Eleven months into the first year of the Roman Abramovich ownership, Claudio Ranieri had Chelsea in a title race.
In fact, 19 years ago this week, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s winner saw off Tottenham with a Champions League last-eight win over Arsenal to come. Although Chelsea wouldn’t win any silverware that season - with Jose Mourinho replacing Ranieri - the direction of travel was there for all to see.
Eleven months into the supposed brave new world under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, decisiveness and clear-eyed thinking under Abramovich has been replaced by chaos, carnage and complications behind the scenes that suggest hiring an elite replacement for Graham Potter will be far from easy.