Thank You Mr Roman Abramovich

[Kentonio]

That's lovely.

[RMCM]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/1375052/euro-2016-chelsea-owner-roman-abramovich-helps-pay-for-seriously-ill-children-to-watch-their-heroes-in-france/?CMP=spklr-_-Editorial-_-TWITTER-_-TheSunFootball-_-20160703-_-Football-_-507828633

Best Owner in club football. Massive Respect.

And yet the media will still slate him for something. He's a great owner and has only ever done good things for this club

[Jezz]

And yet the media will still slate him for something. He's a great owner and has only ever done good things for this club

The good outweighs the bad. I think he's made massive errors over the years, but he's always done it in the best interests of the club from his perspective. 

 

I can't doubt his passion for the club, but I still have ongoing concerns about his ability to make this club even better.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Jezz

[RMCM]

The good outweighs the bad. I think he's made massive errors over the years, but he's always done it in the best interests of the club from his perspective. 

 

I can't doubt his passion for the club, but I still have ongoing concerns about his ability to make this club even better.

That's what I meant, sure he's made errors, but he's always been looking at the best interests of the club, though I do think he should take a back seat like Sheikh Mansour in terms of footballing matters, but then again, he's at almost every game, not many billionaire owners are like that

[Ukraine Bolt]

I'd be very interested to have seen where we would currently be as a club without Roman had he never have come along. The man has worked wonders with his investments, i wonder if we would even be close to where we are now without him. 

[kiwi1691]

I'd be very interested to have seen where we would currently be as a club without Roman had he never have come along. The man has worked wonders with his investments, i wonder if we would even be close to where we are now without him. 

 

Wasn't the club having financial issues when Roman turned up?

[PloKoon13]

We'd probably have undergone a period of decline, and I imagine Claudio would eventually have been sacked. I imagine we'd have been relegated at some point during the decade, before undergoing a valiant resurgence under Robbie D which would have us around mid-table.

 

Or maybe someone else would have bought us and we'd be in Man City's shoes. Who knows?

[dkw]

We'd probably have undergone a period of decline, and I imagine Claudio would eventually have been sacked. I imagine we'd have been relegated at some point during the decade, before undergoing a valiant resurgence under Robbie D which would have us around mid-table.

 

Or maybe someone else would have bought us and we'd be in Man City's shoes. Who knows?

Another consortium led by the Formula 1 owner was rumoured to have bid, then pulled out when Roman arrived.

[Chelsbear]

We would have been alright I'd imagine.

We were already a popular club based in London and that appeal would have seen us find someone who would have at least steadied the ship.

I'm very grateful that it was Roman who came in though, I doubt anyone else around at that time would have had half as much success as Roman has had whilst owning our club.

[Brutos]

I have zero doubts or issue with Roman even though some of his decisions i don't agree with he's taken us to heights we would only of dreamt of before long live Roman.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[axman2526]

I have zero doubts or issue with Roman even though some of his decisions i don't agree with he's taken us to heights we would only of dreamt of before long live Roman.

Amen to that.

[BelgradeCFC]

...

Last week, the owner spent three days at the Cobham training ground. This was not a crisis summit or a tantrum. Abramovich wanted to see his new man’s methods up close. He shared lunch each day with Conte and Emenalo and the chat, while at times serious, was not without frequent bursts of laughter.

Some of the talk was on transfer targets and Abramovich promised to back Conte in January.

The owner is not going anywhere – and neither are his club.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3830433/Roman-Abramovich-assembled-crack-team-Chelsea-plan-includes-secret-transfer-hitlist-finally-bringing-youngsters-matching-Man-Utd-s-commercial-success.html

[DonAntonio]

On July 5, 2016 at 13:03, PloKoon13 said:

We'd probably have undergone a period of decline, and I imagine Claudio would eventually have been sacked. I imagine we'd have been relegated at some point during the decade, before undergoing a valiant resurgence under Robbie D which would have us around mid-table.

 

Or maybe someone else would have bought us and we'd be in Man City's shoes. Who knows?

In this era a club like Chelsea wouldn't go into obscurity it's far too attractive an investment for us not to get an owner like sheikh mansoor, maybe even him considering Arabs obsession for SW1 and surrounding areas, if you offered him Chelsea or city he would take Chelsea 100 out of 100

[TrueBlueBIH]

I would never say a bad word about Roman, as someone before stated took us to heights we would never reach. He had his bad moves, but no one is perfect and we are all human.

