Chelsea are set to add yet another face into their administration team in the shape of Minnesota Timberwolves executive Sachin Gupta.
Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in 2022 and since then they have hired a number of new personel into their backroom staff team. Sachin Gupta will be the newest addition to the group. The American who has no previous experience working with Association football will join Chelsea in an unspecified role. He is set to leave the executive vice president of basketball operations role at NBA franchise Minnesota Timberwolves to take up the role at Chelsea.
WHO IS SACHIN GUPTA?
The 41 year old Sachin Gupta has loads of expereince in the administration and data analysis field. He has been and around various NBA franchises since 2006. Before joining Minnesota Timberwolves in 2021, Gupta began his career at Houston Rockets as a special advisor for general manager Daryl Morey (2006 to 2013). Then took charge as a consultant and vice president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers (2014-16). After leaving Philadelphia he went to become the assistant general manager at Detroit Pistons from 2018 to 2019. So that is almost 18 years of expereince in administration level. He is graduate of MIT and Stanford University school of Business graduate.
Minesotta Timberwolves were and average NBA franchise who made into the playoffs once in a while. But since 2021 they have made into the play offs regularly and even made the conference finals in 2023-24 season. That is like reaching the semi finals. According to the Athletic’s Krawczynski and Liam Towney, Gupta provided stability during a chaotic moment and helped Timberwolves to regularly qualifying into the play offs. Rephrasing their words, He built one of the strongest strategy and anlytical department for the NBA franchise. So now we understand from where Todd Boehly got attracted to him because he is a genius at what he does. In this new era having a well expereinced data analyst in your team is a really good addition.
Questions have raised since Todd Boehly and company has taken over at Chelsea. Eventhough Gupta has good CV in hand. Does he have a CV that fits to work in Association Football Club in Europe? because there is so much at stake here in Europe. Failing to qualify for Champions League or getting relegated can land you into huge economical losses.
HIS ROLE AT CHELSEA
The story broke through the Athletic that Minnesota Timberwolves executive Sachin Gupta is set to join Chelsea backroom staff. They haven’t mentioned about any particular position he is taking up. So that is undisclosed as of now. But looking at his backround it is quite explicit that he is going to do data analysis. And if we think about it, Data analysis mostly take place in player performances, players couting, academy players performances etc. So he might be added to the scouting or strategy analysis team. However it is a new challenge that he is set to take on at Chelsea. He has spent nearly a decade with basketball franchises in America.
In America they don’t have to worry about relegation, they don’t have to worry about UEFA competitions, they don’t have this academy set ups and transfer window businesses. These are some but yeah it will be a really new atmosphere for Sachin Gupta at Chelsea. The task in hand is simple. To get Chelsea back to the top. And we have to see if Gupta’s data analysis and strategy making is going to help the cause. Todd Boehly and co would wish to see a Tedd Lasso like dream story happen but time will say.
WHAT NEXT FOR CHELSEA?
Chelsea have new faces among the backroom staff but their onfield performances is what matters. The Blues sit 8th in Premier League with 7 points in hand. They got past Bournemouth 0-1 last time out thanks to a late Christopher Nkunku winner. Next time it is a London derby at the London stadium against West Ham United. The Hammers under Julen Lopetegui has made few good additions to the team but hasn’t had the best of the starts. They sit 14th with only 4 points in hand. Anyway it’s a London derby and it alwasy has a different ring to it. Chelsea would be hoping to comeback with a victory again from an away match and West Ham would like to boost some confidence with a win against their rivals.
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