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10 years ago today

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King Binny

King Binny

Part of the Furniture
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3036838.stm

Roman-Abramovich_P_2603345b.jpg

Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140m

The original £140m deal, back when Manchester United and Arsenal were dominant, took just 15 minutes to push through, as Abramovich, after watching United in the Champions League that year, decided that he wanted to buy his own club.

Chelsea were duly acquired and the face of English football changed.

Since that deal, 11 trophies have been won and 10 permanent managerial appointments made.

Claudio Ranieri — Sept. 15, 2000-May 31, 2004
Jose Mourinho — June 2, 2004-Sept. 20, 2007
Avram Grant — Sept. 21, 2007-May 24, 2008
Luiz Felipe Scolari — June 11, 2008-Feb. 9, 2009
Guus Hiddink — Feb. 11, 2009-May 30, 2009
Carlo Ancelotti — June 1, 2009-May 22, 2011
Andre Villas-Boas — June 22, 2011-March 4, 2012
Roberto Di Matteo — March 4, 2012-Nov. 21, 2012
Rafael Benitez — Nov. 21, 2012-May 25, 2013
Jose Mourinho — June 3, 2013-
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Europa League 2012/13,
Champions League 2011/12,
FA Cup 2011/12, FA Cup 2009/10, FA Cup 2008/09, FA Cup 2006/07
Premier League 2009/10, Premier League 2005/06, Premier League 2004/05
League Cup 2006/07, League Cup 2005/06
(& 2 Community Shields in 2004/05 and 2008/09)
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Chairman Bruce Buck was just a corporate lawyer who was a season ticket holder back in 2003, but he suddenly found himself in at the heart of the negotiations.

He said: “Mr Abramovich went to see the Champions League quarter-final between United and Real Madrid and he was enchanted. He fell in love with football. He asked his advisors to find out what clubs in England were available. An investment bank was hired to see what was available. They came back with five clubs and among them were United, Chelsea and Spurs.”
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I wondered back then that if Chelsea hadn't pipped us to CL qualification that season, would it have been us. Anyway, an extra reason for them to knock Man Utd off the perch?
 
Chief Executive Gourlay said: "It has been a hugely successful decade for Chelsea Football Club since Roman Abramovich took control, with an unprecedented number of trophies in the last 10 years.

"The club has also taken great strides off the field in that time, adapting to meet the challenges of football's changing landscape.

"Mr Abramovich's early investment in playing staff paid dividends in creating a team admired around the world, but to keep Chelsea among the elite we have always known we must produce our own world-class talent and we are beginning to see the benefits of our Academy, which will help us meet our long-term objectives for Financial Fair Play.

"As we prepare for the next 10 years, I feel we are well positioned to continue the success we have so far enjoyed under Mr Abramovich and everybody here is determined to build on that progress we have made."
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Chairman Buck recalled the club's troubled financial situation before Abramovich arrived with a takeover which changed the landscape of English football beyond recognition.

The Russian billionaire was only the Premier League's second overseas owner, following Fulham's Mohamed Al Fayed, and he set the template for the subsequent influx of eastern European, American and Middle Eastern money into the league.

He bankrolled the arrival of £150million worth of talent in Glen Johnson, Alexey Smertin, Geremi, Juan Sebastian Veron, Damien Duff, Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo, Claude Makelele and Scott Parker that first summer.

More and more international stars have followed, with the club spending an estimated £874m on transfers and £1.5billion on wages during his decade at Stamford Bridge.

"What came through to me loud and clear in those early days was the new owner's passion for the game and the potential he saw for what Chelsea FC could achieve, both on and off the pitch," Buck wrote in the Times.

"But few people could have comprehended 10 years ago how Roman Abramovich's ownership would quickly transform Chelsea, taking them from a club facing mid-table mediocrity and near bankruptcy to become one of the most formidable football teams in the world.

"Yes, there is no denying that there have been almost the same number of managers as there have been trophies (11, if the recently returned Jose Mourinho's two spells are counted separately). But the proof is in the pudding.

"Now of course, Chelsea fans, the fans of other clubs, journalists and observers of the world of football look forward. Will Roman Abramovich become bored, having won all the major trophies? My answer is no. Can Jose Mourinho bring more success to the club? My answer is yes."
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Graeme Souness – the ‘chauffeur’ who drove him to his first match in England – thinks the Russian billionaire has been great for the game.

Liverpool legend Souness was Blackburn boss when a pal asked him to give Abramovich a lift from Manchester airport, where he had landed his private jet, and take him to see United play Real Madrid at Old Trafford.

It turned out to be a 4-3 Champions League thriller, with Brazilian Ronaldo bagging a hat-trick and David Beckham scoring twice for United. But it wasn’t enough as Real went through to the semi-finals 6-5 on aggregate.

Abramovich was so smitten that he decided to buy his own Premier League club.

