Allan Prosser: Roman’s reign ends with a scene from Chekhov
EXIT STAGE LEFT: Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. We won’t know the truth about Abramovich any time soon: a cats-paw to Putin? An intermediary with Zelenskiy? A victim of poisoning?
Back in the day (1814) when Russian troops captured Paris to settle the first war against Napoleon they brought their appetites with them.
The invaders were mainly Cossacks, from, ironically, Ukraine, that country which has never existed according to Vladimir Putin. The Zaporozhian Host was immortalised in a classic book by Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba. Much of it was set in Kyiv.
When the Russians came to France they wanted things done quickly and, legend has it, would demand service that was “bistra”, from which the fast food restaurants, or bistros, derive their name.
It can be fairly said that Roman Abramovich also wanted “bistra”. It took him 13 managers and a sunk investment of €1.5bn to win it all, 21 trophies in 19 years. And counting.
Back in February, just nine days after the current European champions became world club champions, the Irish Examiner’s opinion column stated, correctly, that the “jig was up” as soon as Vladimir Putin made his rambling address on February 21 providing ‘friendship and mutual aid with Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.’ It was also clear, as the Irish Examiner said, that Abramovich represented a “low-risk and low-cost” target for politicians.
Nearly two decades earlier this newspaper said something else prophetic about Abramovich at Chelsea, and the way he was viewed by fans: “Most of them cannot believe what has happened. Perversely in the selfish world of football there are some who do not like it, muttering that it will end badly. But most have settled for the ride while it lasts, and if the club can pick up the Premiership or the Champions League along the way they will simply regard it as the business end of their Faustian pact delivering its part of the bargain.”
There is precious little clarity and no proof about what Abramovich has done. Most accusations against him are reheated from his 2012 court case with Boris Berezovsky where his counsel, one of the finest legal brains in Europe, acknowledged that Russia in the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin was a society in collapse, akin to America’s wild west in terms of rough justice and opportunity. This was a simile frequently deployed, sometimes admiringly, by people celebrating the triumph of capitalism.
Since then the principal point levelled against him is that the steel and mining company Evraz plc, in which he has a 29% interest, may have provided materials for the manufacture of Russian tanks, those tanks which are performing so successfully that their burnt-out hulks litter the roads to Kharkiv and Kyiv.
The company has denied this, and the vagueness of the accusations are demonstrated by every journalist who mentions them because they are obliged to juxtapose the Evraz statement with their recycling of the allegations.
We won’t know the truth about Abramovich any time soon: a cats-paw to Putin? An intermediary with Zelenskiy? A victim of poisoning? But if he has facilitated the Kremlin in its murderous onslaught there is weighty legal precedent for dealing with him. In the dock at Nuremburg in 1947 and 1948 were industrialists and financiers accused of aiding Hitler and his war machine. Eleven of the businessmen received prison sentences of between three and 12 years and the main defendant Alfried Krupp was ordered to sell all his possessions.
The man who received the longest sentence was Friedrich Flick who had been a coal, iron and steel magnate. By the time he died in 1972 he had reconstituted his business interests and become one of the richest people in the world.
These precedents of capitalists who made the wrong decisions may be instructive for Abramovich but attempts to say anything positive about his stewardship of Chelsea since his departure have been akin to pointing out that gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray were very good to their mother. There have been a variety of despicable comments from the ex-pros who are drafted onto TV for the purposes of tactical insight.
Even more has come from journalists in the commentariat vying to outdo each other in moral outrage and to increase the clickthrough rate by which many are judged in these trying times. Some have resembled 18th century dandies rushing through the noisome streets of London with an orange or a nosegay of lavender stuffed to their nostrils muttering about “dark days”; “stench”; “putrid air”; “the cesspit”; “wallowing in dirty money.”
Ah, yes. The “dirty money”. The “Grahzny Deng” as Alex and his droogs described it in the Russian Nadsat patois of A Clockwork Orange. The same “dirty money” that enriched West Ham United (Joe Cole, Glen Johnson); Manchester United (Juan Sebastian Veron); Liverpool (Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun); Leicester (N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Ben Chilwell); Arsenal (Ashley Cole and Olivier Giroud); Everton (Ross Barkley); Newcastle (Demba Ba); Blackburn (Damien Duff); Bolton (Nicolas Anelka and Gary Cahill); Southampton (Wayne Bridge); Charlton (Scott Parker); Manchester City (Shaun Wright-Phillips and Daniel Sturridge); QPR (Loic Remy); Stoke City (Asmir Begovic); Wigan (Victor Moses).
