On Sunday afternoon, Chelsea FC beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to officially be crowned the 2014-15 Premier League Champions. While marking the Blues’ first league title in five years, the weekend’s win also marked the 15th trophy won under Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
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Abramovich purchased a controlling stake in the West London club in July 2003. He then bought out the rest of the stakeholders in the following weeks and removed the club from the stock exchange, leaving it solely in his hands. Under his guidance, Chelsea have been transformed from a steady, semi-successful team into an international powerhouse. While this title is the 15th trophy (4 leagues, 4 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 2 Community Shields, 1 Europa League, 1 Champions League) in the 12 seasons he’s been here, it should perhaps be recognised as the most impressive.
When he first arrived, Roman pumped unprecedented amounts of money into the club facilitating purchases of over £100 million in his first transfer window. After the ensuing season failed to yield any trophies, Claudio Ranieri was disposed of, Jose Mourinho brought in and nearly £100 million was spent again.
Mourinho, though, did not fail to deliver. Chelsea went on to win six trophies in the next three seasons (2 leagues, 2 League Cups, 1 FA Cup, 1 Community Shield) and became a dominant force in world football. However, all this early success has been somewhat tarnished by the manner in which it was made possible.
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The Blues’ net spending in Abramovich’s first three seasons was a whopping £290 million. The club is often accused of buying their way to success and with these figures it is hard to refute the critics.
Credit must be given to the managers, though, as the current struggles of both Manchester clubs have illustrated that spending isn’t an assured passage to success. The likes of Mourinho and Carlo Ancelloti are proven great tacticians, and they must be recognised for ensuring that the squads they had fulfilled their potential. Having said this, there is no doubt that having an essentially blank cheque book played as big a role in the club’s success than any other factor.
However, this season was different. With Financial Fair Play coming in (a regulation that Chelsea have somewhat embraced) Abramovich hasn’t been able to just throw money around. The onus has been on the managers to be smart in the transfer market and make the most of the squad available to them. Since FFP has really taken effect, Chelsea’s net spending has been almost half that of Manchester City, and less than that of Manchester United. Despite this, the club have built a squad that have completely dominated the league this year.
Fans, meanwhile, may point to the 2004-05 season as the most impressive. Chelsea lost only once amassing a record 95 points while finishing the year 12 points clear of second place. They might also argue the case of 2009-10, where Ancelotti’s men claimed another record scoring 103 goals on their way to title triumph. What about the Champions League win in 2011-12? Perhaps that was most impressive given how poor the squad was performing during that period.
Or perhaps not. It is safe to say that the infamous victory in Munich in 2012 was off the back of what could be the most fortunate and ridiculous European campaign of all time. Those two mentioned titles aren’t much different to this season’s either. Chelsea are on course to lose just two games while closing out the year with three victories will leave them on 91 points. All this while not spending gross amounts of money.
Chelsea’s net spending has been almost half that of Manchester City, and less than Manchester United
Critics will complain that the club spent £30 million on each of Willian, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa but this is not the frivolous spending previously seen. Mourinho has had to bankroll each signing by making tough decisions and selling big players. Juan Mata, Andre Schurrle, David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku are just a few of the names cut from the squad to make way for the new signings.
In this way, the Premier League campaign of 2014-15 could be viewed as the most impressive of the modern Chelsea era. The club is clean of debt and running a profitable business. Meanwhile, transfer policy has been no more vulgar than any of the competitors (both domestically and abroad) and they have managed to dominate the league anyway. The brass have seemed to indicate that this will be the way they’ll operate going forwards and thus this title could be regarded as the first of a new Chelsea era.
15 and counting, Roman. We’ve started again.
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