Souness still chuckles about their fateful first meeting – and how the man of so few words totally blanked him.

He said: “Roman sat in the front seat and there were three other people in the back. He didn’t know who I was.

“I tried to talk to him but I got this distinct vibe from him and the message was, ‘You just get on with the driving’.”

Souness added: “You can say all you want about Roman but nobody really knows him.

“The thing I like about him is that he never says anything in public. We all have to second guess.

“What you can never argue about is that he put his cash down. You can never get away from that. If you are a Chelsea supporter you are delighted with him.

“He may have his own style – if he is not happy he will change things.

“There have been times when I am sure even he will admit that he got rid of a couple of managers too quickly – Carlo Ancelotti for one.

“But it is hard to be critical in any way of someone who has put trophies on the table.

“It is not the British way of hiring and firing, and that will be an issue for some. But that’s the way our game’s evolved.

“There are also a lot of players around – at Chelsea and elsewhere – who should be grateful for the money they are on now, and much of that is down to him.

“When Roman came in and paid the big salaries it raised the bar everywhere.

“After he bought Chelsea I saw him in the boardroom and we had a good laugh about that first meeting.

“One thing is certain – there are many more clubs in the land who must wish I’d driven him along to meet them after what he has done since.”
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Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a "pioneer" who has transformed football in his decade at the club, ex-sporting director Frank Arnesen has said.

The Blues have won three Premier League titles, one Champions League and four FA Cups since the Russian billionaire bought them in July 2003 for £140m.

"I think he has been a pioneer, not only for football in England, but worldwide," Arnesen told BBC Sport.

"He was the first from outside who came in, bought a club and invested money."

Abramovich revolutionised Chelsea after buying them from Englishman Ken Bates, spending more than £100m on transfers in his first summer in control on players including Juan Sebastian Veron, Joe Cole and Claude Makelele.

After bringing in manager Jose Mourinho from Porto a year later, the club went on to win their first top-flight title for 50 years in 2004-05.

Other trophies have continued to follow, with Abramovich's approach subsequently replicated by billionaire backers at Manchester City and Paris St-Germain.

"It had never happened anywhere in the world," Arnesen, who resigned from his post at Stamford Bridge in 2010, continued.

"Then you see Manchester City and many clubs with owners from outside, but he was the first who came in, was serious about it, made an impact and wants to do everything - not only for the first team but also the youth and the stadium."

Dane Arnesen was at Chelsea for five years after being drafted in from Tottenham in 2005.
He revealed Abramovich, while not knowing "a lot about football before he went into it", soon took a keen interest in all areas of his investment.

"Sometimes I spoke with him two or three times a week, sometimes you didn't speak with him for a month because he has a lot of other things - he has a big business to run - but when he was in London he'd just show up," Arnesen said.

"He'd call me and say 'who are you playing?' I'd say 'the Under-15s are playing Arsenal on Sunday at 3pm'.

"He would come with some guys, watch the game and enjoy it.

"He enjoys very much to go to the FA Youth Cup - he'd go the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the finals. He was always there and would always congratulate us and the staff.

"He was very, very aware about those things and never forgot it. That is something people maybe don't know, but for me that showed he has a big heart for the club."
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So if Abramovic had some bad Thai or a hooker or something that day, he wouldn't have ever bought Chelsea?

Amazing
 
  2. Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    1h​
    10 years ago Abramovich bought Chelsea, but what has Roman ever done for them? 3 PL titles! Well apart from 3 PL titles, what has Roman....
    Expand
  3. ​
    dean pearson ‏@deanpearson07
    18m​
    @GaryLineker god you talk shit lineker ..... Stick to your walkers advert #clown
    from Southend-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea
  4. ​
    Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    10m​
    @deanpearson07 You're not old enough to have seen 'Life of Brian', so I'll forgive your ignorance this time.
    Expand
  5. ​
    dean pearson ‏@deanpearson07
    2m​
    @GaryLineker to even ask what he has done for our club.... The bloke saved our club, how ever he gos about he's work #endof
    from Southend-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea
  6. ​
    Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    37s​
    “@deanpearson07: @GaryLineker to even ask what he has done for our club.... The bloke saved our club, #endof” < Oh bless!

    Hide conversation
 
Graeme Souness still looks back with bemusement on his cameo role in the Roman Abramovich story. How he had been asked by Pini Zahavi, his friend and super-agent, to pick up some mystery men arriving by private jet at Manchester airport.

How he drove three rich Russians to Old Trafford for a Champions League tie between United and Real Madrid. How he tried to strike up a conversation with the strangely quiet man in the passenger seat who kept ignoring him and staring out of the window.

“I tried to make small talk about football but the guy next to me didn’t say a word,” Souness recalls. “It’s only later that I realised that, in my big silver Merc with tinted windows, he thought I was a chauffeur. I think he thought I was very mouthy for a driver. That was Roman Abramovich.”

