An open letter to Chelsea's new owner following Roman Abramovich's decision to sell

I certainly didn't anticipate writing this. Not this year at least. Perhaps down the line. One day. Maybe. Yet what the past seven days have strikingly highlighted is nothing can be taken for granted.

Not peace. Not compassion. Not contrition. It can all be snatched. Ultimately, this is why what happens to Chelsea Football Club post-Roman Abramovich feels a little trivial at this moment in time. Perhaps even completely unimportant.

Yet for you – yes, you – the next owner of Chelsea Football Club, it is important to appreciate what you're taking on, accept the emotional responsibility and moral obligation you have to supporters.

It is they, not Abramovich, that you are indebted to. It is they who helped save Stamford Bridge. They who travelled home and away in the fallow years of the 1970s and 1980s. They who ensured there was a club for the Russian to purchase from Ken Bates back in 2003.

Abramovich's decision transformed Chelsea overnight and the rampant success that has followed over the previous 19 years has understandably been savoured by supporters. The Blues have won it all and in the process have become one of the world's biggest football clubs and brands.

This is what you are taking on from Abramovich and it will be a challenge. Many will expect further successes, more trophies, a continued stream of big-name signings. But I am a little more restrained in my outlook. Or perhaps it is just fatalism.

The Abramovich era worked because he wasn't focused on making money. He wanted to win no matter the cost and that is all that seemingly mattered.

Your approach is likely to be very different. Supporters will largely accept that. Money will be invested and a return expected. That's business. But failing to build