There’s a Russian saying: “money has no smell.” And in the Premier League that belief does not circulate solely in West London No wonder, therefore, that Chelsea supporters have rallied around their club. Their women’s team, headed by Emma Hayes, the personable and intelligent coach whose punditry puts men to shame, has been subjected to hostility. Abramovich was a huge supporter of the women’s game which is rarely a profitable venture in the UK. Kerrie Evans of the Chelsea Women’s Supporters’ Group said: “We’ve had all sorts of abuse and the whole situation has nothing to do with us. We’ve had no support really on how to handle it. So we’re all just teaming up together and supporting each other.” Tomorrow, at Wembley, Chelsea Women, having just won their third consecutive WSL title, will be attempting to do the Double by beating Manchester City There will be plenty of opportunity in the future to list what Abramovich did for Chelsea and there have been people willing to stick their heads above the parapet. Paul Canoville, who urged the government not to do anything to block a route forward which has been so successful for black players. Gareth Southgate acknowledging the huge impact that the Chelsea academy has had on England’s talent pool. Rio Ferdinand, not always the greatest ally of Chelsea, tweeting that “this is nothing but a direct attack on Chelsea FC. This isn’t about Roman Abramovich anymore.”
Ken Bates, who originally sold Chelsea to the Russian, commenting on sanctions which prevented his old club selling programmes for home games, and even for a memorial service for their famous goalkeeper Peter Bonetti when his ashes were interred at Stamford Bridge. “That will have Putin quaking in the Kremlin” he said.
So what of the future under the likely stewardship of Todd Boehly from the LA Dodgers in the still-to-be-ratified €5bn deal backed by Clearlake Capital, a Californian private equity firm. That Boehly wanted the club is no secret. He made a €2.5bn offer three years ago. He has had time to study its strengths and weaknesses. The picture of him with his head in his hands after Chelsea conceded a 97th minute equaliser against Wolves endeared him to fans.
“Strap yourself in”; “Get used to it”; “Welcome to our world” were some of the social media comments.
Key to the future is retaining Thomas Tuchel, which is by no means guaranteed. Tuchel is hugely admired by Chelsea fans but his time at Stamford Bridge has cost him a marriage breakdown and his record suggests that he can be highly strung with the wrong executive structure. Retaining Petr Cech, who has been an admirable firewall, and who was also sent out to deal with the angry Chelsea fans blocking the streets outside Stamford Bridge when news of the European Super League leaked, may be central to this.
Tuchel already blames the paralysis of the sanctions for losing him the services of Tony Rudiger, a key personality in the team, to Real Madrid and he will have to reshape much of his defence and midfield during the summer. Chelsea have significant talent out on loan including the influential Conor Gallagher at Crystal Palace, striker Armando Broja at Southampton, impressive left-sided central defender Levi Colwell who has played 28 games for Huddersfield this season, and Dutch left back Ian Maatsen who is a regular for Coventry. They also have a right-to-buy on Tino Livramento, also at Southampton, should veteran captain Cesar “Dave” Azpilicueta decide to finish his career in Spain.
First, Tuchel, the man who Joe Cole said should be Prime Minister to a surprisingly high level of agreement, has to signal his happiness with the new arrangements. Once done, the club can move forward and fulfil what transfer business it can this summer.
Commerce is already taking place, which is a sign that the Boehly takeover is expected to go through. Chelsea announced a €23m annual shirtsleeve sponsorship with Amber Group, whose Whalefin cryptocurrency platform, will now appear on the men and women’s strips. 3, the main shirt sponsors, announced the severance of their relationship almost as soon as the sanctions were imposed in March by Britain and Chelsea will not want to renew with them anyway. Their departure will be greeted with expressions of good riddance from supporters who have consistently derided them for lack of loyalty to the club and the team.
Longer term plans for the problematical redevelopment of Stamford Bridge will not be addressed next season which will be viewed as one of reboot and redirection. After today’s Cup Final the priorities are to get the takeover deal signed off; to secure the services of Tuchel; to ensure that everything is in place by June 8 when the Premier League meet to constitute the new season and to strengthen the squad for the 2022/23 challenge.
With a little more fortune Chelsea could easily have knocked out Real Madrid and made progress to the Champions League Final. But whatever the result of today’s Wembley battle with Liverpool ―the other three encounters this season have been very close ― this will be the last hurrah for the Abramovich decades.
At the end of Anton Chekov’s masterly play The Cherry Orchard we learn that the family estate has been auctioned off. The final sounds are those of axes falling upon the prized trees for which it is famous.
For Chelsea supporters, the teams and the employees, they will be relieved to escape the clutches of Nadine Dorries, the Liverpool-supporting Minister of Sport in a government which most people believe couldn’t run a whelk stall. Between Bad Vlad and Mad Nad (the common nickname for her) fans will be happy to see the end of the past three months.
For Roman Abramovich, the man who described himself as Jewish first and a Russian second, we may find in time that he hasn’t finished with football, or with the British government Last weekend after the Wolves game, on the flight back to Cork, the Chelsea goal scoring legend Bobby Tambling was returning from resuming his role carrying out hospitality for his old club. The world is still turning. It will be there next season, and Chelsea will still be competing in its 118th year.
