THE QUIET REVOLUTION - From the US Tour 2004 Media Guide
Chelsea's rejuvenation owes everything to a Russian benefactor with a passion for English soccer.When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea FC for a reported 60 million pounds in July 2003, the club immediately became the talk of European soccer. Since then, the self-made Russian billionaire has transformed Chelsea from a company with serious financial problems into one of the most financially stable in Europe.
Mr. Abramovich was unknown in England, but at the time of the takeover was reckoned by Forbes magazine to be the 43rd richest man in the world. Outside Russia few beyond the worlds of oil and aluminium had heard of him. That was about to change.
He had been interested in purchasing a top European soccer club and went touring England looking at stadiums. He cast his eye over Manchester United and two of Chelsea's London rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham. But it was Chelsea he found most attractive.
The team was in Europe's top club competition, the Champions League, and had a share structure which made it possible to purchase 100 per cent. It was also just off London's famous King's Road, one of the capital's most desirable addresses.
Despite these positives, Chelsea also had debts of over 80 million pounds as a result of two things, development of the site containing the stadium with hotels, restaurants, museum and health club, and spending on players' wages and transfer fees. Under the former owner, Ken Bates, the club had over-expanded on and off the field, spending 66.3 million pounds in 2000 and 2001 alone.
A new manager, Italian Claudio Ranieri, was brought in not long into the 2000/01 campaign and a period of transition and stability was needed on the pitch. Off it, an expert in saving struggling businesses, Trevor Birch, was hired as chief executive to sort out the finances. Despite the situation in the 2002/03 season, the team rallied and finished fourth, guaranteeing the financial windfall of qualifying for the Champions League. It was a lifeline.
However, that lifeline would not be realised into cash straightaway, it just bought some time. In summer 2003, the banks were getting nervous and wanted to discuss calling in their loans. All options were being explored and word was discretely placed in certain soccer circles that Chelsea needed financing quickly, or it was up for sale.
Mr. Abramovich, a significant shareholder in the Russian oil giant Sibneft, had falled in love with soccer, and more importantly English soccer.
He had attended the World Cup semi-final and final in 2002. But what had really excited him was the 2003 Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester United and Real Madrid. It was a classic and Mr. Abramovich had caught the soccer bug.
He wanted to get into football, so his best business advisors drew up a short list. Chelsea was an obvious choice and doing a deal was really just a question of getting together with then chairman Bates and chief executive Trevor Birch.
Surprisingly for football, the six days that it took to initiate and then complete the whirlwind deal remained shrouded in total secrecy. Only a handful of people knew what was going on.
That made the announcement on the evening of July 1, 2003 even more dramatic. The football world was in shock and the sale of Chelsea to Mr. Abramovich, for 60 million pounds, made front page headlines around the world.
From being a club in financial strife, Chelsea was suddenly among the most fiscally sound and ambitious in Europe. Everyone wanted to know one thing. Who was Roman Abramovich ? An entrepreneur with interests in oil, aluminium and other businesses, he is a man who cherishes his privacy. He gave only three interviews - all to business journalists. Later he would give two more, but on the insistence they took place in Chukotka, to publicise the faraway Russian province of which he is Governor as part of a charitable project to rebuild and transform the long-neglected region.
One thing was certain, though, he had fallen in love with soccer. He turned up to all the games, and even made several appearances at training, always with a broad smile on his face.
And he was as good as his word in trying to put Chelsea at the forefront of European football. He revitalised the transfer market by authorising unprecedented spending on players. Every day the media was awash with stories linking Chelsea with the biggest names in the game.
Last summer some of those names duly arrived, but just as importantly so did top young British players to add to the already strong domestic core of stars such as John Terry and Frank Lampard.
The Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff became the club's record signing at 17 million pounds, then England internationals Joe Cole, Glen Johnson and Wayne Bridge were all brought in alongside foreign players like Geremi, Juan Sebastian Veron, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo and Claude Makelele. In January, the club added to its long list of young England intenationals with Scott Parker. In total more than 100 million pounds was spent buying up the contracts of new players.
With such a wealth of talent at the disposal of manager Claudio Ranieri many expected the Blues to dominate. But Chelsea lost out in the title race to London rivals Arsenal, who went the whole season unbeaten to become league champions.
Nevertheless, in Mr. Abramovich's first season as owner Chelsea had their most successful year since 1955, finishing second in the domestic league, known as the Premiership. Just as importantly, the club reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time, beating Arsenal on the way in a classic quarter-final tie.
If anyone was in any doubt that Mr. Abramovich wanted Chelsea to challenge the top teams in Europe, this was dispelled by the club's displays, which included impressive wins against Lazio both home and away.
Off the field the changes aimed at achieving this have continued too. A new chief executive, Peter Kenyon, left his job at Manchester United to be part of the new Chelsea project. It was also decided that the club needed the best manager, and Jose Mourinho, the man who turned Portuguese club Porto into champions of Europe, replaced Ranieri in June.
