…and That is Why we Love Roman Abramovic

To the rival fans, he is a rich, callous, extravagant oligarch owner of a football club who plays fantasy games with Chelsea but deep down inside every of these critics, they wish they had an owner who is as ambitious, loves their club like any passionate fan and is ready to go every extra mile to make sure his club succeeds and the fans become happy. They wish they had an owner who does not use the profit generated by the club to service their bank loans and debts; they wish they had an owner who will not run a football club like a financial corporation which at the end of every financial year will reap financial benefit and go eight-year trophy drought ; they also wish they had an owner who will not allow rival teams like Barcelona and Manchester City to poach their best players every year or see their successive captains join rival clubs for luck of ambition but rather have an owner who is ready to buy the best talents in the world at all cost. They will all love to have an owner who does not tolerate mediocrity from any manager and ready to pull the trigger on anyone who will not bring success to the club. They can choose to be hypocritical about their feelings but I bet you, deep down inside all rival fans they wish they had Roman Abramovic, the Chelsea owner as their owner.

When Jesper Gronkjaer scored his all-important goal for Chelsea against Liverpool in the 2003-4 final league match which helped us to qualify for the champions league ahead of Liverpool at a time when Chelsea was in a financial crisis, it was seen as the most important goal which helped Chelsea to stay afloat and not suffer the fate of teams like Leeds united or Portsmouth today. It was a goal which was to fetch us about £20million hence the match was dubbed the £20million match. However, little did we know that the goal was going to open the greatest opportunity for Chelsea to rewrite history with Roman Abramovic, the Russian millionaire who bought Chelsea for £140million. Today it is estimated that Roman has spent more than a billion pounds on Chelsea which has catapulted us in dining and wining with the elite clubs of Europe.

If there are sweet memories that every Chelsea fan will forever remember, it should be the Jesper Gronjkaer winner and Didier Drogba’s last kick for Chelsea. These two goals have changed the course of history for Chelsea in significant proportion. Didier Drogba’s penalty and contribution in Munich has put the club firmly back on its feet and in no small way has helped us to keep on snatching the best talents in the world today from the grips of our rivals. Ferguson can cry for all he wants but Hazard chose the “Champions League winner” ahead of the Manchesters. AVB and Spurs can scream to the blue sky but Oscar knows he will enjoy “a better exposure” at Chelsea than at Spurs. So in the era of Financial Fair Play rules which will limit us from enjoying the money of our super owner, Roman and compel us to spend more from our income, the need to win the Champions League to keep us in it and make enough money out of it was supreme for the future and direction of the club but Drogba solved all these problems with the rest of our European Immortals in Munich.

The arrival of our God-sent owner Roman Abramovic is a singular opportunity to Chelsea which all our rival fans will forever wish it never happened. Roman’s coming to Chelsea has not only changed the history of Chelsea but the EPL and the world football at large. The ecstasy and the intriguing moment of Mourinho’s era which heightened the rivalry among fans and even managers like Mourinho against Benitez and Arsene Wenger. The highest ever points attained by any EPL club and the highest number of goals have all been attained by Chelsea during Roman’s era. There have been great moments for EPL when four clubs will all get to the quarter final stage of the Champions league and even an all EPL final in Moscow, 2008. Thanks to Roman, great players have graced the EPL and Stamford Bridge. The likes of Michael Ballack, Deco, Shevchenko, Gudjonson, Robben, Anelka and the Legendary Didier Drogba are among the caliber of players who have entertained us. Not only top players but also top managers of this world, Jose Mourinho (arguably the best football manager in the world), Avram Grant,  Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, the great Carlo Ancelotti, young Andre Villas-Boas and now the Champion manager Roberto Di Matteo.

People have criticized Roman’s way of spending and even go ahead of creating the impression that he signs who he wants for his managers although it is a blatant lie. Although few of Chelsea signings have not performed to expectations and some being described as luxurious signings, the players they point to like Sheva and Torres were among the best players in their respective roles in the world before we signed them. No Chelsea fan did not pump fist in the air when we signed Andre Shevchenko and we all know the suspense and intrigue which surrounded the club during Torres’ last minute signing from Liverpool. If most of we fans were controlling the purse of Chelsea like Roman, we would have acquired these players just as Roman did. 

One key missing element in the recent Chelsea team was the lack of creativity in the team. Roman and the Chelsea board have made sure that this problem is addressed for good and in doing so it has gone to reiterate the fact that a Roman Abramovic owned club should not lack anything but have it in abundance. Today Chelsea can boast of a good number of the best creative players around like Mata, Hazard, Marin and now Oscar. In the middle of 2010-11 season when Didier had suffered from malaria and it became apparent that we needed to boost our striking force, we were presented with one of the best strikers in the world, a predator and someone who many thought cannot be bought, Fernando Torres Sanz the el Niño. Opposition fans vilified this signing considering the amount involved and his early performance. I believe their mouth have been shut after he contributed in no small way for us to win the champions league. To be frank, will you spend 35million pounds to buy Andy Carroll who apart from his inability to even control a ball also offers no shirt sale value and will only help you occupy mid-table or buy 50million pounds Fernando Torres who will not only boost your shirt sales but help win the most important trophy in Europe and he also has the ability to win European Golden boot award?

During transfer widows like these, whiles rival fans like Arsenal and Spurs only pray that they do not lose their key players, Chelsea fans only monitor the transfer window to check the next big thing to arrive. Aren’t we lucky and honored to be part of this great club? Also Chelsea fans have been spoilt by our rich owner to the extent that we choose who not Chelsea standard is and who is. When the news came that we were chasing Victor Moses, I heard some fans who were whining that he is not of our class. A player who is the key player for a rival EPL club Wigan is described can be described by some “spoilt” fans as not Chelsea standard. This is the level Roman Abramovic has brought us and has made us; it is a level where Chelsea fans feel confident of our power to buy the best players available in the transfer market; a level where we battle with other oil-rich clubs to buy the Hazards of this world; it is also a level where we can choose to spend 35million pounds or even 40 to acquire Hulk or Modric if we want.

When I read that after being acquired by rich Arabs, Malaga is suffering from financial problem or Blackburn has been relegated just after it was bought by some rich Indians, I just saw how lucky Chelsea is for not falling into the hands of such stingy millionaires. Roman Abramovic has set the pace in the world football; Chelsea is the blueprint for all wannabe owners. Roman has shown the way for Manchester City and PSG owners to follow but we are far from them. Roman will not rest until Chelsea conquers the world. When we won our first Champions League trophy, people predicted he will rest but he went straight to the dressing room and told the players that it is left with four more. Roman feels for the fans and his passion for Chelsea to succeed supersede everything. Roman will buy who we want and Chelsea will win when we want, he loves the fans and that is why we love Roman.

 

BY: Seth Adusei (twitter @sethaadusei)

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