them and listen to them and feel them. That’s not a bad thing in terms of the identity of the club and where you want to get to. There is no problem with it from my point of view.
"I had my things to say after the game. If the owner comes in and wants to be positive and speak to the players, then I think it is his part to do that. It can be regular in the modern day. It shows passion and that’s the first thing that I like."
Gary Lineker appears to disagree though and replied to a report from the Guardian on Boehly coming into the dressing room, saying: "I bet that helped [puzzled face emoji]."
The owners have come in for plenty of criticism this season after a string of poor decisions and were even confronted by fans at the game. Kepa doesn't see an issue with their active involvement though, saying: "Todd comes to the changing room in every game. He had different chats with us after different games. I am not going to say what he said but this is normal when he came to the changing room."
Likewise, Reynolds and McElhenney have taken the footballing world by storm in Wales with Wrexham, showing their passion publicly in the popular documentary and social media coverage of the club. “We like to do things a bit differently at Wrexham,” executive director Humphrey Ker told Talksport.
“I heard about Todd Boehly going into the Chelsea dressing room, and the one thing we’ve tried to really foster at Wrexham is the relationship between the players, the management and the ownership – that we’re all in this together pulling in the same direction.
“Rob and Ryan are never out of the dressing room, to be honest, when they are over (from the United States). They wait until after the game, but they still have this giddy schoolboy thing that they can’t believe that they are allowed in there.
“I know that kind of connection is one they are really proud of and we are really proud of. We hope it makes it a fun place to come and play and watch and generally a fun place to work, which has got to be a good thing.”
The task for Boehly and Co is to oversee a transformation on the pitch as well as changing opinions of the fans. The Wrexham example may well be one to follow in order to speed that process up.
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