EPL club Chelsea's “nail-biting victory in Saturday's Champions League final was the culmination of a dream that cost its owner Roman Abramovich an incredible" $2.8B, according to Martin Rogers of YAHOO SPORTS. Abramovich “coveted this title more than any other since taking over Chelsea in 2003, and he finally got his wish.” Abramovich has spent “astonishing sums on player transfers, wages and improvements to the club infrastructure,” after he took over the club “that was struggling financially and immediately turned it into a European power.” There were eight managers that “came and went in the space of eight years, most of them fired precisely for failing to win the Champions League.” Chelsea MF Frank Lampard said, "There are so many people who will celebrate this and so many people who deserve credit for it. But you have to talk about Roman, what he has put in. None of this would have been possible without him and it is a dream come true for him just like it is for the rest of us." Abramovich had “flown 50 friends and family members to Munich to join him in a VIP suite for the game, and the group celebrated wildly.” Martin noted the win “saved Chelsea from what would have gone down as a failed season.” The club's “only way of reaching next season's Champions League competition was by winning it all after finishing sixth in the English Premier League and two spots below the EPL's last remaining automatic berth” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/19).
SUGAR DADDIES: In London, Ian Hawkey wrote there will be “a lot of very wealthy men with no direct connection” to Chelsea who applauded Saturday's outcome. Chelsea has a “distinct and formidable legacy in modern football," and the "Abramovich model of club ownership is being copied.” Abramovich has “been a pioneer, a pathfinder for owners such as these, for the several modern Middle Eastern moguls running European clubs, for petrodollar barons with a more patient attitude to turning a profit than some of the American businessmen who have entered club ownership in Europe and especially in England.” EPL club Manchester City is a “post-Abramovich phenomenon,” and Owner Sheikh Mansour should “have watched events in Munich keenly.” Next summer will mark the fifth anniversary for Mansour's ownership of Man City, and in "football’s world of exotic, impatient sugar daddies, half a decade looks a realistic gestation period for vast spending to bear fruit” (LONDON TIMES, 5/20).
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE: The AP’s Graham Dunbar noted Chelsea earned about $77M “in prize money from competition organizer UEFA this season.” Even a “one-year exile in the second-tier Europa League would hit the club's accounts as ‘financial fair play’ rules limit wealthy owners' ability to bail out clubs that spend heavily on transfers and salaries.” Abramovich has subsidized total losses of more than $1.2B, "but Chelsea must generate more income than has been possible at its 42,000-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium.” Chelsea Chair Bruce Buck said that the club “intends to appoint a permanent manager before a pre-season tour of the United States that starts against Seattle Sounders on July 18” (AP, 5/20).
