Chelsea FC – The method behind the madness

Roman Abramovich – eccentric billionaire or smart businessman?

For years now, Chelsea have been spending bucket loads of money in the transfer market. Every summer, and winter for that matter, the Blues are backed to sign at least one big name. The summer of 2013, as it turns out, is not any different.

The transfer market is yet to officially open, but, as luck has it, Chelsea are already ‘close’ to signing major superstars from leagues across Europe. As soon as the season ends, irrespective of how successful it was, the media goes wild with their imagination and start linking the Blues from West London to every big name in the world of football.

We do not have to rewind decades to see why this is the case though. Since Roman Abramovich stepped in the board room of Chelsea, they have followed only single mantra, ‘Success, at any cost’. Now, one could easily argue that the pensioners have bought their way to success. And for the masses, it stands true. However, behind all this madness, there is a method, and a rather brilliant one.

To begin describing this method, we will have to take a step back and look at the year when Roman took over the reigns at Chelsea. It was 2003 and Chelsea was a club which was on a Tottenham-esque rise up the ranks. They were playing attractive football and were churning out results; still, they were just about good enough for Champions League qualification. In came Roman with his crazy money and took an oath to turn the club’s fortunes around.

Ranieri received a war-chest and was instructed to sign the best available players to make an invincible team. He did make use of the overflowing cash and signed some top names from across Europe; however, the one thing he failed to deliver was a trophy. As a result, he was relieved of his duties as the coach of Chelsea FC.

The enigmatic Jose Mourinho was hired on the back of a Champions League triumph with FC Porto. Again, Abramovich made it very clear that he demanded success, no matter what the cost. Mourinho delivered, and how! A Premier League and League Cup double in his debut season was followed by another Premier League title the following season.

All of this made the big Russian smile and he believed his investment was paying dividends, if not in numbers, at least in pride. However, all of this was to change as grey clouds hovered over Stamford Bridge. Mourinho was unable to deliver a third Premier League title on the trot.

Even though Chelsea won both the domestic cup competitions, something was not right. Cracks were starting to show in the relationship between Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho. Back-to-back losses to Liverpool in the Champions League did not help either. So, in the following summer, when Roman decided to take the matters in his own hands and signed some top-class players without the assent of Mourinho, things started falling apart.

Soon after that, Mourinho left the Blues by ‘mutual consent’. It was the end of the chapter, at least for the time being.

After Jose’s departure, the hot seat was handed to Avram Grant. He did well for, dare I say, an ‘interim manager’, as he guided Chelsea to their first-ever Champions League final before departing. And hence, the managerial merry-go-round began.

The following season, ‘Big’ Phil Scolari was the man in charge at Chelsea. And to put it frankly, he was not very effective and, therefore, was sacked midway through the season. His replacement was a certain Guus Hiddink, who guided Chelsea to FA Cup glory in 2008/09.

Next season, in somewhat of a surprise move, Chelsea hired Carlo Ancelotti as their new manager. The appointment paid instant dividends as Carlo won Chelsea their first-ever Premier League and FA Cup double. Chelsea fans were happy and so was the Russian oligarch.

In 2010/11, Chelsea was not able to replicate similar success as they ended the season trophy-less. However, the failure did not hurt the supporters as much as the immediate firing of Ancelotti. A man who won a double in his first season surely deserved another chance at glory.

However, Abramovich had plans of his own. During the season, to strengthen a weakened side, he dished out £72million on Fernando Torres and David Luiz. What is more surprising is that Carlo Ancelotti was not consulted even once while these decisions were being made. Again, it was Roman’s desire to take matters in his own hands when the sailing became hard that led to their downfall.

In came Andre Villas-Boas, who brought a renewed sense of optimism along with him to the club. The former member of Mourinho’s staff was now in charge of the whole club. Juan Mata was signed for £23.5 million and a whole lot of money was invested in youth. Everyone associated with the club was certain that Chelsea were now trying to mend their ways and build a team for long-term success.

But that was not to be. Six months down the line, AVB was shown the exit door after a string of poor performances. On his way out, he picked up plans of the long term ‘project’ and shoved them in his briefcase. His replacement was none other than his assistant at the time, Roberto Di Matteo.

AVB and RDB at Chelsea

Di Matteo then led Chelsea to their first Champions League success in 2012. Roman Abramovich was pleased to win the trophy he was so desperate to win, but was certainly not happy with the way Chelsea won it. He wanted to win the trophy with panache and not mere luck. Di Matteo’s time at the club was over; however, Abramovich could not find a proper reason to sack him, as the Italian handed him with the holy grail of all trophies.

Abramovich’s hand was forced and, as a result, Di Matteo was given the manager’s job. But if we have learned anything from the past, Roman always gets what he wants. He sacked RDB at the first sight of poor results, which, in turn, led to the infamous appointment of Rafael Benitez.

The former Liverpool boss was not a popular figure amongst the Chelsea supporters; but as everyone already knew, he was the ‘interim manager’. So, everyone had to deal with it whether they liked it or not. To be fair to Rafa, he did manage to win Europa League with Chelsea.

This brings us back to our original question. What is the method behind all this madness?

Well, if you failed to notice it in the dragged-out summary above, here it is.

With trophies, comes money from various sources – from ticket sales to television rights to tournament prize money and more. When Abramovich took over at Chelsea, he prioritised trophies over anything else. He knew that those trophies will bring loads of cash along with them.

When Claudio Ranieri spent £120 million on new recruits without a single trophy in return, that was unacceptable for Roman. The guy just spent £120 million of his money; so why would one expect anything less than glory in return?

Mourinho spent about £70 million and managed Chelsea to Premier League glory. However, it was financial glory as well. Chelsea received about £20 million in television revenue, about £10 million in ticket sales and about £30 million as tournament prize money – a total of about £60 million. And if we add the merchandise sales and the sponsorship deals that the triumph attracted, the sum jumps to around £100 million. Unless you are bad at maths, you would know that £100 million is more than £70 million. So, it made sense, financially, for Roman Abramovich. Hence, the Russian was happy.

The same suite was followed for the next season. Chelsea regained their Premier League crown and everything was well on the yacht of Mr. Roman Abramovich. Chelsea made massive profits and now, thanks to all the success, had a global identity (more merchandising, further sales, increased following, basically, more money).

By the time Mourinho left the club, it had become a shark. Global appeal and following was at an all-time high. People across the world were familiar with the Blues of West London.

So, when Roman Abramovich decided to spend £72 million on Torres and Luiz without a return of a trophy at the end of the season, he was gutted. His investment failed because the manager was not able to win silverware. Sure, they received a huge sum thanks to their sponsors, merchandising and position in the Premier League table, but it was not enough to justify the £72 million outlay. Someone had to pay; and sadly, it was Ancelotti.

That outlay was more than made up for when, in 2012, Chelsea lifted the Champions League. Chelsea received an astonishing £40 million as television revenue and another £15 million as the prize money for winning the tournament. If we add the revenue from ticket sales and merchandising, we get a staggering £82 million, which was, ironically, £4 million more than the losses suffered the previous year.

So, there stood Roman Abramovich, with a smirk on his face, seeing his master plan unfold in front of the world. However, with great success comes hunger. And Abramovich’s hunger was beginning to grow.

Chelsea again spent a massive amount in the summer of 2012 on the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses and more. That sum is yet to be repaid through success. Gladly though, they have the man for the job – none other than Jose Mourinho.