Could Roman's commitment to Chelsea be on the wane ?

zocoss SG

No doubt he was still celebrating Russia winning their bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The Russian triumph has already impacted badly on English football.

Now it could have serious ramifications for Chelsea.

Vladimir Putin has made it clear he expects oligarchs like Abramovich to contribute significantly to the country's £30billion costs.

So how much longer will he fund Chelsea, a financial exercise that has set him back more than £700million?

Abramovich - whose commitment to Chelsea seems to be flagging - has already instigated huge cost-cutting at the Bridge.

Instead of an anticipated £100m in summer signings, just £23m was spent on Ramires (£18m) and Yossi Benayoun (£5m). No wonder Carlo Ancelotti is fretting.

The question now is: where do Abramovich's loyalties lie?

To a club who are in the middle of their worst run since September 2007?

Or to his country as they start their countdown to the biggest sporting event they have ever staged?

Or, to be more exact, to his master Putin, the overlord who allowed Abramovich and his fellow oligarchs to make their fortunes?

And he can take them away if they don't play ball.

FIFA could now see their decision to back Russia also help their long-held ambition of breaking the power of the leading Premier League clubs.

Their jealousy at the success of England's top flight and the way Chelsea and now Manchester City are buying trophies through financial clout has already seen them put in place regulations.

Clubs must break even by 2013-2014 or risk a ban from the Champions League.

FIFA's end-game is for the Champions League and all football to be played on a level playing field.

And as FIFA rein in the top clubs, they themselves grow stronger thanks to awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to countries with the financial clout of Russia and Qatar.

dragg SG

what is ancelotti complaining about?

18 out of 23 million spent on ramirez!!!

mrwonderful SG

18 m on ramires...jesus christ. i would not even take him for free.

just proves that ancelotti is woeful in the transfer market. maybe worse than benitez.

the winning squad he inherited from the previous coach, none of them were his purchases either

Y_Shun SG

Ancelotti does not buys the players, the scouting team/board does it

Ancelotti only coaches the team and decides who to play.

iceFatboy SG

Ancelotti does not buys the players, the scouting team/board does it

Ancelotti only coaches the team and decides who to play.

This is only for chelsea right?

if he only coaches the team, how he plugs the weakness if there is, with the players that he wants/buy. or he just throw his requirement to the scouting team/board?

zocoss SG

Lotti actually inherited many good players like Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Essien, Cech, Malouda and Anelka... Those he bring in are like not good kind...

trolol SG

to those who doesn't know, ancelotti did not buy ramires and yossi benayoun.

zocoss SG

I don't think there is any prove that he didn't suggest or buy them especially Ramires, so we can't assume he didn't have anything to do with the deals. Afterall, they are internationals too... And they arrived under his tenure...

And also, previously I don't think Chelsea look at small tiny Brazilians until Ancelotti came in. Remember that other Brazilian that Chelsea also tried but he didn't want to join them? That guy also skinny like a stick kind... For all we know, it was Lotti all the way pushing for these signings in the hope that he could unearth another Kaka?

mrwonderful SG

how do you explain why ancelotti plays ramires and mostly starts with ramires despite his awful showing? every match? whenever he plays chelsea concedes a goal. ramires is like a child. his shirts are probably XS from the looks of it. easy to bully around the pitch. he is probably a contender for worst chelsea player ever award

he has a CB called bruma but does not dare to use him because he is a youngster. ivanovic cannot play CB, ferreria generally is cmi, bosingwa is a lousy RB. if u watched marseille vs chelsea.

he will die die play either ferreria or ivanovic (or god forbid both) as CBs. if u recall when both of them played as CB sunderland trashed chelsea. it does not matter whether its at stamford bridge or not if your players are lousy no amount of supporters can make them win the game.

attack wise he will rely on drogba anelka malouda forever even though they are in poor form and age is getting to them. he uses sturridge sparingly, and dont even need to talk about kakuta, etc

Y_Shun SG

Yes theres an article saying Ancelotti is the coach not in control of the full tean - hence he is not invovled in buying or selecting players to buy. He can indicate his interests(e.g what position), but he might not get them

Rooney9 SG

its like the director is hiring an executive and the manager managing the department, has no say in hiring the executive, who is reporting to the manager.