First, Xabi Alonso was hired as the new manager. Now, the final punishment for historical financial irregularities has been settled. It truly is a fresh start for Chelsea both on and off the pitch this summer.There will be many outside of Stamford Bridge who will be upset over the Football Association following UEFA’s and the Premier League’s lead by effectively simply handing the club a fine of £10million. The punishment is not quite that simple. There is also a suspended transfer ban — the Premier League issued one as part of their findings four months ago too — in place. A suspended six-point deduction was overturned on appeal.But given there were 74 FA charges for breaching agent regulations regarding the signing of players between 2011 and 2018 under previous owner Roman Abramovich, many non-Chelsea-related people in the game will think they got off lightly. Unsurprisingly, it is not a view shared by those in charge of Chelsea.This case has been hanging over Chelsea’s head from the moment the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium did their due diligence when buying the club in May 2022. After spotting irregularities while going through the books, it was their decision to report the findings. It was not the case that the governing bodies spotted something awry and had opened up an official investigation into Chelsea on the back of their own work.