There was an official end to the Roman Empire, a conclusion on a specific date. September 4, 476. It was a Monday. Romulus Augustulus, the child Emperor, surrendered to Flavius Odoacer, a military leader of East Germanic descent, who became king of Italy.
We know it was Monday because by then the Romans had named the days of the week, and months of the year, in a way we continue to recognise. They shaped our world, and still do. Public toilets, locks and keys, indoor plumbing, fast-drying cement, socks, post, apartments, shoes, satire, the magnifying glass, all were either created or improved beyond recognition by the Romans.
So, in that respect, it does not greatly matter that an 11-year-old could not hold the western empire. The work was done. It is much the same at Chelsea.
Roman Abramovich is selling Chelsea after transforming them into an elite club
Roman Abramovich will leave, but the Chelsea he built will stand. It won’t be the same because the new owner will almost certainly want more from football than just the glory, but Chelsea are now a member of the elite and the owner who succeeds Abramovich will not settle for less.
He will also possess a comparable level of extreme wealth. So, undoubtedly, there is a suitable successor out there. We just haven’t been introduced yet.
Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss? One imagines not. Why would Chelsea’s buyers alert the world to their interest and the fact the club is up for sale?
Why would Wyss’s first statement on the subject be to indicate the commodity is overpriced? It probably is. But that’s for negotiators to know, not headline writers.
If the purchase of Chelsea follows the path of the most significant acquisitions in recent history, by the time the deal is made public, the new owner will already be appointing staff and picking out soft furnishings for the chairman’s suite.
That is how Abramovich bought Chelsea and how Sheik Mansour acquired Manchester City. Newcastle’s takeover was conducted in the spotlight because it took years to process, and one party in particular was very keen on publicity.
Yet whoever is courting Chelsea should beware a tactical negotiating game in public. Talking down the worth of the club is not going to impress a fan base who have spent close to 20 years in awe of Abramovich’s largesse, whether buying players or settling with managers.
Abramovich always put more into football than he took out and was in it for the glory
Haggling over the asking price, while a legitimate part of any deal, gives the impression long-term funding and team-building are going to be a problem for the first time since 2003. Like most of Abramovich’s strategies since his arrival, this is one that should be kept private.
Much like the Government have been secretive about their inability to impose the sanctions on Russian oligarchs that they have spoken about so bullishly all week. Turns out there is more to foreign policy than big hats and big talk followed by a photo opportunity.
It is not actually an offence to be Russian, or rich, so to sanction oligarchs like Abramovich requires a strong legal case. And as we have discovered this is not a government that likes to sweat the small stuff.
So after much bluster and posturing it emerged yesterday that, no, the United Kingdom lacked the legal wit or clout to start seizing or freezing assets, and it would be weeks or months before action is taken.
The Foreign Office and National Crime Agency have been unable to prove that there are ‘reasonable grounds’ for sanctions, having struggled to link the finances of individuals to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
That certainly takes some of the heat off the immediate sale. Abramovich insisted on Wednesday that there would be no rush, but few believed him. Events have moved very quickly this week, and may do again according to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.
The Russian will not be rushed into selling the club for below market value
Only last Saturday, the club was adamant Abramovich would not be selling at all. Then it became a matter of days before he was out. Yet if sanctions are not imminent, Abramovich doesn’t have to take the first bid, or even a much-reduced one. He can hold out for what Chelsea is worth. Not what he thinks it is worth, maybe, but he has built an elite, modern, successful super club with a brand name and location that is the envy of its rivals.
The going rate is definitely measured in billions, even if similar figures may have to be spent developing the stadium. Indeed, this is one aspect of Chelsea that is both blessing and curse. The cost of the new build will be prohibitive to some; but, once completed, it does offer the potential for genuine financial growth.
How much? Not enough for everybody. Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire chief of Ineos, is frequently mentioned, but, in conversation, his brother Bob — who runs the football arm of the company, at Olympique Nice — made it clear that the pair see little value in the Premier League, where outgoings are invariably enormous.
Their interest, he said, would be in taking a club from the Championship and making them a Premier League entity. There, money could be made. And that’s why owners own: the money. That is what made Abramovich, in football terms, exceptional.
For what may change at Chelsea, inevitably, is the prime motivation of the ownership. The reason Chelsea, and Manchester City, were the first to get cold feet over the Super League was because those at the helm weren’t in it for the money. They were not venture capitalists, they weren’t speculators.
Abramovich is writing off a debt of £1.5 billion to expedite his swift departure. The Glazers would never do that; nor would Fenway Sports Group or Stan Kroenke.
Abramovich put more into football then he ever took out. We can advance all manner of inspirations for Abramovich’s purchase of Chelsea, some political, some personal, some righteous, some dubious, but he wasn’t there to make a fortune. He’s got a fortune. Now he wants to sell high, but doesn’t everybody?
Abramovich, who has owned Chelsea since 2003, confirmed he was putting the club up for sale in a statement on Wednesday evening
The fact remains if Anglo- Russian relations hadn’t soured from 2018 to the present day, Abramovich would still be in charge, still spending and Chelsea would be nearing the completion of a £1.4bn stadium project. Abramovich may not have wanted to pump money in year on year, he may have moaned about it privately and set up alternate revenue streams through an outstanding youth system, but he did it.
