The date was Sept 1, 2008 and, for the first time under
the billionaire ownership of Roman Abramovich,
Chelsea
had lost out on a player to
rivals with deeper pockets.
Robinho duly joined Manchester
City for a British transfer record fee of £32.5 million and the
Premier League landscape has not been the same since.
In a stroke, Chelsea’s reputation as the school playground’s
ultimate bully was dismantled. And, although there have been three
further trophies, the sense that this is an ageing Chelsea team
with an excessive reliance on the core of John Terry, Frank Lampard
and Didier Drogba has only heightened.
It had been hoped that the inevitable transition could be
managed rather than bought. The rationale was that the initial
spending splurge had been necessary but, with millions also
invested in the academy, Chelsea would produce a conveyor belt of
young talent.
One key consideration was missing: clubs with the best history
of producing players — Manchester United, Arsenal and Crewe
Alexandra — tend also to have had stability in the dugout.
For Chelsea, with Abramovich also expecting instant success, no
manager can have felt sufficient job security to risk the sort of
faith in young talent as Arsène Wenger has at Arsenal.
So if Chelsea are unable to organically grow their way out of
the current slump, can we expect a return to the sort of spending
to rival Manchester City?
The evidence is mounting that Abramovich is no longer prepared
to sign the sort of cheques that he once seemed to distribute like
confetti.
Andrei Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Ricardo
Carvalho and Michael Essien all cost in excess of £19 million, but
the last of the club’s five most expensive transfer fees was paid
in 2006.
Abramovich is certainly a less obvious presence at Chelsea
matches than during the first few years and there is a
long-standing suspicion that his interest may have waned.
It is also difficult to ignore Russia’s 2018 World Cup bid.
Abramovich has already ploughed millions into improving football
facilities in his homeland and has been closely involved with the
successful 2018 campaign.
The expectation of significant financial support is no secret.
“Let him dip into his pocket a bit,” said Vladimir Putin, the
Russia president. “It’s no big deal; he won’t feel the pinch. He
has plenty of money.”
Abramovich’s spokesman has responded by stressing that his
backing for Chelsea would “absolutely” continue.
There are other pressures. It is no secret that Abramovich was
affected by the global credit crunch. Estimates of his wealth vary
but, from 11th on the Forbes rich list in 2006 with a worth of
£11.4 billion, he had fallen to 50th last year at £7 billion.
Uefa’s new rules on ‘financial fair-play’ are also significant.
It was interesting that Abramovich was among those to give his
personal support to Michel Platini’s principle that, from the
accounting year 2011-12, clubs should not run at a loss.
Yet without another major spending spree, it is difficult to see
how Chelsea will keep pace with Manchester City or even the more
stable environments for nurturing players of Arsenal and
United.