CHELSEA fans have had to put up with the chants for years that ‘they bought it all’ when it comes to their incredible success.
Nineteen major trophies since Roman Abramovich took the club into another stratosphere when he assumed control from Ken Bates.
Roman Abramovich celebrates with the first of five Premier League titles Chelsea won under his ownership
Russian billionaire poses with the Club World Cup trophy the Blues won two weeks ago
There is no doubt that without the £2billion pumped in since 2003 they would be nowhere near the force in football they consider themselves.
With countries around the world turning their back on Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, the full force of the geo-political meltdown has reached the Premier League remarkably quickly.
Germany was first to cancel the proposed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia and now Abramovich may be forced to permanently cut off his supply of money to the club he has controversially bankrolled for almost 19 seasons.
Handing over ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea to the club’s Trustees is a seismic decision that has been debated for a long time with regular rumours that Abramovich has been willing to give up on his pet project.
Chelsea have consistently claimed that Abramovich remains committed to his empire run from posh SW6 and has no intentions to sell.
The night that bitter rivals have long prayed for has arrived and for Chelsea’s opponents it could not have been timed better.
Abramovich has been dragged into Russia’s outrageous incursion into its neighbour whether he likes it or not.
Designated a ‘person of interest’ by the UK Government with Labour MP Chris Bryant demanding he be banned from owning a football club.
Abramovich is being forced to hand over the reins at Chelsea and although he was smart enough to insert the word ‘currently’ into his careful statement, with no end in sight to the conflict in Eastern Europe and Russia now an outcast nation, don’t expect to see him back any time soon.
And whatever you feel about the way Abramovich built what was once a windblown, soulless football ground into a football amphitheatre, there is no debate about the impact he has had on Chelsea and world football.
Under former owner Bates there were threats of bulldozers flattening the famous Shed End to make way for a housing estate.
He wanted electric fences to keep the vast hooligan element at the club penned into the shabby, open terraces and put an end to the pitch invasions which were as regular as half time tea.
Bates once labelled Chelsea ‘The Manchester United of the South’ but the power struggle with cult hero Matthew Harding only served to further stump efforts to turn them into a genuine powerhouse.
Abramovich’s arrival was a rescue act for those with an affection for Chelsea.
The overnight transformation can be compared to that when first Manchester City and now Newcastle United have been catapulted into sport’s rich-list by their Arab sugar daddies.
Defender Glen Johnson was the first acquisition on the field. A relatively modest £6m deal from London neighbours West Ham.
It was the start of a process in which the club’s personnel at every level would be operating under a very different regime from then on.
Chelsea two weeks ago finally landed the one elusive cup that had evaded them – winning the Club World Cup.
It’s a trinket trophy rigged to pit the European champions against those of South America in a showpiece final.
Never mind that in reality it means little, Liverpool had won it before so Chelsea wanted it badly and it now completes the set.
Two Champions League trophies, five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League twice and the Super Cup.
The lure of spending huge sums on players to win those trophies was irresistible for managers even though they had a short shelf life if they couldn’t deliver the goods.
Blues fans are desperate for Abramovich not to depart as the club’s owner
Abramovich has announced he has passed over control of the club in the wake of Russia’s invasion
Manager Claudio Ranieri – later to win the Premier League with Leicester – was sacked.
Jose Mourinho strolled in with all the necessary glamour and attitude to make Chelsea the most talked about team in the world.
The self-appointed ‘Special One’ was captivating, funny, abrasive, aggressive and successful – winning the Premier League and League Cup double in his first season.
Ironically, 17 years on, Chelsea’s latest manager Thomas Tuchel, the tenth different full time appointment of Abramovich’s time in charge, must today attempt to shrug off the biggest news in the club’s history to try to win the League Cup for the fourth time of the Russian oligarch’s era.
Chelsea became synonymous with a ruthless demand for glory and whether it lost them friends on the way, nobody really cared.
Mourinho was sacked while eating Christmas dinner at the training ground. His predecessor Carlo Ancelotti in the tunnel at Everton.
Even club legends were not spared. With Chelsea ninth in the table, record goalscoring midfielder Frank Lampard was sacked after only 28 months in charge last year.
Midfielder Roberto Di Matteo just a few months after winning the Champions League.
Abramovich wanted Chelsea to be a subject of debate and got his wish.
Players like Didier Drogba, John Terry, Fernando Torres, Ashley Cole, Andriy Shevchenko, right up to Romelu Lukaku today, the star-studded dressing room had to fit the bill.
The siege mentality engineered by Mourinho, the ref baiting, the indiscretions of players off it, the incomprehensible sackings, the ‘palpable discord’ that existed between players and managers at times, Chelsea thrived on notoriety and became the first London club to win the Champions League as a result. They have done it twice now.
But just as they seem to have found an edgy nice guy in Tuchel to offer an open, honest and palatable image of Chelsea while also ultimately successful, extreme events have written the most dramatic chapter of all.
