THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT THE COUNTLESS, ALTHOUGH UNPROVEN (YEAH, RIGHT) CORRUPTION/ BRIBERY / FRAUD / BLACK-MAIL CHARGES AGAINST ABRAMOVICH. For that, all you need to do is wiki Abramovich. This is about something that is more important than even the Pope’s election, this is about the management of a football club, namely the Chelsea Football Club.
Now if you think I have no right to criticize Abramovich or his zany antics, Ha I’m a United fan, I care more about the Pope’s election than about Chelsea fans. Roman Abramovich is a sacrosanct for Chelsea fans. With the money Abramovich has spent as the owner of Chelsea, he has practically built the club. The logic basically works like this, You-Talk-Bad-About–Papa-You-A-Plastic. NOBODY is beyond fair criticism, not even Sir Alex Ferguson.
Now it’s time for some Football History recap. It was 2003, Bush was the President of America, America was engaged in war with Iraq and consequently Saddam Hussein was killed. Concurrently, in the footballing world a Russian “businessman” by the name of Roman Abramovich took over the companies that controlled Chelsea FC. Being the “businessman” that he was, Abramovich decided he would make Chelsea FC as big and relevant a brand as Manchester United and Real Madrid. What followed was unprecedented. Abramovich bought 14 PLAYERS!!!!! He spent £121,150,000, while letting go 5 players, 4 of them for FREE, and the fifth one for £500,000. That totals to a net spending of £120,650,000. To give you a little perspective, Petrol in India in 2003 would’ve cost you Rs. 32 per litre, now it will cost you Rs. 75+. Among the many toys Abramovich bought to play with, there were some proven World Class players. Claude Makelele, undoubtedly the best of the crop. Chelsea, even after so much investment couldn’t win a single trophy that season.
Papa Abramovich got mad and sacked Claudio Ranieri. His eyes were set on the shiny Portuguese Manager Jose Mourinho, who had won just the trophy Papa Abramovich was obsessed with, the Champions League. Since Papa Abramovich was mad, he essentially let go of 14 PLAYERS!!! Ironic, how he bought 14 players in his first season and let go of 14 in the next. I use the phrase ‘let go’ because only 1 of the 14 was actually sold for money, the others were either loaned, released, their contracts ran out or they retired. He bought another 9 players including Drogba, Robben, Cech, Ferreira and Carvalho for an estimated £95,000,000. That was £200mil+ invested ONLY in transfer fees in 2 years. Wages and other expenses ARE NOT being calculated. Chelsea won the Premier League 2 years in a row along with a League Cup in the following 2 seasons.