Best owner of any top club by a country mile 

[brienwulff]

On 7/4/2016 at 17:05, RMCM said:

And yet the media will still slate him for something. He's a great owner and has only ever done good things for this club

I cannot agree. As Jezz says below, 'good things from his perspective.'

One can express gratitude for what we've won on the pitch, what has been built in term of brand, player and infrastructure improvements, but that doesn't solve existing issues with which many supporters are still frustrated:

The lying/hiring of Rafa. The cronyism in the upper levels of directorship (Marina, Tenenbaum, Emenalo.) The underground attempt to buy out the CPO. The expensive ticketing pricing. Failure on many supporters' primary concerns  for any new stadium when built.

Even though I'm not native to the UK, thee issues concern me greatly - as a Chelsea supporter, as a CPO shareholder, member of the CST. As someone who recognizes there's more to football than football, and witnesses the power of our community daily.

[RMCM]

17 hours ago, brienwulff said:

I cannot agree. As Jezz says below, 'good things from his perspective.'

One can express gratitude for what we've won on the pitch, what has been built in term of brand, player and infrastructure improvements, but that doesn't solve existing issues with which many supporters are still frustrated:

The lying/hiring of Rafa. The cronyism in the upper levels of directorship (Marina, Tenenbaum, Emenalo.) The underground attempt to buy out the CPO. The expensive ticketing pricing. Failure on many supporters' primary concerns  for any new stadium when built.

Even though I'm not native to the UK, thee issues concern me greatly - as a Chelsea supporter, as a CPO shareholder, member of the CST. As someone who recognizes there's more to football than football, and witnesses the power of our community daily.

The positives far outweigh the negatives though. We're now a global brand with a huge following worldwide, have the second highest value sponsorship deal in England starting next year, we've been a heavyweight of english football for over 10 years (last season being an exception) and have also been known as a European Powerhouse, not for the last few seasons but prior. I agree somewhat on the cronyism, but Marina has brokered some outstanding deals for us in a time when 'decent' players go for eye watering prices. Emenalo, while I don't agree with everything he's done and I do feel has too much power, has transformed our youth system into probably one of the strongest academies in europe as well as scouting out some great prospects for our senior team. Abramovich also froze our ticket prices if I recall correctly in a time when tickets for games for the likes of arsenal go for ridiculous prices. I honestly think the few negatives hold no bearing on the positives Roman has brought to the club, no owner is going to run a club perfectly, but I think we're doing rather well.

[brienwulff]

4 hours ago, RMCM said:

The positives far outweigh the negatives though. We're now a global brand with a huge following worldwide, have the second highest value sponsorship deal in England starting next year, we've been a heavyweight of english football for over 10 years (last season being an exception) and have also been known as a European Powerhouse, not for the last few seasons but prior. I agree somewhat on the cronyism, but Marina has brokered some outstanding deals for us in a time when 'decent' players go for eye watering prices. Emenalo, while I don't agree with everything he's done and I do feel has too much power, has transformed our youth system into probably one of the strongest academies in europe as well as scouting out some great prospects for our senior team. Abramovich also froze our ticket prices if I recall correctly in a time when tickets for games for the likes of arsenal go for ridiculous prices. I honestly think the few negatives hold no bearing on the positives Roman has brought to the club, no owner is going to run a club perfectly, but I think we're doing rather well.

Do they though? I talk to as many supporters who say they don't believe that as I do people like you who believe it does. It's a subjective opinion and frankly, based upon a personal understanding and appreciation of football, and what one considers to be personally important to one's relationship with Chelsea.

Our ticket prices have been "frozen" but they're second highest in the league and have prevented a large (and proper) following of Chelsea supporters to be completely locked out of getting tickets at all when they used to attend every match. That's not going to change when we add 20,000 seats, over half of which are hospitality, which are the highest priced and absolutely kill atmosphere, when the new ground goes through.

As far as our Academy, people talk about it's strengths on one hand and yet bemoan that we haven't graduated a single player from it to the starting XI since JT, and while the manager carousel doesn't help, the same person you mention has been in charge of that process for years and we have little to show for it.

I don't want to turn this into a black-white argument because we are never going to get anywhere, but there is a large contingent of Chelsea supporters, who while happy with all we have achieved, feel the club is currently treading water/moving backwards competitively, and even worse, feel alienated and treated unfairly by the club's leadership on a wide range of issues.

I'm not willing to let that last bit go simply because the owner wrote 1 billion into the club, a club that exists and will continue to exist because of us supporters.

