Post takeover, post massive transfer injection, here we go again. Although right now we do seem to have jumped straight to the farce part. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersĪnd so history repeats itself. Claude Makélélé’s arrival on deadline day from Real Madrid for £16.6m made it 10 major signings.Īnd on the second weekend in September that newly assembled entity, Chelsea 2.0, gambolled to a freewheeling, juiced-up 4-2 victory, with two goals from new acquisition Adrian Mutu – one to watch there – in front of a Stamford Bridge crowd blinking in the clean, crisp autumn sunlight.Ĭhelsea’s Adrian Mutu (centre) evades Spurs’ Mauricio Taricco and Anthony Gardner during a 4-2 win on 13 September 2003 in which he scored twice.
£17m went on Damien Duff, £15m on Juan Sebastián Verón. The new-era spending had kicked off with Glen Johnson, signed for £6m from West Ham. Here was a handsome, stubbly billionaire with a yacht and a rock-and-roll approach to the transfer market. The idea of Londongrad-on-Thames, of the oligarchical court, had yet to reveal itself. The reality is Vladimir Putin had come to power just three years previously. Abramovich, aged 36 and politically connected, had risen to become the major shareholder of what would soon be the world’s third largest oil company. With the clarity of hindsight it has become a reflex to goggle at the naivety of the sports media coverage of that period. Abramovich was described as “an influential politician”, with “deep pockets”, and “a general sports fan but not a particular Chelsea supporter”. “In a surprise move last night Chelsea football club was sold to a 36-year-old Russian oil billionaire after intense and secret negotiations,” the news pages noted. There is still a sense of double-take reading the Guardian’s report of the takeover, completed without fanfare on 1 July.
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