Chelsea new owners advised against letting high profile executive leave the club

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has warned the next Chelsea owners to avoid the same mistake made by Arsenal and Man Utd by not allowing high-profile executives to leave the club.

Neville stressed the mistake which Arsenal and Manchester United made caused some big problems at the clubs to date.

Chelsea are expected to get new owners soon after their Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, instructed the US merchant bank, Raine to find a buyer for the west London club following sanctions from the UK government.

As of now, the report claimed a dozen viable offers had been made, and the sale could be completed as early as the end of this month.

Other high-profile figures who could join leave Stamford Bridge once the deal goes through are the director, Marina Granovskaia and the chairman Bruce Buck.

But Neville urged the Blues’ new owners to convince the duo, and others behind the scenes, to remain at Stamford Bridge.

In the case of Man Utd, after Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, chief executive David Gill also stepped down, while massive changes happened within the structure of Arsenal when both Arsene Wenger and David Dein departed a decade apart.

“…You want to make sure you have stability for two or three years. The last thing you want is all them leaving with Abramovich and then at that point you’ve basically got a massive upheaval which Manchester United have had when David Gill left with Sir Alex Ferguson at the same time,” he told Sky Sports.

“Or what Arsenal had when Arsene Wenger left and obviously David Dein left before that, that was a big problem for Arsenal.

“Don’t underestimate how important the sort of executives and football operators are at a football club. I think the first thing that the new owners will need to do is settle those operators down.”