How Abramovich flew in to transform Chelsea

When Roman Abramovich was flown over West London in a helicopter on a mission to buy a Premiership club, he looked down at the stadium below and, momentarily, had second thoughts.

The oil magnate had, after all, made appointments to view two leading clubs and the initial signs were not good. Fortunately for Chelsea, it was Craven Cottage, Fulham’s currently disused ground, that Abramovich had seen.

A few moments later, Stamford Bridge and the Chelsea Village hotel came into view and, with a sigh of relief, Abramovich decided that his instincts had been right.

After a series of in-depth meetings, he never even followed through with that second appointment. The frustration levels in that other, as yet unidentified boardroom, must still be immense.

Chelsea, meanwhile, can hardly believe their luck. With their sizeable debts wiped out at a single stroke and £75m (€106m) already invested in the team, they are a reborn club with lofty long-term ambitions.

Having watched a satellite feed of their midweek Champions League qualifying tie from his yacht off the coast of Alaska, Abramovich is planning to attend their opening Premiership game at Anfield tomorrow.

Richard Creitzman, Abramovich’s lieutenant in West London and now a Chelsea director, meanwhile revealed just how the amazing deal had come about.

“Roman came back from the Manchester United against Real Madrid game in the Champions League at Old Trafford last season just buzzing and it snowballed from there quite quickly,” he recalled.

“We prepared some information for him and he took out what he wasn’t interested in. There were a few clubs in there, mainly English, that he was interested in.

“Then we got a bank on board to produce a report with details like turnover, debts, players, league positions, stadium information and non-football business.

“We went through everything again and had a couple of meetings with the banks. On a Wednesday night in Moscow, we sat down and he said ‘right, we’re flying over tomorrow’.

“It was not exactly a case of ‘we’re going to buy a football club’, but we’d already focused on two clubs – Chelsea and one other.

“We came over in a helicopter and saw Fulham, with no grass, and he looked over at me. Then we saw Chelsea and I said ‘trust me on this one’!

“We had the meeting with the guys at Chelsea first. We sat down at 11am and at about 6pm, we met Ken Bates on the Thursday evening in the Dorchester Hotel.

“On the Friday, everyone piled in here to Stamford Bridge. We had lawyers, more lawyers, stockbrokers, banks, brokers, advisers, and even more lawyers.

“We put it all together over the weekend and then a story came out that someone was interested in buying Chelsea.

“It was a week after the story about the Venezuelans being interested in English football, so that was at least a smokescreen. On the Tuesday night, after the market closed, we put the news out.”

So did Abramovich ever follow up his interest in that second club? “No, you can’t buy two clubs!” replied Creitzman. “He had made his decision about Chelsea.”

Claudio Ranieri should rest assured that although Abramovich expects success in the long-term, it would appear that he does not intend to interfere in team affairs at Stamford Bridge.

“He’s got his own way of running a business. He’s a strategic guy and doesn’t get involved in too many day-to-day issues,” revealed Creitzman, who has worked in the oil business with Abramovich in Russia.

“Managers have targets to reach and get rewarded for doing so. Claudio knows what he has to do. He wants to be successful just as much as Roman does.

“Everyone wants to win and he’s very focused and driven and smart, but he’s not going to throw his toys out of his pram if it doesn’t happen straight away.

“He doesn’t have an ego that demands Chelsea become the biggest club in the world. He doesn’t want to make statements like, ‘We’re going to win the league’.

“He just wants to enjoy himself. He wants success, but he wants to enjoy it. Chelsea is another challenge and that’s what he’s all about – pushing himself.

“What he’s done has been absolutely fantastic for football. He’s injected money into the English game and created interest.”

Abramovich may seem to be throwing money at transfers, but it is a carefully thought-out approach, targeting predominantly younger players, many of whom have Premiership experience already.

He may have sanctioned a club record £17m bid for Damien Duff, but he also knows what to say if clubs demand too much.

“We have to get the green light from him with the players we’ve signed. Claudio and him have discussed players with each other and he has a knowledge of football which is not small,” added Creitzman.

“We said that Damien Duff would cost £17m (€24m) and he said yes, but he has said no as well when he thought the price was too high. He can say no!”