Sexual Harassment Rocks Chelsea Fc

Chelsea have sacked commercial director Damian Willoughby for sending a string of ‘inappropriate messages’ to football finance agent Catalina Kim that put a proposed multi-million pound investment project at risk.

In a statement to Telegraph Sport, Chelsea confirmed that Willoughby, who had been working at the club for less than a month, was dismissed on Tuesday for sending ‘inappropriate messages’ before being employed at Stamford Bridge for the second time in his career.

The complaint was made by Kim to Chelsea’s president of business Tom Glick, who hired Willoughby. Kim said she had been sexually harassed before his employment by the club and alleges she felt threatened over the telephone while he was working for the Blues.

The sacking of Willoughby, who started work for Chelsea in September, having previously been employed at Stamford Bridge between 2007 and 2010, has come just three months after the club’s new owners promised to ‘instil a new environment consistent with our values’.

In a statement, Chelsea said: “Chelsea Football Club confirms that it has terminated Commercial Director Damian Willoughby’s employment with immediate effect.

“Evidence of inappropriate messages sent by Mr Willoughby, prior to his appointment at Chelsea FC earlier this month, has recently been provided to and investigated by the Club. While they were sent prior to his employment at the Club, such behaviour runs absolutely counter to the workplace environment and corporate culture being established by the Club’s new ownership.

“The Club’s owners are working tirelessly to set and achieve the highest standards both on and off the pitch, and are determined to establish and nurture a culture of transparency, accountability, inclusivity, diversity and opportunity. The Club is committed to creating an environment which embodies these values.”

Kim has held talks with Chelsea and Glick, who became the first appointment of the new Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital owners in July, on behalf of overseas investors who want to pump hundreds of millions of pounds into the club’s mens’, womens’ and academy teams.

But those talks have stalled since Glick added Willoughby, who he worked with at Manchester City, to the negotiations that prompted Kim to raise her concerns about his inclusion.

Kim provided Glick with a series of messages that were sent last year by Willougby in which he asked her if she was naked, brought up the subject of having sex, posted an alleged sexually explicit video and suggested he would arrange a meeting with City chief executive Ferran Soriano if she was willing to be “naughty”.

Telegraph Sport has seen the messages, which show that Kim repeatedly turned down Willoughby’s advances and reminded him that he is married.

The messages allegedly became angry in March after Kim rejected a proposal from Willoughby to help fund a bid to buy Chelsea that would have rivalled that of Boehly and Clearlake. Kim instead provided investment for over 40 per cent of Nick Candy’s bid, which she later withdrew, and then a Sir Martin Broughton-fronted proposal that made the final three.

Kim was first introduced to Willoughby in 2015, when he was vice-president - head of partnership sales for the City Football Group, the stable of clubs including Manchester City, who she had been working with on various deals.

Glick informed Kim in an email on August 29 that Willoughby was Chelsea’s new commercial director and set up a meeting between the trio that took place at Stamford Bridge on September 1.

It was immediately after that meeting that Kim first raised concerns with Glick over the involvement of Willoughby, initially surrounding his attempt to raise investment as part of a bid to buy Chelsea. She alleges this prompted an angry phone call from Willoughby.

Kim forwarded Glick eight screenshots of messages of a sexual nature, including the alleged sexually explicit video, on September 3 - two days before Willoughby’s official start date at Chelsea.

In the two weeks since Kim first made a complaint against Willoughby to Glick, talks over her proposed investment project stalled. Chelsea’s staff were informed of Willoughby’s sacking via an internal memo on Tuesday and Chelsea later released a statement after being contacted by Telegraph Sport on Tuesday morning.

Kim is the chief executive of C&P Sports Group and has brokered multi-million pound deals between European football clubs including Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, and helped Real Madrid set up their first academy in Korea.

Willoughby left the City Football Group in July 2021 to become Vice-President at Electronic Arts. Kim says she did not previously make a complaint about his messages because she hoped she would not have to conduct business with him again and did not want to put any of her other professional relationships at risk.

But Willoughby’s involvement in her Chelsea negotiations prompted her to act. Approached for comment by Telegraph Sport, Kim, who is being advised by her solicitor Nick Trainer, said in a statement: “I can confirm that I made a complaint to Tom Glick about the general behaviour of Damian Willoughby over two years, including his recent threatening phone call to me. I strongly believe this is not a work environment and corporate culture that any Premier League club would tolerate.”

Lawyers for Willoughby declined to comment.

Chelsea’s new owners are already investigating allegations of a toxic culture of bullying within the club’s marketing department after the former head of the club’s television channel took his own life.

In June, the club confirmed they had appointed “an external review team” following the revelation Richard Bignell had killed himself aged 44 in January and that a coroner’s report had found he had been “deeply troubled by anxiety, depression and despair following the loss of his job”.

Chelsea said in a statement: “The club’s new board believes strongly in a workplace environment and corporate culture that empowers its employees and ensures they feel safe, included, valued and trusted. Initial steps have been taken by the new owners to instil an environment consistent with our values.”