Chelsea owners make promise to fans after 'disappointing' season

Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Capital Consortium are celebrating his one-year anniversary as owner of the Blues.

While the women's team had a phenomenal campaign with a league and cup double, their male counterparts had precious little to celebrate during a drab campaign.

While Chelsea were expected to challenge for the top four as a minimum, the west London side ultimately finished 12th in the Premier League and will subsequently not play European football next term.

This was despite them splashing out more than £600million in transfers and sacking two different managers.

But the club are confident of success under incoming boss Mauricio Pochettino.

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In a statement on the club website, Boehly said: "It's been just over a year since we completed our purchase of Chelsea. It was and remains a privilege for us to be custodians of our wonderful club. Twelve months on, we want to take the opportunity to speak directly to all of you, our supporters, as we reflect on the season just gone.

"Our promise to you was to make our fans proud. We remain completely committed to the long term and sustainable success of our club and fulfilling that promise we made to you. We know the huge potential we must grow to develop Chelsea FC and it is a role we take seriously. Everybody working here is relentlessly focused on driving us forward.

"Clearly, for our men's team, it has been a disappointing season and there is a lot we can and will do better. Throughout these difficult periods, our fans have supported our players and our team across the country, and Europe with unfailing loyalty. We could not be more grateful for your incredible support. The atmosphere at the Bridge when we played Dortmund will live long in our memories and serves as an important reminder of where we want to be.

"Our women's team has celebrated another astonishing season, winning the Double with an unprecedented fourth successive WSL title and third successive FA Cup. Whilst we just fell short in the Champions League, the team played in front of incredible crowds at Stamford Bridge and demonstrated their quality against the best European sides.

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"There are not enough positive things to say about Emma Hayes, her backroom staff, and squad who have dealt with adversity, injury and Emma's period of absence. Their character and hunger to win is second to none. We were also delighted to see Emma named the LMA's WSL Manager of the Year and Sam Kerr winning the FWA Women's Footballer of the Year award back-to-back.

"For all the challenges of the past year, we are optimistic about the future. We are looking forward to welcoming Mauricio Pochettino as the head coach of our men's team in July.

"We are building a modern scouting, talent identification, and recruiting infrastructure within our sporting department, led by Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, which will help us to identify and transform the squad around elite talent, a squad capable of consistently competing to win the Premier League, raise domestic cups and compete and win at the highest level in European football.

"We have also appointed Chris Jurasek as CEO to drive our business forward off the pitch, which in turn will make us more sustainable on the pitch.

"The success we are aiming for is only possible with our supporters behind us. We are proud of the creation of our Fan Advisory Board, which will meet for the first time over this summer, and we are confident its new members will ensure you are at the heart of decision making at our club.

"We will continue to ensure your voices are heard as we look to the future.

"For now, on behalf of the board and everyone at the club, thank you for your outstanding support. We hope you all have a good summer and look forward to welcoming you back to the Bridge in August."