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The Curse Of The Blues: Why Money Can’t Buy Chelsea United Any Love

July 8, 2009

The Thing About Chelsea FC Is That Roman Abramovich Is Throwing Too Much Money At It In life there are now three certainties: death, taxes and Chelsea football club changing their manager every summer.

This year, Carlo Ancelotti takes the reins at the club after agreeing to part company with AC Milan, a team he has guided to domestic glory in the Italian league and cup, as well as the European Champions League. Guus Hiddink, who juggled the Chelsea manager’s job for half a season with his commitments as Russia’s national team coach, makes way for the Italian after Chelsea’s owner, Roman Abramovich, had to allegedly bow to pressure from Russian fans to keep the Dutchman solely in charge of running the affairs of Russia’s number one team. Cynics are saying, though, that Hiddink himself did not really want the permanent job at Chelsea, preferring the calmer waters of less demanding international football.

On paper, Chelsea have appointed a manager with a real pedigree. The distinct lack of silverware, with the exception of last year’s FA Cup, since Jose Mourinho’s departure, has caused Abramovich a great deal of concern and he will be hoping that Ancelotti solves the problem. The unfortunate reality of the matter for Abramovich is that he has gone through a number of managers, with outstanding credentials, and none has been able to bring a constant stream of success the Russian owner has been demanding. The Champions League forever eludes Chelsea and the creative attacking type of football that
Abramovich so badly desires has yet to materialise.

It seems odd that a club that has spent £300 million on players since its acquisition by Abramovich has not been able to stamp its dominance on the game. Chelsea, as a football club, remains fairly unimpressive in comparison to the elite tier teams in Europe. Their stadium and pitch, in comparison to, for example, Arsenal’s Emirates or Manchester United’s Old Trafford, is a laughable cabbage patch, seating a meagre 40,000 spectators. The club’s behaviour, both on the pitch and off, starting with the ‘tapping up’ of then Arsenal’s left back Ashley Cole in a London hotel some years back through to Didier Drogba’s idiotic and disgraceful rant at the referee in the semi final of the Champions League this year, leaves much to be desired. Chelsea probably had a right to feel hard done by after a few dubious referees’ decisions went against them, but their behaviour lost them a lot of sympathisers.

Then there is the constant chopping and changing of personnel. How can Abramovich expect to achieve the success he so badly craves when the club appoints a new manager every summer, and then, after a bad run of form which every team at some point of the season experiences, feels the remedy is to simply fire them? Perhaps the hardest reality that Chelsea have yet to accept is that with big money come even bigger problems. The majority of players who join the club are not there because of its history, as frankly, Chelsea doesn’t have a very impressive one. They are there because they are mercenaries, ready to sell themselves to the highest bidder and not necessarily the best team in the game.

The laughable case of former AC Milan star striker, Andriy Shevchenko, is a prime example of how money cannot guarantee success. Abramovich lured the Ukrainian striker, who at that point was at the peak of his game, for £30 million, including £120,000 a week salary. Abramovich was expecting to acquire one of the game’s recognised deadliest finishers. What he ended up getting was a washed out forward who, intentionally or not, found his retirement home. His potency in front of goal almost complete diminished and his pace had vanished. He found himself on the bench most of the time and his goal return at Chelsea was abysmal for a striker of his once undoubted ability. The most ridiculous thing about the situation is that while Chelsea probably thought they would be seeing the back of Shevchenko after loaning him back to AC Milan, he has now indicated he will be returning to pre-season training with his former London teammates, eager to make an impression on his old coach, now manager of Chelsea, Ancelotti. Shevchenko will happily continue to pick up his £120,000 weekly wage and probably be equally content doing from the comfort of the substitutes’ bench. A raw deal for Chelsea, but this is what happens when big money gambles do not pay off, and Abramovich, a man, who has absolutely no idea about football, simply was not prepared for such an outcome.

There is no doubt that Chelsea will continue to snap at the heels of the top four clubs in the English Premiership and reach the semi-final of at least the FA Cup or League Cup, but the Champions League will undoubtedly remain the Holy Grail that Abramovich will probably never find. Big money seems to be unable to buy the ultimate success in football as it creates too much tension within the club where personal rivalries and egos clash and undermine the team.

And then there is the small matter of consecutive managers in Chelsea not speaking decent English. Just like the owner. Which is a bit of a problem in itself.

– End –

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