Sporting director Laurence Stewart is set to leave the club, but don’t worry, we have like seven million sporting directors, so we’ll probably be just fine.
According to reports in the BBC and The Telegraph, Stewart’s departure in the “near future” is by “mutual consent”, though that phrase can cover all manner of actual situations, ranging from amicably professional to palpably discordant. Apparently it’s more of a “natural evolution” rather than a cosmic event that might wipe out a whole species,
but at the end of the day, we will have one less sporting director in our cavalcade. That may not be a bad thing.
Stewart agreed to join (a rather direction-less) Chelsea back in October of 2022, not long after Christopher Vivell (remember him?) arrived on the scene, though by the time he did actually join a few months later after the new year, a certain Paul Winstanley had also been appointed to the same position, and Joe Shields had also come over. So Stewart became one of many in the box, taking the top position as co-sporting director alongside Winstanley. Apparently, Stewart’s primary role had centered “on budget planning, style of play and football philosophy, and working closely with the data team” rather than recruitment.
Either way, now Winstanley is set to have the hot seat all to himself — no plans to appoint a replacement for Stewart — though Shields, Sam Jewell, and the recently appointed Dave Fallows all will have a say as well in Behdad Eghbali’s ear. In fact, Stewart’s departure is seen as a sign of the increasing influence of Shields and Jewell. (Vivell was booted out a long time ago.)
