Roman Abramovich to sell Chelsea: Owner 'rewrote the rules' on how to run a successful club

When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in July 2003, the official statement announcing his arrival described the Russian as «a keen follower of sport and international football».

Abramovich's decision to narrow that interest down to solely Chelsea transformed the domestic and European game as his vast finance fuelled a 19-year era of success in which they were England's most successful club.

One of the most important goals in Chelsea's history was scored by Jesper Gronkjaer to give them a 2-1 win against Liverpool on 11 May 2003, the final day of the Premier League season.

It put Chelsea into the Champions League at Liverpool's expense, made the club a vastly more attractive proposition to potential buyers and led to Abramovich's £140m purchase from Ken Bates, giving them the base to attract the players that fitted the new owner's grand plan.

Since then it has been an almost unbroken tale of success in which Abramovich, even watching from afar, provided the one constant.

Managers have come and gone with ruthless regularity. Big-name players were replaced by even bigger-name players — but what remained ever present was Abramovich, his ambition and, most significantly, his money.

Now that is all about to change. You could even feel the uncertainty in the air in the unlikely surroundings of Luton Town's Kenilworth Road on Wednesday when the news Abramovich would sell the club was announced 62 minutes before kick-off in Chelsea's FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Abramovich led the way for the big-money «sugar daddy» foreign owners but will also be one of the most divisive, controversial figures to populate the game. The football legacy, however, will be one of success.

Abramovich noted that the established order when he arrived at