The seven biggest mistakes of Abramovich has made since taking over at Stamford Bridge.
It’s fair to say that Roman Abramovich had a major impact on shaping the Premier League into what it is today. His millions undoubtedly bought Chelsea a lot of their recent success and set a precedent for foreign ownership not just in the top flight but in the whole of England, too. But however happy Blues fans are with his involvement in the club, he has committed some glaring errors during his time there and they are listed below as they will inevitably add to his legacy when the time comes for him to step away.
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7. Allowing Thibaut Courtois to leave for so long
During his spell with Atletico Madrid, the young Belgian became a hit and matured into the top class goalkeeper that he is today, but why did they need to send him away to do that? Whilst he was there he never once looked over-awed or out of his depth, and he still managed to take over from Simon Mignolet as his country’s first choice stopper in time for the World Cup. The worst part about the whole affair is that the club almost let him walk away this summer, and though Petr Cech is still a more than capable goalkeeper, they would have lost one of their superstars for the future.
6. Hiring Andre Villas-Boas
It’s not the decision per-se, but the lack of research behind it. At the time AVB was one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe and had certainly earned his move to a bigger club after leading Porto to more success on the European stage. Drawing inevitable parallels to Jose Mourinho, the younger manager struggled to live up to the Special One and made the £14m that Abramovic shelled out to bring him to the club looking like a waste of money. However, AVB came closer to resembling Brian Clough during his time at Leeds and it cost Chelsea a further £20m to get rid. That’s a lot of money for a failed experiment.
5. Sacking Carlo Ancelotti
After delivering a stunning double during his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge, the former Milan tactical established himself as one of the club’s most successful managers in recent years behind Jose Mourinho. However, following a sluggish start to his second season in charge Abramovic got panicky and pulled the trigger early on instead of sticking with him and supporting him to better times.
4. Sacking Roberto Di Matteo
Appointed to succeed the unpopular AVB, his arrival proved to be a welcome decision by the fans, who still looked at the former Italian international as somewhat of a club legend. However, it also proved to be a bit of a gamble after he failed to make an impact at West Brom whilst in charge there. But the club’s fears were allayed when he won the FA Cup and the Champions League – the first in their history – later that season, but just a few months later he was relieved of his duties in a most bizarre fashion, and angered the club’s fans who were upset at seeing a favourite of theirs let go in such a manner.
3. Selling Romelu Lukaku
After signing one of Europe’s most exciting young strikers for a big £18m, heads everywhere were being scratched as to why the club wouldn’t use him. First loaning him out to West Brom where he bagged 17 goals, and following that with another loan spell with Everton, where he notched a further 15 strikes suggested that he was ready to lead the line, especially when Chelsea’s own front line were flailing so desperately to find the back of the net. He eventually joined the Toffees this summer, which doesn’t look so bad now that Diego Costa has filled in, but he could have played a part in bringing more success to the club over the past two years when the likes of Torres, Ba and Eto’o were failing.
2. Spending £50m on Fernando Torres
There was a time when this deal didn’t seem like such a bad idea, but his powers were already on the wane at Liverpool before the Blues broke out the cheque book. He quickly became a figure of derision as he struggled to find the net and as time went by, and calls for the club to move him on grew, they kept hold of him in a skewed act of defiance until he joined AC Milan on loan last month. He can be counted as the Premier League’s most expensive mistake behind Andrei Shevchenko and Andy Carroll.
1. Letting Frank Lampard leave
The veteran midfielder may not have played as much last season as he had done but his influence was invaluable, and had he stayed he inevitably would have been offered a coaching role that would have further strengthened his ties to the club. He is also proving at Manchester City that he hasn’t lost that goalscoring touch either, thus adding to his potential value to the side. Silly move for something that would have suited everybody involved.
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