Chelsea is certainly very different from the project at Everton, which has oligarch Alisher Usmanov in the background and seems to rely on his investment, if not his profile. Everton tried to join the elite, and failed. Chelsea are world and European champions; Everton in a fight to avoid relegation. They do not have a world-class squad, or a list of recent achievements and they, too, are without a modern ground.
Usmanov’s direct involvement is as mysterious as the £30m his company, USM, paid for naming rights to a stadium that doesn’t exist with no guarantee of even winning the resulting bid. Move along all, nothing to see here. Everton say the development at Bramley-Moore Dock will not be affected if Usmanov is no longer involved. Certainly, no dock is likely to be impacted by his £450m super-yacht in the near future —it’s been seized in Hamburg.
So, in this climate, no wonder Abramovich has decided to move on from the United Kingdom. He cannot count on the weakness and sloth of government and its investigators indefinitely. There will come a time, just as there was for the Romans of antiquity, when the fall is inevitable.
Yet that does not mean Abramovich takes Chelsea with him. The club that he has built will endure. Chelsea have won the Champions League twice in 10 years; only Real Madrid have a better record of late.
They may not find another Abramovich but, because of him, they will find someone. And, again because of Abramovich, that someone will then own one of the greatest clubs in the world. Run well, it will remain so.
CROUCH CAN’T PICK AND CHOOSE
Tracey Crouch said the financial crisis at Derby County would not have happened had a government regulator been in place, monitoring finances and effectively stopping Mel Morris, the owner, spending money.
What she did not say is that the success stories at Wolves, Leicester, Bournemouth and Aston Villa might also not have happened for the same reason. All were stretched at the time of promotion.
Regulation sounds lovely until it’s your club being told what its budget should be and having a ceiling placed on its ambition. Not every run for glory ends in disaster. Crouch has seized on the extremes, like Bury and Derby, as if they are the norm.
SPARE US THE MORALISING OVER MASI
Red Bull are increasingly sensitive about Michael Masi, the race director who delivered the drivers’ championship to Max Verstappen in the last race of the 2021 season. They need to legitimise his decision to legitimise their title. The problem is, few buy that.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull adviser, blamed Masi’s dismissal on Lewis Hamilton, and his delay in confirming a return to F1. ‘By his silence, he wanted to show his dissatisfaction with the situation and the decisions,’ Marko said. ‘Part of that behaviour subsequently led to Masi being removed from his role. I don’t think it’s right.’
Yet what was Hamilton supposed to do? Endorse a decision that as good as handed the race, and therefore the title, to Verstappen? Hamilton did not rant or rave and Mercedes did not mount a legal challenge, against advice. So Verstappen got his crown; but he doesn’t get the vindication, too. We all know what we saw that day and Masi was wrong. If he wasn’t, he’d still be in a job.
Michael Masi was removed from his position as Formula One race director after an FIA inquiry
WILDER IS WORKING WONDERS AT BORO
It was great to be at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, and not just because the home side thoroughly deserved their win over Tottenham. To see a crowd so united, behind the manager, behind the chairman, behind the players, was a reminder of how easy it is for a club to lose its way amid dissent and division.
Chris Wilder has done an outstanding job since succeeding Neil Warnock and without doubt other clubs in the Championship, and maybe the Premier League too, missed a trick when he was available. In many ways, for Sheffield United, he was like Marcelo Bielsa for Leeds: a transformative manager, who wasn’t given the support he merited when results deteriorated.
The season he was sacked, Wilder’s Sheffield United lost nine Premier League games 1-0, and another five by single-goal margins. He deserved better. Now, under Steve Gibson, he’s got it.
Chris Wilder replaced Neil Warnock as boss and enhanced his reputation at Middlesbrough
BOXING IS ON THE ROPES
Frank Warren does not want British judges in charge of Tyson Fury’s next fight, having seen the injustice of Josh Taylor’s split decision victory over Jack Catterall last weekend. And who can blame him?
It is hard to make a case for simple human error when two of three very qualified judges got it so wrong — and the third didn’t get it so right — but to think beyond that explanation embraces a grave accusation.
Reform is needed. Might boxers in future be allowed to appeal and have the fight re-marked, or would expanding the judging numbers be an option? That was what ice skating did after the scandal at Salt Lake City in 2002. Maybe eight judges with only five scores, selected at random, counting; or eight judges with the two outliers from each end discounted, giving a middle-ground consensus? It cannot stay as it is, surely.
Frank Warren has asked for non-British judges to be in charge of Tyson Fury’s next fight
Eventually, the International Paralympic Committee listened to the protests, saw sense, and excluded Russia from the Winter Games in Beijing. Incredibly, prior to this the plan was to remove both Russia and Ukraine from the medal table, as if there are two sides to this war. It did not help, either, that the International Olympic Committee left the governing bodies of various sports to make up their own minds on Russian exclusion, rather than offering guidance.
The supposed hard line from the IOC is also undermined by letting all Russian members and honorary members of their committees keep their places.
Whoever gets the call to replace Jeff Stelling has his work cut out. Mark Chapman, though, is the best suggestion so far and has the easy charm to pull it off. Never forget it was once considered impossible to fill for Des Lynam, until Gary Lineker proved otherwise.
Richard Arnold, the new chief executive of Manchester United, announced the club were now ‘implementing a strategy to win’. Makes you wonder what the hell they’ve been doing since the Europa League final in 2017.
Richard Arnold is the new chief executive of Manchester United and replaced Ed Woodward
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