The Premier League soccer club Chelsea has quietly concluded a two-year investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace culture without disclosing the findings, according to three people with direct knowledge of the review.
The investigation, conducted by an outside lawyer, was prompted by accounts of workplace bullying in the team’s marketing department that The New York Times reported in 2022, shortly after the club was sold. The dysfunction and pressure in the office came under heightened scrutiny after the suicide of a well-liked former executive, Richard Bignell.
In a letter sent in the fall to people who were questioned in the inquiry, Chelsea hinted that investigators had discovered problems, but the club provided no details and acknowledged no wrongdoing. The letter, which The Times reviewed, listed only safeguarding steps that the team planned to take.
The club’s letter noted, “Rich’s absence remains deeply felt, and we are committed to ensuring that lessons are learned from his experience at the club,” adding, “We will ensure that every staff member is able to share concerns and have confidence that they will be heard and supported.”
Chelsea rejected witnesses’ calls to share details of the investigation, citing confidentiality, according to another document reviewed by The Times and the three people. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they still work in the soccer industry and feared damage to their careers.
“This was a robust, thorough process and necessarily confidential to protect the individuals who participated and were impacted,” a Chelsea spokeswoman said in a statement.
The events at Chelsea not only cast a pall over the club, which is one of the world’s most valuable sports franchises, but also drew attention to the inner workings of teams in the Premier League, one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports, which draws millions of global viewers.
The club implemented recommendations suggested by a legal adviser hired for the investigation, the letter said. Those actions included the creation of an independent whistle-blowing service and the introduction of strategies to help employees minimize stress. The team also offered counseling to workers.
In the letter, however, the club did not offer what many employees who took part in the inquiry had sought: closure and acknowledgment of what they had endured.
Current and former employees of Chelsea portrayed to The Times in 2022 a dysfunctional work environment marked by unhappiness, intimidation and fear, particularly inside the marketing department. Chelsea later parted company with the department’s head.
The team announced the outside investigation shortly after the Times report and as the club went through a forced sale. The British government had imposed sanctions on Chelsea’s longtime owner, the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, in response to President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions forced Mr. Abramovich to relinquish control of the team.
The new owners, a group that includes the Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and the California-based investment firm Clearlake Capital, commissioned the outside inquiry the claims of bullying and mistreatment.
The new ownership group also reported to the Premier League earlier financial discrepancies by its predecessors, including allegations of off-the-books payments to fund player recruitment. League executives are considering what action to take against the club. The new owners have also spent heavily to recruit players, drawing similar scrutiny over whether they followed the league’s rules.
Some former employees say they have yet to recover from the stresses of working at Chelsea and told both the club’s human resources department and the lawyer in the investigation, Elizabeth Melville, about their struggles.
“In order to get closure, there needs to be an element of remorse shown,” said Conor El Sibai, who worked at Chelsea TV, the club’s in-house broadcaster, under Mr. Bignell, the network’s former head. Mr. Bignell killed himself in January 2022 after being forced out at Chelsea. The coroner’s report linked his death to “despair following the loss of his job.” Experts caution that suicides are complex and rarely caused by a single issue.
Mr. El Sibai, who now mainly works outside soccer, said the workplace environment at Chelsea damaged many others. He did not take part in the investigation.
“My sense is the owners are shirking that responsibility, and I don’t understand it,” said Mr. El Sibai. Sharing results of the nearly two-year investigation would offer, he added, “a chance to break with the past quite cleanly.”
Chelsea, in its letter, offered counseling to those affected by taking part in the review, which, the team acknowledged, “can be an emotional and challenging process.” Those questioned included the family of Mr. Bignell, who is survived by a wife and twin daughters.
For Mr. El Sibai and others, the effects of what happened at Chelsea remain enduring and painful, and continue to shape their professional lives. “It changes your level of ambition,” he said. “It makes you more sensitive to what you’re willing to put yourself through.”
Tariq Panja is a global sports correspondent, focusing on stories where money, geopolitics and crime intersect with the sports world.
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