Chelsea FC: So how much did it ‘Cost’ Roman Abramovich to make a quality football club?
It’s June 2003 and sports pages all over the world boast – and really boast, boast, for some reason – one very unlikely name – that of a Russian millionaire, a certain Roman Abramovich. Chelsea FC’s name, of course, was a faithful companion in each
case. Yes, it was the summer of ‘the’ takeover. A little over seven years have gone by we still remember that event
fairly well -Fairly well, yeah.
“The Takeover” – as I shall take the liberty of calling it – has sparked plenty of debate over the years, especially as the subject has soared to unprecedented heights in the years to come. Not to forget it also gave birth to a new generation of Chelsea
fans all over the world (a FACT whether you like it or not!) and bought – pun intended – it a good amount of limelight - a VERY good amount of limelight. Oh and yeah, some odd thing known as “silverware”, too (the Club has actually won the Premier League title
thrice as many times in the last seven years as it did in the rest of its ninety-nine years of existence). “The Takeover” was a gigantic success (again, a FACT, whether you like it or not).
But let’s get back to the debating part, shall we?
Back in 2003 we didn’t know exactly how big it was going to be. There were people who overestimated the move “they’re bloody well going to win everything now with all that money!” and those who underestimated it “money can’t buy you success, fellas, it’s
all about the ‘experience’ ”. As we now know it, both the estimates were off the mark and the truth –as it always is – was somewhere between the two extremes.
I would not recount all the achievements of the club in the past seven years since that would require a whole lot more time and space, but even a casual glance down memory lane would tell me, and others who’ve been following football during this time, that
Chelsea has been a true force at club level, locally and continentally, during this time. But the question is: was it all because of the money? Did Chelsea FC, or did it not, simply “buy” success? Or were there other factors, too? Well, here’s what
I think:
Money – as it mostly does – proved to be a launching pad for Chelsea and that, my friends, was just that. You can finance a business but any good businessman would tell you that making it run and yield results isn’t JUST about money. Heck even a bad businessman
would tell you that.
The more important thing is decision making. Chelsea FC has made good decisions. Bringing in Jose Mourinho was a “decision” – and a brilliant one at that. Fine, you’d say they brought him in only because they could
afford to, but hey, Man City has a few times over the purchasing power of Chelsea.
If reports are to be believed (of course, we, sadly, can’t go looking into Mr. Abramovich and Mr. Sheik of Araby’s bank accounts, ourselves), which means they could afford to bring in – and believe me, they
should bring in – not just one but numerous Jose Mourinhos, Didier Drogbas, John Terrys and Frank Lampards. Which reminds me, Terry and Lampard – arguably their two best players over the past seven years, excluding Drogba – as we know were not brought
in (bought? Brought?) during Abramovich’s reign.
The renovation of Chelsea done by the masterful Jose Mourinho was more a success of the entrepreneur than that of the financer. For instance, Drogba, Kalou and Malouda together cost a little less than 39 million pounds – less than half the amount of money
Real Madrid paid for one Cristiano Ronaldo. Drogba alone cost Chelsea around 24 million pounds, which is as much as Manchester United paid for Juan Sebastian Veron. Well
and we all just happen to know who’s been the more successful Premier League player. So let’s just say that the money factor is totally blown out of proportion on most occasions.
How much does it cost, then? A heck a lot of brains, sure enough, sire.
(The writer is a part time entrepreneur who transforms into a football fanatic during the dark hours of the night, something like Edward Cullen with a brain)
Tags: