Is Roman Abramovich Going To Have To Sell One Of His Yachts To Keep Chelsea Afloat?

This time last year, the toast of the English soccer world was Chelsea. Sure, they hadn’t won anything, but their Russian oil-tycoon owner Roman Abramovich had everyone watching them as they spent lavishly on everything from players to superplanes to transport said players. Well, when you build paper tigers out of paper money, you’re only one economic downturn away from losing all your cache as Chelsea and Abramovich are now realizing. The owner has had his wealth decline £3 billion since “the unpleasantness” and has been overtaken in the EPL bling daddy awards by Manchester City’s owners. He’s pissing off his players by halving their allocated tickets and even thinking about charging players for their meals at the team facilities.

The extent of the economising at Stamford Bridge has surprised club insiders, who describe the restrictions on complimentary tickets as “petty”.

Yeah, this isn’t going to end well.

Chelsea have ceded that [biggest spending] mantle to Manchester City this season, allowing the Abu Dhabi-backed club first to outbid them for Brazil forward Robinho then raid their squad for England left-back Wayne Bridge. With Luiz Felipe Scolari instructed to sell before buying, the fee for Bridge is needed to fund January reinforcements.

The team’s not in a world of hurt for help since they’re only three points behind Liverpool for the top of the EPL table. But Roman, come on man—cutting the players’ ticket allocations to save a few thousand per game isn’t a very smart move. You can buy players for cash, but loyalty and commitment are bought with little things. And making Ashley Cole pay for his momma to come to games isn’t one of them.
Roman Abramovich to miss key Manchester United clash [Daily Telegraph]
Chelsea’s economy drive continues [The Guardian]
Chelsea, Yachts and Bad Journalism [The Offiside]
Image [The Offiside]