Before Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in June 2003, Chelsea were a team struggling to get into the UEFA Champions League. Following his takeover and after spending £448,700,000 on transfers since then Chelsea find themselves champions of England.
For a team that struggled to get into Europe this marks a great change in fortunes. But even the most hardened Chelsea fan cannot disagree when I state that it is plainly obvious that Chelsea would not be the powerhouse they are had it not been for Roman’s millions.
Over the past few years Abramovich has pumped in a lot of cash into the club and it has paid rich dividends on the trophy cabinet. Recently Chelsea released their accounts which showed losses of close to 70 million, this despite winning the league and FA Cup last season. Also this was released on the day Chelsea signed Torres and David Luiz for a total of close to 75 million. The loss of 70 million does not include the money spent on the above mentioned players.
During the Abramovich tenure Chelsea have spent on an average £44,757,143 per season.
In Roman’s first season at the London club he spent a net total of £153,350,000 on transfers. This included the likes of Makelele, Petr Cech, Joe Cole, Arjen Robben all of whom who went onto play crucial roles in Chelsea’s title wins in the next 3 years.
All this investment led to Chelsea finishing 2nd in the table which was a vast improvement from their previous season were they finished only 4th.
The following season Chelsea won their first Premier League title under Jose Mourinho. This time Chelsea’s net spending was close to £47,150,000. During the window, Chelsea bought 2 players who would prove to be to be extremely vital in the years to come. The 2 players were Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho.
Drogba was signed from Marseille for 24 million Euros and Carvalho was signed from Porto for 20 million Euros.
Following all this investment Chelsea won their first title. But it was hardly a surprise considering the vast amount of money pumped into the squad. In his first 2 seasons at Chelsea, Abramovich signed close to 23 players out of which ten exceeded 10 million Euros.
In Mourinho’s 2nd season and Abramovich’s 3rd season Chelsea spent a whooping £111,900,000 on transfers. All the investments paid dividends as Chelsea lifted their 2nd consecutive Premier League title.
So far Abramovich had pumped in a total of 325,200,000 Euros into the club and had won 2 Premier League titles
In the next 3 seasons the investment reduced and with that Chelsea stopped winning titles. They failed to win the Premier League, fell at the final hurdle of the Champions League. The only trophies they won during this 3 year period were 2 FA Cups and a solitary Carling Cup.
Although the investment might have reduced it had in no way stopped. In the next 3 seasons he spent 76 million Euros on players and despite all this they failed to win the Premier League or the UEFA Champions League, the trophies that really matter.
In the 2009-10 season Abramovich spent just 24 million Euros and yet Chelsea managed to win the Premier League and FA Cup.
Yet it cannot be termed as a huge surprise as most of players of the double winning squad were bough t for hefty sums and few were nurtured or developed by Chelsea.
Players like Cech, Lampard, Drogba, Ashley Cole, Anelka, Essien and Ivanovic were all bought by Abramovich. These players all were essential to Chelsea’s title win and played key roles.
This season during the summer Chelsea spent on just Ramires and bought no one else. Along with that they sold off certain experienced but old players. This resulted in Chelsea unable to cope when injuries came and even slipped to 5th in the table at one point.
Right now Chelsea are 4th in the table and barring a miracle are effectively out of contention for the Premier League crown.
Because of their dismal season so far, Abramovich once again brought out the checkbook and splurged the cash. On the deadline day of the Winter transfer window, they signed Torres from Liverpool for 50 million and signed David Luiz from Benfica for 21 million.
In the same period Arsenal have spent 142,550,000 Euros on transfer and have spent only a net amount of 18,000,000 Euros which is close to nothing when compared to the £313,300,000 net expenditure during the Abramovich tenure.
Ever since the Glazer takeover Manchester United have spent just £183,800,000 with a net expenditure of £14,450,000.
So effectively Chelsea are in a position now were to contest for the title they require for Abramovich to spend the cash and are now dependent on him.
Abramovich’s model is not just bad for football as a sport but also for the club itself.
As a result of owners like him the transfer market has reached such a ridiculous situation were mediocre and raw talents are being sold at inflated prices. Clubs have started to demand exorbitant prices for prices who ought to be sold for half the prices being demanded by the clubs.
It’s also made it extremely tough for smaller clubs to buy players and most talented players are going to a few teams.
It is also bad for the club as well especially in the long run. It has become clear that the club does not produce quality youngster like other clubs most notably Arsenal and Manchester United to a certain extent.
Their only source of talent is Roman’s cheque book. Whenever he has failed to invest Chelsea disappoint and struggle. It also means that managers have to deliver instant results and there is no time to adjust and adapt.
This means that they don’t get an opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the system like the youth setup and rarely integrate any player from the youth setup into the first team, something every other top club is doing with great success.
There is a lack of futuristic planning at the club which means that few managers focus on youngsters.
It’s hard to blame the coach either. The coaches at Chelsea are under immense pressure to deliver the goods. During the Abramovich tenure Chelsea have had 6 managers while Arsenal and Manchester United have had just 1 and Liverpool 4.
This results in a lack of stability and means that Chelsea have few youngster who are really capable of stepping up and taking responsibility. Also when the new rules regarding financial play come in Chelsea may be affected badly because of their extravagant spending.
Let’s not forget that only a few of the players bought end up being successes. A large number of high priced players are flops only to be sold off to some other club resulting in huge losses. Some of the big name flops include Crespo, Shevchenko, Wright-Phillips, Veron, Adrian Mutu and Scott Parker.
If there is one thing the Abramovich tenure has taught us, it is that success can be bought but it won’t last long.
The day Roman’s cash stops to come in, that day Chelsea will fall back to Earth.
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