[abister1]

41 minutes ago, brienwulff said:

I'm not willing to let that last bit go simply because the owner wrote 1 billion into the club, a club that exists and will continue to exist because of us supporters.

Where were these fans when the club was near bankruptcy and facing the real danger of extinction? Please give credit where due.

All fans claim ownership or at least a sense of ownership to their club but lets stop deceiving ourselves. If all current chelsea supporters or indeed any other clubs' stop going to matches or supporting the team, there will be new fans to take their place. That's life and evolution of football.

I'm sure if you were a billionaire at the time of chelsea's near extinction, you'd have put your money in to save your beloved club, well, we don't know this for a fact.

Fact though is he put his money there and has a much higher stake in it, so is morally fit more than anyone to call the shots as he pleases. He isn't even using the club as a cash cow and i see him as emotionally invested if not more than some of the arm chair brigade.

[brienwulff]

35 minutes ago, abister1 said:

Where were these fans when the club was near bankruptcy and facing the real danger of extinction? Please give credit where due.

All fans claim ownership or at least a sense of ownership to their club but lets stop deceiving ourselves. If all current chelsea supporters or indeed any other clubs' stop going to matches or supporting the team, there will be new fans to take their place. That's life and evolution of football.

 

The supporters were there as part of the CPO. And if we want to be extremely technical about it, Ken Bates did more to save this club than Roman - Roman built upon what was there. Regardless, there would still be a Chelsea Football Club playing football at Stamford Bridge, albeit it with the chance it's not as successful as the one we know today, because of the supporters that are part of the CPO.

I disagree 100% with your last two lines. Our club is nothing without local supporters. If they stop going, or are priced out, they are not going to be magically replaced by other passionate supporters locally ready to swell the ranks, nor the "millions" of supporters we have around the world. Football dies if local support is treated poorly. This club, this league, this game is nothing without local supporters.

 

[Tibbers]

On 7/5/2016 at 06:05, RMCM said:

And yet the media will still slate him for something. He's a great owner and has only ever done good things for this club

The media was in fact silent about this. Not that much publicity.

[Kentonio]

On 12/10/2016 at 17:33, brienwulff said:

The supporters were there as part of the CPO. And if we want to be extremely technical about it, Ken Bates did more to save this club than Roman - Roman built upon what was there. Regardless, there would still be a Chelsea Football Club playing football at Stamford Bridge, albeit it with the chance it's not as successful as the one we know today, because of the supporters that are part of the CPO.

Ken saved us back in the day (and I'll always be grateful for that despite him being a mad old bar steward), but people seem to have forgotten that prior to Roman's arrival we were very, very close to bankrupcy. People look at the PL now and say 'well someone would have bought us' but back then that wasn't an automatic proposition by any means. Leeds ring any bells? We might not have been wound up as a club, but we could very easily have ended up a broke club playing in the lower leagues while our neighbours took the piss and loved every minute of it.

Roman made us a world class team, and after years of watching us skirt with (and occasionally succumb to) relegation, I never thought that would happen in my lifetime. He's also as someone said above, the only super rich owner who is right there at the ground most matches on the edge of his seat kicking every ball with the rest of us. The man deserves every accolade there is as far as I'm concerned, and has certainly earned the right to be considered true Chels.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Kentonio

[Englishman]

On 12/10/2016 at 15:49, abister1 said:

Where were these fans when the club was near bankruptcy and facing the real danger of extinction?

It's a myth that we were near bankruptcy and extinction...

[abister1]

9 hours ago, Englishman said:

It's a myth that we were near bankruptcy and extinction...

Haha haha, again haha haha.

Let me just say not many businesses have been sold for £1 and still stand today.  Let's just be grateful that we survived that in 1982 and were lucky with Roman's intervention in 2003.

And well we may not have been extinct, maybe just like the new rangers in Scotland.  

[Coxy15]

13 hours ago, Englishman said:

It's a myth that we were near bankruptcy and extinction...

Not according to Frank Lampard. In his autobiography he wrote about the team talk given the night before we played Liverpool on the last day of the season where we needed to win to get into the Champions League. It was made clear to the players that failure to win the game would probably mean the end of their careers at Chelsea as they would need to be sold for the club to survive. That team talk fired the players up and we went out to win. I doubt Lampard would have exaggerated that much in his telling of the story.

[SydneyChelsea]

Coach/club in exaggerated team talk shocker.