the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – suggested the Seagulls had caught Boehly “with his pants down” after he arrived as Blues chairman.
Brighton published their 2022-23 accounts last week (2 April), revealing a club-record turnover of £204.5million and a Premier League record of £122.8million in profit.
Those figures do not include the record transfer fee of £115million paid by Chelsea for Moises Caicedo – with that move set to be included in their 23-24 accounts.
The Blues’ deals for Marc Cucurella and former boss Graham Potter were big contributors to Brighton’s record-breaking profit.
Despite a series of player and manager departures, the south coast club managed to qualify for the Europa League last term and are on track to record another top-half finish this season.
Brighton ‘have been living off the Chelsea pension fund’, says Wyness
Wyness praised Brighton as a “well-run” club and hailed “very good operator” Paul Barber, who serves as the club’s CEO.
He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “I think they should be throwing a party for Todd Boehly.
“It’s been the money that he has been putting into Brighton that has caused this record number.
“I know Paul Barber very well, and he’s a very good operator. But I don’t think even he will say that they should take the full credit – because this has come from huge player sales, and compensation for Graham Potter as well.
“They’ve been living off the Chelsea pension fund, and it’s been fantastic for them.
“I wish I could say it was pure skill and business sense. Certainly, they are well-run and have managed to replace players and managers very well.“But the prices they were able to get for those players and the way they handled the transfer dealings, God bless them.
“They’ve broken transfer records in the Premier League – and they’ve caught someone new to the game and had their pants down.”
