It is incredible but the truth, Chelsea is the best English club in the past twenty years, put in context, During their most successful period in history, between 2003 and 2022 they have been the best, it is what it is, the most successful English side which was made possible by the acquisition of the club by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, in that period he brought the majority shares of the club from Ken Bates for a sum of £233m, his ownership of the club took effect in June 2003 and he was forced out as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which led to a war, it led to his exit which coincided with the end of an era of dominance which as a matter of fact climaxed with Chelsea as the defending champions league holders and the FIFA world club champions, a parting gift to the man that made it possible.
Abramovich`s Chelsea a golden era
The era started with a clear objective which was to make the blues a dominant success like Manchester United in England and Real Madrid in Europe, the blue print was simple, get the best and build them into a winning machine. Chelsea went to Portugal to hire the best manager at that time, a certain Jose Mourinho, the last coach to lead a team not from the Big 5, to win the champions league helping Porto to win in 2004, In their first year under new ownership, Chelsea advanced to the semi-finals after defeating their London rivals and nemesis, Arsenal in the quarter-finals—a team that had gone unbeaten in the League , they lost to surprise team Monaco despite needing just twenty minutes of regulation time to preserve a 1-1 scoreline, they threw the match away losing 3-1 in France and in the second leg, they had a 2-0 lead heading towards halftime which had leveled the tie but still could not hold on, drawing the match 2-2, The current expectations were very high, but the outcome fell short. The solution: a new manager with a winning mindset was needed. Mourinho, seen as an upgrade, replaced Ranieri, they won the English league in his first year as coach and retained it, the fifth to do so since after the second world war, it was their first since 1955 exactly 50 years ago. Abramovich`s impact was immediate the trophy collection was in motion, their history radically altered.
Abramovich`s ownership introduced the golden era.
Before this transition, Chelsea was a decent club with sporadic success, having won only one league title and yet to claim a Champions League trophy their latest success was inspired by the Italian connection a minor haul of titles, it started in the late 90s. when Ruud Gullit was signed as a player/manager from the great AC Milan side that dominated club football, he managed them to the FA cup in 1997,the first foreign and black manager to win a trophy, then Vialli took over and won the cup winners cup and the EFL the following season and another FA cup in 2000 with the former world footballer of the year George Weah, he was signed on loan and he played his part providing star dust and experience but the new repackaged Chelsea were winning the major titles domestically and had a new focus -The champions league.
Charity begins at home Chelsea`s Domestic lead over the Best
In this period,they won the league title twice, losing out narrowly at the semi final of the champions league twice to domestic rivals Liverpool in three years, within seven years they had won the three domestic titles -the English Premiership, the FA cup and the League cup at least twice which also included the community shield and reached the champions league finals losing to another domestic rival, Manchester United, when Terry slipped while taking the decisive penalty kick, ten years later they had won the most cherished and coveted title, the champions league and added another within the next decade, the first in Germany defeating the host Bayern Munich in a nail biting penalty shoot out, even after trailing by a goal scored in the 83rd minute,in yet another twist, Cech stopped a penalty kick in injury time, a stuff of legends, in the second win, they defeated an emerging domestic rival Manchester City in an all English champions league finals, they are the only English side to appear in two of such finals. they had achieved their objective in record time in comparison to PSG another rich and ambitious club that is still chasing for its first win, a club purchased by the Qatari state led by its QSI chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi in 2011, Another super rich club Manchester City took a longer time to win, the club was purchased by the Abu Dhabi United group in September 2008,making it fifteen years, which was six years longer than Chelsea`s nine years. it was even Chelsea`s blueprint that City had implemented and improvised. A reminder that while money alone doesn’t guarantee the biggest titles, it is a crucial factor that must be combined with other key elements for success, as demonstrated by Chelsea’s achievements.
Both super clubs battled with the old guard Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal for domestic supremacy. Chelsea and the Manchester Clubs came out on top.
Chelsea`s glorious era started in 2003 and ended in 2022 after the EFL final which Liverpool won which was the last competition before the change of Ownership.
Chelsea`s winning form also showed both domestically and internationally, They became without any doubt the most successful club from London. surpassing Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs.
Chelsea had the most English and FA cup titles within that period plus the Champions league.
In Europe they were behind the Spanish super powers Real Madrid and Barcelona but better than the two Manchester teams United and City.
Chelsea with two titles were equal with Liverpool, the best in England.
