Post by Arnold on May 28, 2007 8:17:51 GMT -1
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH will no longer throw his billions at Chelsea to make them successful.
The Russian owner has told the club they must operate without his money and run as a proper business.
Abramovich will remain as sole owner but has told club directors he is not interested in remaining as a key decision maker.
He made his decision known to directors Peter Kenyon, Eugene Tenenbaum and chairman Bruce Buck at a board meeting last Monday.
The summit was called to decide strategy for next season but boss Jose Mourinho was not invited to attend.
Abramovich’s move to pull the plug on his unlimited funds could now see Frank Lampard and skipper John Terry leave the club.
The two England stars have failed to agree new deals with the Blues and Abramovich has laid down the law that there has to be a wage cap.
Neither player is willing to accept a deal less than they think they are worth and could now sit out their current deals, which have two years left.
Lampard is currently paid £118,000 per week and could stay another season at Chelsea before they would be forced to sell him for a nominal sum with just a year left on his contract.
Chelsea’s only other option would be to try and cash in on him now — though so far no club has made a firm offer.
From now on, Chelsea will be limited the same as every other club and will have to generate its own budget.
The Russian owner has fallen out of love with the club and is intending to spend more time abroad and with his new girlfriend Daria Zhukova.
t is unlikely he will attend as many games as he has in the past and wants only to be informed of important issues regarding Chelsea when it is thought necessary.
The club will sign three new players this season — but hardly a penny will be spent on transfer fees.
Steve Sidwell has signed on a free from Reading and Claudio Pizarro will do likewise from Bayern Munich. Brazil’s PSV Eindhoven defender Alex is already owned by Chelsea and will arrive for a fee of one dollar in July.
It is a far cry from the first days of Abramovich’s reign as the club’s owner when he spent £74m on seven players in his first two months.
Since then, more than £250m has been spent on transfers in total and the waste of money is partly to blame for Abramovich’s disinterest.
For instance, Hernan Crespo cost £18m from Inter four years ago but has spent only two years playing for Chelsea.
Half of his £90k-per-week wage is still paid by Chelsea while he has won two titles in Italy on loan at AC Milan and now Inter.
Players like Adrian Mutu and Asier Del Horno were signed for £12m and then sold on at a fraction of their original price.
And that is without even mentioning the likes of Juan Veron, Mateja Kezman, Jiri Jarosik or Khalid Boulahrouz.
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Sounds to me he has got bored already and probably do the offski in the next year or so! ;D
The Russian owner has told the club they must operate without his money and run as a proper business.
Abramovich will remain as sole owner but has told club directors he is not interested in remaining as a key decision maker.
He made his decision known to directors Peter Kenyon, Eugene Tenenbaum and chairman Bruce Buck at a board meeting last Monday.
The summit was called to decide strategy for next season but boss Jose Mourinho was not invited to attend.
Abramovich’s move to pull the plug on his unlimited funds could now see Frank Lampard and skipper John Terry leave the club.
The two England stars have failed to agree new deals with the Blues and Abramovich has laid down the law that there has to be a wage cap.
Neither player is willing to accept a deal less than they think they are worth and could now sit out their current deals, which have two years left.
Lampard is currently paid £118,000 per week and could stay another season at Chelsea before they would be forced to sell him for a nominal sum with just a year left on his contract.
Chelsea’s only other option would be to try and cash in on him now — though so far no club has made a firm offer.
From now on, Chelsea will be limited the same as every other club and will have to generate its own budget.
The Russian owner has fallen out of love with the club and is intending to spend more time abroad and with his new girlfriend Daria Zhukova.
t is unlikely he will attend as many games as he has in the past and wants only to be informed of important issues regarding Chelsea when it is thought necessary.
The club will sign three new players this season — but hardly a penny will be spent on transfer fees.
Steve Sidwell has signed on a free from Reading and Claudio Pizarro will do likewise from Bayern Munich. Brazil’s PSV Eindhoven defender Alex is already owned by Chelsea and will arrive for a fee of one dollar in July.
It is a far cry from the first days of Abramovich’s reign as the club’s owner when he spent £74m on seven players in his first two months.
Since then, more than £250m has been spent on transfers in total and the waste of money is partly to blame for Abramovich’s disinterest.
For instance, Hernan Crespo cost £18m from Inter four years ago but has spent only two years playing for Chelsea.
Half of his £90k-per-week wage is still paid by Chelsea while he has won two titles in Italy on loan at AC Milan and now Inter.
Players like Adrian Mutu and Asier Del Horno were signed for £12m and then sold on at a fraction of their original price.
And that is without even mentioning the likes of Juan Veron, Mateja Kezman, Jiri Jarosik or Khalid Boulahrouz.
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Sounds to me he has got bored already and probably do the offski in the next year or so! ;D
