[Sport] The inside story of Roman Abramovich and Chelsea's new era

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The inside story of Roman Abramovich and Chelsea's new era

The first thing the Chelsea players usually notice is the extra security detail.  That’s when the players know there is at least “a chance” that Roman Abramovich will appear.

“We’d ask if ‘the boss’ is in today,” former goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer explains. “The answer would always be they don’t know.”

The security are just told to be ready. Kidnapping is an ever present danger for someone so wealthy, who would command such a ransom.

Right now, they don’t know when Abramovich will be back again. He hasn’t set foot at Stamford Bridge or Cobham in a year and a half. Since Abramovich can enter the UK through his Israeli citizenship, the public theory has been that it is down to an ongoing irritation at the government’s refusal to give him a visa amid strained Anglo-Russian relations. It had raised inevitable questions about his commitment to the club, as well as suspicions he might be open to a sale.
There have been considerable answers this summer. Abramovich has more than made his presence felt. Football certainly knows he’s there.

Chelsea have so far spent around £200m on transfers this window, which is far more than any other major club, but also £70m more than that astonishing first summer back in 2003.

“It does remind of that first wave of expenditure,” former executive Paul Smith, who was at Stamford Bridge for that period, says. “I think it probably seems a bit of a reset for the club.”

The timing, amid a global pandemic, makes it all the more attention-seizing. The expenditure is so great that it is really the story of the summer, re-asserting Abramovich’s status as one of football’s major players, while forming a key chapter in the story of his ownership.

It adds a certain symmetry that Chelsea’s first home game of the season is against Liverpool. That was the fixture that ensured Abramovich bought the club in 2003, and a trip to Anfield was also the first match of his ownership. Liverpool are now the champions, and the standard that Abramovich expects of his own side. That expectation is what this expenditure represents, as much as anything.

One of the many questions is why now? Why the extent of the expenditure? Are Chelsea ready to reclaim their status as a team on a par with Liverpool and Manchester City? What - as far as we can ascertain - is the thinking of one of the most influential but enigmatic figures in football?