This achievement gave them an initiative and progression towards the top of the European leader board overtaking ten others with a title and at par with Juventus(1985,1996), Benfica(1961,1962), Nottingham(1979,1980) and Porto(1987,2004) Considering the time frame in which these teams won their first titles, it highlights the remarkable progress Chelsea has made in such a short period.
Chelsea`s European record at a glance
Before the Abramovich era, they had just 11 trophies but with this vision and wherewithal to match the leaders, they have reduced the gap of almost a hundred years of success of their rivals and have given a very good account, they with Manchester United, City and Liverpool have won the FIFA club world cup at least once.
Chelsea and Manchester United are the only clubs to have won all the major European trophies-champions league, the defunct winners cup and the Europa league before the introduction of the least prestigious conference league but they are the only English side to do it twice and also win the champions league and the Europa league back to back.
Chelsea setting the pace in recent times in the Female category
The model of success at the Female category belongs to Arsenal, the only English side with the champions league but Chelsea has closed the gap reaching the finals in 2021 the same year that their male counterparts had won their second champions league, they lost to Barcelona the only club that has won both the male and female version of this tournament, it would have been a record for the ages if both Chelsea sides had won in the same year, since gaining promotion in 2005 from the southern division as champions they have been consistently successful winning the women super league 7 times(they founded it with 7 other clubs which started in 2011)their first title was in 2015 with the FA cup, which was their first double, the male team were also English Champions, they repeated the double win in 2018 and again in 2020, they went a step further the following year when they lost to the Spanish in Europe but won the domestic treble. they are the current champion and the most successful side with 7 titles. since the rebranding of the national league to the women`s super league they have won 7 as against Arsenal`s 3, they also won the spring series in 2017 which was not included as a league title. they are the current English champions and have won the last 5 titles, a remarkable 7 of the last 8 titles, since their first win in 2015 they have won all with the exception of two titles.
A model for income generation through player sales
Marina Granovskaia
Abramovich also gave football and business a radical and novel model that success can be generated from chaos, the ruthless sacking of coaches have been bold but efficient, he started it at the very beginning, Ranieri was replaced by Mourinho which was an instant success, for their first champions league final appearance, Israeli Avram Grant took over after the dismissal of Mourinho, Di Matteo won the historic champions league after replacing Ancelotti, Benitez just like Di Matteo as interim manager won the Europa league after replacing the Italian, the change of the coaching management was simple but worked wonders even replacing fan favorite Lampard without hesitation and the reward? another champions league title won by Tuchel. the trophies that came with it took this strategy to new heights, they have spent more than £80m in compensation to sacked coaches during this era, but the impact on success have been impressive even the other Europa league title was won after Comte was replaced by Sarri. The new ownership took from the same playbook in sacking their champions league winning manager Thomas Tuchel but it has failed to yield the required outcome, does this law`s success apply to Abramovich alone? The Russian and Marina Granovskaia regarded as the most powerful woman in football have provided the club with a great deal of resounding success, she as at 2021 was voted as the best sports director and her shrewd business strategy have enabled the sales of academy players to yield a huge return on investment, they were able to realize that such sales will provide pure profit and have optimized it, the sales of other high profile players have fetched more than £600m with Hazard`s Real Madrid £115m move in 2019 a record, a player that was clearly past his peak. they have also sold very quality players which is a bit of a drawback from this strategy, players that have gone on to become super stars for other title winning sides such as Liverpool`s Mohamed Salah, and Manchester City`s Kevin De Bruyne.although not to their direct rivals with the Egyptian sold to Roma and the Belgian to Wolfsburg respectively. from their academy products notable players that have left for other clubs include Musiala, Declan Rice, Fikayo Tomori, Guehi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and even Tammy Abraham which had some side effect such as strengthening other clubs nevertheless, a huge credit to Chelsea for becoming a channel of exposure for such players. still on Marina, she was able to orchestrate the purchase of Fernando Torres, although not a hit like Drogba but the move was spectacular considering the impact he had at Liverpool and the Spanish National team at that time, other better acquisitions were Rudiger, Kante and Diego Coasta with his sales a lucrative £60m to Atlectico Madrid in 2018. She was also a strong influence in the return of Mourinho back to the club, she secured a record £900m Nike sponsorship deal and has done so much even her predecessor the current Saudi pro league sporting director, the former Nigerian international Micheal Emenalo another trailblazer renowned for the successful academy restructure, player transfer and the success of the female team, Abramovich has really shown how to provide the right human resource at all levels of administration.
