Football must learn a lesson from Roman Abramovich and Chelsea

There is always a danger when you dance with the devil. Chelsea FC supporters are realising the truth of that maxim now.

For 19 years they felt like they won the lottery at Stamford Bridge. When Roman Abramovich paid £60million for the club it changed the nature of the game in England. Rival teams and fans hated Chelsea’s new-found wealth. Yet many of them hoped that a similar sugar daddy would turn up on their doorstep.

Abramovich’s arrival skewed the way English football operated. Manchester United and Liverpool ended up with leveraged buyouts because they were too desperate to look beyond the façade of those purporting to invest in their clubs. The Premier League stood by and did nothing. Manchester City hit the jackpot and, as recently as last year, Newcastle United supporters celebrated becoming the ‘richest club in the world,’ courtesy of questionable Saudi Arabian money.

Richard Scudamore, the former chief executive of the Premier League, a man who brought so much wealth to the top flight, waved away concerns about the dangers implicit in the new financial landscape. His stance was that the market would sort things out. It never did. Things just got more out of control.

There was always a concern about what might happen to Chelsea if Abramovich got bored and pulled out his cash. This was, after all, the club Ken Bates paid £1 for in 1982. Bates corrects those who say he bought the club. “I acquired the debts for a quid,” he always says. The Bridge has experienced perilous days before. The successes of the past two decades have been subsidised by the Russian owner. Until Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, it looked like this might have gone on forever.

That was impossible. The reckoning had to come at some point.