Are Chelsea becoming the pariahs of the Premiership?
It was only when you flicked through the pages of the match programme that the clue to a more sinister future was unveiled in one revealing sentence from the world's most famous oil billionaire.
Abramovich's aim?
"Building the most successful football club in the world in the next 10 years and beyond."
True, he didn't add that his club was prepared to crush any foe, concoct any story and spend, spend, spend like Elton John in a florist to get their way.
But it is becoming increasingly obvious that is exactly what Abramovich and Chelsea have in mind.
And that is also why the rest especially Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham, the latter being the latest club to feel the lash of the rouble may feel an overwhelming desire to put their differences aside and join forces to stop the Chelsea takeover of England's national game.
Forget Bosman, the influx of foreigners and falling attendances, Chelsea are the biggest threat to the stability of English football.
That is a damning indictment of champions who won the Premiership by a canter, pocketed the Carling Cup too and who were the only top-flight club not to have a player sent off last season.
But the truth is Chelsea's style extends only to the field of play. Off it they have proved themselves little more than ruthless street-fighters.
To comprehend the current Chelsea culture, which has seen them blamed for the hounding of Swedish referee Anders Frisk, fined a total of £500,000 for their part in the Ashley Cole 'tapping-up' affair and most recently accused of illegally approaching Tottenham sporting director Frank Arnesen, it is necessary simply to understand Abramovich.
The fact is that Abramovich has brought his own murky business world to English football.
It is a world occupied by shadowy characters and punctuated by complex deals. You do not come from nothing, having been orphaned at the age of four, to build a fortune worth £7.5 billion, own the fourth largest oil company in the world, buy and sell airlines and mix with Russian presidents, without cutting a few corners on the way.
The £300,000 fine imposed on Chelsea for the 'Colegate' affair was insignificant for a man of Abramovich's means.
Even now the chances are that a sizeable seven-figure wad will be produced to pacify Tottenham and smooth over the latest furore ignited by Chelsea's desire for dominance.
It's the way Abramovich does business. He wants the best and is prepared to pay for it whatever the consequences. Why, just because he owns a football club, would he alter the behaviour which has made him such a powerful individual?
He won't and that is why long- term exposure to Abramovich is bad for the health of English football.
Football is not unused to unscrupulous behaviour, including Far East gambling scams, players prepared to fix matches, agents ready to give and managers to take six-figure bungs.
But never has it had a club steeped in a business strategy which says the end always justifies the means. For instance, who at Stamford Bridge has the nerve to tell Abramovich he is wrong?
Not chairman Bruce Buck, who stood on the steps of the Premier League inquiry last week and trotted out little more than platitudes. Not Peter Kenyon, who bought into the 'even-when-we're-wrong-we're-right' culture the moment he walked in.
Kenyon is a man schooled in keeping shareholders happy, optimising corporate hospitality, maximising the potential of new markets and executing transfer business in the most ham- fisted fashion. He is also a man on record as wanting to slash England's 92 professional league clubs to 40.
Some would say much of Chelsea's arrogance emanates from his office at Stamford Bridge. They might well include the 'guru of arrogance' himself, manager Jose Mourinho, if it is true that Arnesen's impending arrival is because Mourinho has been dismayed with Kenyon's transfer methods. So what should the rest do?
For a start Tottenham must not let their complaint over Arnesen rest, insisting on a further Premier League inquiry which could see points deducted.
They could also insist the suspended Arnesen complete his Spurs contract, even if that meant 12 months on the sidelines for the Dane.
The really sad thing, however, is, with a little more tact and patience to go with their money, power and sublime football, the London club could easily have dominated by winning friends and influencing people.
Instead they have become the pariahs of the Premiership.
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