The Boehly led ownership have been able to amortize player purchase, a long term financial contract engineering by spreading the costs across the entire contract. The European Champion Cucurella`s six year deal is spread in six installments reducing the annual amortization costs which reduces the annual cost significantly. another milestone is the sustainable profits from transfer sales according to the 446th CIES Football observatory weekly post, they are ranked fifth and is the top English side in revenue from the transfer of players from the academy(2014-2023) for players between the ages of fifteen and twenty one with at least three seasons spent at the Club.it shows the strategic vision towards providing a solid financial framework for running the Club.
Chelsea`s recent influence on International Football
Chelsea has also been able to provide star players that helped at the international level, Gullit, Vialli, Zola and Weah,Dessailly then Shevchenko were stars from the Italian league that helped set the standard for Chelsea, during their glorious reign Anelka was Euro 2000 winner, Malouda and Makelele finalist at the world cup in 2006, Zouma the U20 world cup winner and joined Chelsea afterwards, he was their young player of the year 2014/2015, Giroud and Kante were world cup winners in 2018, while Lebeouf won it in 1998, while at Chelsea, Hazard and Courtois played an integral role in Belgium`s achievement as the number one ranked team in the world and Courtois went on to win the golden glove at the Russia 2018 world cup,Mata was a world cup winner with Spain and joined Chelsea a year after, winning the european championship in 2012 with club mate Fernando Torres while the Italians Jorginho (he was in the European championship team of 2020) and Palmieri helped in the 2020 European championship victory against club team mates Chilwell and Mount`s England, Thiago Silva was a member of the Brazil confederation cup victory as host in 2013 and a Copa America finalist in 2021 after winning it in 2019, the Nigeria duo Mikel Obi and Moses helped Nigeria win AFCON in 2013 while Mikel inspired Nigeria to a third place finish at the 2016 Olympics finishing behind winners Brazil and world champions Germany. Mendy was crucial to the success of Senegal as AFCON champions in 2021, Cucurella won the 2024 European championship with Spain and like Mendy was in the team of the tournament providing the winning assist against England`s club team mate Conor Gallagher and Cole Palmer. Enzo Fernandez was snapped up in a eye watering deal of £106.8million from Benfica, a British record after winning the 2022 world cup(Kovacic won bronze with Croatia while Ziyech was in the Morocco team that reached African`s historic semi finals) with Argentina a year later he helped his country retain the Copa America,these players were actively involved for their national sides at major tournaments and individually Chelsea has produced Lampard, he was in the European championship team of 2004 with the highest position in the Ballon D`Or and FIFA world player of the year finishing in second in 2005. Jorginho(he won the UEFA men` s player of the year while Kante was second) placed third and Kante fifth in 2021, for the Chelsea female team, Australian Sam Kerr has been the closest finishing second in 2023 and third in 2021 and 2022, she helped her country reach the semi finals at the olympics , Fran Kirby,Carter and Bethany was in the English side that won the european championship while Ann Katrin Berger was in the German team that reached the finals and was instrumental in their winning bronze at the Paris olympics saving crucial penalties and scoring the decisive kick against Canada, England had Niamh Charles, Carter, captain Bright and Lauren from Chelsea that finished runner up at the 2023 world cup. the Swedish had Lindahl,Eriksson and Andersson that won bronze at the 2019 world cup, England had Aluko,Fran Kirby, Chapman and Rafferty that won bronze at the 2015 world cup. Chelsea had produced international stars which is beyond this list and will continue to do so, their influence in football is encompassing, they offer the best chance of another English triumph at the champions league for the female category.
Success is in the blood Reece and Lauren James both siblings are Chelsea players
for the Chelsea male team,it is too early to make much from the Boehly led ownership in terms of titles, but they have been able to introduce a canny way of acquiring players tying them to long term contracts to reduce financial exposure and to balance the books evading UEFA`s strict fair play rules, they also continued to roll out academy and home grown players as profits with the recent sale of Conor Gallagher to Atlectco Madrid. Their young and exciting team, now under the leadership of new Italian coach Maresca, who replaced Pochettino, shows great promise and could potentially lead to another decade of dominance. With such an exciting future ahead, Sportumentary will be available to provide an assessment.
