Chelsea face Liverpool on Sunday with a new manager apiece. For the last few years, the Reds have had their sights on Manchester City as their top rival – but now things could be about to change, and an old rivalry could be about to be restored.
The Blues against the Reds was a real mid-2000s classic, with Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez and their teams clashing in famously dull (but acrimonious) games both in Europe and the Premier League. Now, according to the Athletic, tensions are on the rise again, but this time fuelled more by ownership than managers.
Both teams are owned by American private equity groups, but ones with very different approaches. Fenway Sports Group have done a brilliant job at Liverpool, spending slow and steady, recruiting Jurgen Klopp and winning it all with a steady and methodical rise to the top.
Chelsea’s Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have taken the opposite approach, spending all they can to try and get the rebuild done in 2 years.
Chelsea and Liverpool gear up for potential war
The owners’ disputes are now being played out on a footballing level. The Athletic report that Chelsea are now blocking the requests of Liverpool scouts to attend their youth games. This followed the move of Cobham talent Rio Ngumoha to Anfield in the summer.
On a reciprocal basis, Liverpool are now denying Chelsea’s requests. The Reds are bemused by the situation, given Ngumoha’s transfer “was given the green light by the Premier League after passing a five step review.”
They think they’ve done nothing wrong, and it’s just sour grapes from Chelsea.
It’s all part of a bigger picture divide too, with Chelsea having backed Man City in the recent “associated party transactions” regulations dispute, and Liverpool the Premier League instead.
This won’t all translate to action on the pitch just yet – but eventually there will be some trickle down.