Souness dropped Abramovich and his entourage off at the end of Sir Matt Busby Way and did not think much more about the encounter. But he had just oiled the wheels of the most significant takeover of all in the game.

Abramovich was so dazzled by United’s 4-3 victory at Old Trafford that he left with fresh resolve to buy a football club. A few months later, on July 1, 2003, he added Chelsea to his luxury toys along with the mansions, yachts and jets.
 
themn said:
  1. Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    1h​
    10 years ago Abramovich bought Chelsea, but what has Roman ever done for them? 3 PL titles! Well apart from 3 PL titles, what has Roman....
    Expand
  2. 0b7768435b6efcb849d1a583186667bb_normal.jpeg
    ​
    dean pearson ‏@deanpearson07
    18m​
    @GaryLineker god you talk shit lineker ..... Stick to your walkers advert #clown
    from Southend-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea
  3. 6bf764acffa5dd404f3ba75850c7d26b_normal.jpeg
    ​
    Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    10m​
    @deanpearson07 You're not old enough to have seen 'Life of Brian', so I'll forgive your ignorance this time.
    Expand
  4. 0b7768435b6efcb849d1a583186667bb_normal.jpeg
    ​
    dean pearson ‏@deanpearson07
    2m​
    @GaryLineker to even ask what he has done for our club.... The bloke saved our club, how ever he gos about he's work #endof
    from Southend-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea
  5. 6bf764acffa5dd404f3ba75850c7d26b_normal.jpeg
    ​
    Gary Lineker ‏@GaryLineker
    37s​
    “@deanpearson07: @GaryLineker to even ask what he has done for our club.... The bloke saved our club, #endof” < Oh bless!

    Hide conversation
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Proof that there are loads of bell ends of Twitter who's fingers and thumbs work quicker than their fucking brains.
 
Do Lineker and his fellow bellend Stephen Fry take alternate days to announce to the world that they're leaving twitter and then rejoining twitter? These self-obsessed little tits are actually men in their fifties. Beyond pathetic.
 
He's a vile, corrupt crook who has done nothing but help destroy football. I hope his helicopter crashes into a mountian in Siberia in 'mysterious' circumstances.
Oh and fuck Chelsea, there idiot 'fans', their mercenary players and their little plastic flags. That this club has won the European Cup tells you everything you need to know about modern football.
 
I know many an old skool Chelsea fan who wishes he'd never come. Sure they wanted to win things but not this way and not in a fashion that phased out the ordinary fans by tickets costs and corporate entry.

Chelsea fans used to be Alan's, Kevs and Trevor's, now they're Toby's, Josh's & Rupert's.
 
Spionkop69 said:
I know many an old skool Chelsea fan who wishes he'd never come. Sure they wanted to win things but not this way and not in a fashion that phased out the ordinary fans by tickets costs and corporate entry.

Chelsea fans used to be Alan's, Kevs and Trevor's, now they're Toby's, Josh's & Rupert's.
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True. Their fans were horrible bastards in the days of Kerry Dixon and Gordon Durie etc, but at least they were real. I know one guy who feels this way about what's happened to his club. At first I thought should I give him the benefit of the doubt? Then I just thought 'you can fuck off too'.
 
Rafa was too good for em..

I hope Mourinho's 2nd stint is as bad as Hodgsons stint with us..

The say never go back... this could be Mourinho's undoing...
 
gkmacca said:
Do Lineker and his fellow bellend Stephen Fry take alternate days to announce to the world that they're leaving twitter and then rejoining twitter? These self-obsessed little tits are actually men in their fifties. Beyond pathetic.
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Remind me again, how many times have you left 6CM?
 
Ray Wilkins is quite the consummate brownnoser, talking about "Roman" as if he's great mates even though, when pressed, he admitted that the closest he got to him was 'a nod or a smile when we passed in the corridor'.
 
RAY WILKINS last night accused Roman Abramovich of damaging the England team during his decade as Chelsea owner.

Wilkins, a former coach under Rom, said: “As far as our product, he’s changed it for the better.

“For our England team, for the worse. Unfortunately the influx of foreign players over the last 10 years has been such that our young players are not getting an opportunity.”

Wilkins, who played for Chelsea in the 70s, believes Abramovich’s policy of spending big to attract the leading overseas stars has been copied by his Premier League rivals.

And that has led to a lack of chances for up-and- coming home-grown talent in the top flight.

It has left Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson with a shortage of top performers to pick from.

And Wilkins fears that could hurt England for years to come, following the failings of the Under-21s at Euro 2013 and the Under-20s in their World Cup this summer.

He added: “We’re seeing it slip right the way through the ranks — not just the first team and Under-21s.

“We now see the Under-20s being kicked out by Egypt, Iraq and Chile in their group.

“They should be qualifying from that group.”
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Yes Ray, because England were fucking amazing before foreigners and Roman Abramovich came along.
 
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