LONDON – Month after stressful month has caused problems within Chelsea FC
Nearly a dozen employees of the club’s marketing department said they were beginning to expect to be rated by their boss in front of colleagues. Others said they faced his anger in more humiliating ways, ordering him to stand up and leave staff meetings at a single man’s word.
The pressure took its toll. By last year, several Chelsea employees’ weeks, or sometimes months, of medical leave had disappeared. At least 10 staff members – from a department that employs about 50 people – have left the club completely, one employee said. Then, in early January, a popular former staff member killed himself.
Although it is unknown whether workplace pressure was to blame, his death stunned the Chelsea employees who came to regard him as a friend and sounding board. During conversations earlier this year at a memorial service for him, their feelings of shock and sadness made way for anger.
“It should never have happened,” one employee said.
Amid increasing internal pressure to address the issues, Chelsea hired a consulting firm this spring to do what has been described as a “cultural review” by the marketing department. But few staff members had confidence in the process: The review of their workplace, they were told, would be overseen by the executive, which they say is to blame for the worst of its problems.
Hard times
It’s hard to think of a professional sports team whose employees have had to endure the kind of uncertainty that staff at Chelsea have faced this year.
The club’s world was turned upside down in March when the team’s longtime owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, was approved by the British government just as he announced plans to sell the Premier League club. Until that process was completed, those working for Chelsea – from players and coaches to executives and lower-level staff – were left to worry about how to do their jobs; whether they would still be paid for it; and if their work would still exist once a new owner has been found.
Some of that uncertainty disappeared in May when a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly paid a record price to acquire Chelsea and lifted the most onerous restrictions placed on the team’s business. But like everything that played out in the headlines, a more worrying situation arose behind the scenes.
The New York Times interviewed nearly a dozen current and former Chelsea employees in the report of this article. Everyone spoke independently and painted a picture of a dysfunctional workplace environment at Chelsea characterized by unhappiness, intimidation and fear. But it was the death by suicide in January of Richard Bignell, the former head of Chelsea TV, that caused years of concern about the environment within the team’s marketing department – a group of about 50 employees – and the behavior of its leader. , Gary, revealed. Twelve.
In a statement on Wednesday, two days after The Times contacted the club about the employees’ allegations, Chelsea said its new board had “appointed an external review team to investigate allegations made under previous ownership”.
“The club’s new board strongly believes in a workplace environment and corporate culture that empowers its employees and ensures that they feel safe, included, valued and trusted,” the statement said.
While the club said “initial steps have been taken by the new owners to create an environment consistent with our values,” it is unclear whether any steps have been taken by the new board in response to staff members’ allegations against Twelvetree. The club said he was not available for comment.
While Bignell’s family chose not to speak to The Times when contacted, nearly a dozen current and former Chelsea employees spoke of a toxic workplace culture under Twelvetree that they say belittled, bullied and sometimes even scared many staff members. makes you feel like just attending meetings.
The employees spoke on condition of anonymity because some still work at Chelsea, or in football, and feared retaliation or damage to their professional reputation by outlining their experiences in public. But a coroner’s report compiled after Bignell died in January and was reviewed by The Times linked his suicide to “despair after losing his job.”
By March, under pressure after Bignell’s death and amid growing frustration among the colleagues and friends he left behind, Chelsea had hired an outside firm to look into the culture within the department, as well as the allegations of bullying by several employees were made against Twelfth Tree. But to the frustration of some employees, the club did not acknowledge that the review was related to his death or any specific complaint.
One staff member who left the Chelsea marketing department said the experience of working for Twelvetree had simply become too much to take; out of fear for their mental health, the employee left the club despite not being assigned another job. However, the experience was so disturbing that the former employee explained it in writing to Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck. Others said they expressed similar concerns in communication with other top executives or in retirement interviews with the club’s human resources staff. But little has apparently changed as a bunch of employees have become so prevalent that it was an open secret among recruiters that candidates sometimes targeted open positions at Chelsea.
Few employees had confidence in the department’s review when they heard that it was jointly overseen by Twelvetree, the department head, and the outside consultants hired by Chelsea.
“That’s not going to address the concerns, is it?” said a person asked to participate in the review. “How can it be that he is reviewing his own culture?”
Staff members said they had not yet received any conclusions from the now-completed review, and that there were no changes to work practices.
“I consider myself quite a strong person and before that I worked with Chelsea and never felt I had to worry about my mental health,” said one former member of the marketing department. “But pretty soon after I joined, I did not sleep properly and it got worse and worse.”
That anxiety became visible in Bignell, according to several of his former colleagues. Bignell was a popular member of the club and headed his television business, Chelsea TV. The channel was initially managed by the club’s communications department before moving on to marketing as part of a new digital strategy implemented by the club’s hierarchy.
The switch meant drastic changes for Bignell, who ran a television channel for a decade and is now required to shift his focus to producing digital content for social media, accounts that were led by the team’s marketing staff. Bignell’s relationship with Twelve, three staff members recalled, was a loaded one; Bignell, like others, has struggled to deal with the marketing manager’s management style, which can include biting, screaming criticism of their work that, some employees said, sometimes left colleagues in tears.
Bignell, a married father of two young daughters, has largely hidden the torment he feels for his co-workers, employees said. They described him as a sunny, positive nature, a colleague who is always ready to share a joke or surrender. But gradually, according to people who knew him, his physical condition deteriorated noticeably.
“The last time I saw him, he was walking around Stamford Bridge and he was a mess,” said a colleague whom Bignell encountered in the summer of 2021, about the time he left on medical leave. “He looked sick. He lost so much weight. “
Bignell returned to Chelsea in September and was abruptly sacked the next day. In early January, he took his own life. The team, which announced its death on its website, said the “beloved” Bignell was “a very popular and highly respected member of the broader football and sports broadcasting family.” The coroner’s report, meanwhile, later linked his state of mind at the time of his death to his dismissal by Chelsea. “Richard was deeply upset by anxiety, depression and despair after losing his job,” the report said.
An ongoing exodus
Even after Bignell’s death, and after the club’s cultural review, the Chelsea marketing staff still lost employees.
Those who divorced say they have now become accustomed to providing emotional support to the colleagues who stayed. For example, after attending one recent party marking the departure of several employees, a former Chelsea staff member said she had spoken to so many individuals struggling with life at work that she felt the opportunity had doubled as a therapy session.
Chelsea’s new ownership group meanwhile said on Wednesday it had reached out to Bignell’s family members through the family’s lawyer. “Our hearts go out to Richard’s entire family,” the team said in a statement. “His passing was deeply felt by his colleagues at the club and across the football community.”
Senior Chelsea officials have already spoken to the family, raising concerns about the circumstances of his death, and staff members have said they have continued to press internally for changes. But the sale of the club in May only brought new uncertainty.
As the new owners take control of the team, the most powerful leaders of Chelsea’s old regime are replaced. CEO Guy Laurence, who manages the club’s day-to-day operations, and Buck, the outgoing chairman, were the most senior leaders staff members contacted with concerns about working conditions.
Now both are among those who will leave.
If you have thoughts of suicide, the following organizations can help.
In Britain, call Papyrus on +44 800 068 4141 (09:00 to midnight), or send a message to Young Minds: SMS YM na 85258. You can also find a list of additional resources at mind.org.uk.
In the United States, call the National Selficide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.