From a virtual unknown to the man heralded as the reason behind the club’s success, Roman Abramovich is preparing for an emotional farewell to Chelsea after 19 years as the club’s owner.
The Russian billionaire confirmed on Wednesday that he has put the club up for sale, amid the threat of sanctions being handed down to Russia ’s oligarchs in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich’s links to president Vladimir Putin have put Chelsea under the microscope, and with mounting pressure on the 55-year-old, he is holding talks with prospective buyers over the £3billion sale of the club.
Several parties are thought to be interested in taking control of the west London club, including Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and American business mogul Todd Boehly, while Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe has distanced himself from the discussion.
Abramovich’s departure has come to fruition as quickly as his bid to buy the club did, over the space of a week, and it seems likely that the Blues will have a new owner before the end of the season.
It has been quite the journey for Chelsea, with 13 managers across his tenure at the club — including the ill-fated return of Jose Mourinho — and four Premier League titles, as well as two Champions League triumphs.
As he prepares to sign away his ownership, Mirror Football brings you the inside story of how Abramovich took control of Chelsea - and how he reached the decision to take over the west London club...
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How the deal was reached
When the Russian swooped in to buy the club in July 2003 in a £140million deal, it almost came out of thin air. Not only because at the time, Abramovich was an obscure personality outside of Russia, but also due to the rapid nature of the takeover.
Talks were kept under wraps to the point that people inside the club were taken aback when the agreement was announced. Similarly, those secret negotiations between Abramovich and Bates caught the British press off guard, with several newspapers describing the deal as a "surprise".
Abramovich gained control after purchasing Chelsea Village for £60m from Ken Bates, the previous owner of Chelsea plc. That secured 50.9 per cent of the shares, as the Russian supremo offering 35p a share to purchase the remaining lot.
The club had debts of over £80m at the time and needed fresh investment, with the club making a £11m loss on its £53m turnover in the six months leading up to December 2002.
But having qualified for the Champions League in 2002-03 on the final day of the season and with a loyal fanbase at Stamford Bridge, Abramovich correctly predicted its potential — as did Bates.
"I think this is a great move for the club," Bates, who bought Chelsea for £1 in 1982, said. "In the long term this deal will be great for Chelsea.
"What does this mean to Chelsea? Well, we are recognised as one of England's elite clubs and this extra financial power will help to make us one of Europe's elite clubs.”
Abramovich wiped out the debt, which had been rising due to the costs of constructing a hotel, restaurant and leisure facilities at Stamford Bridge, and began drawing up plans for what the club would look like under his ownership.
A virtual unknown
To the football world, Abramovich's identity was something of a mystery. The only information available on the 36-year-old tycoon was that he made his fortune through his businesses in Russia.
His oil company Sibneft was one of the largest in the country, while he also held investments in a number of aluminium companies and the airline Aeroflot.
With a personal wealth of £3.4bn, Abramovich was the second-richest man in Russia at the time and inside the top 20 in the world. But it is believed the sale of his shares in Aeroflot were key to funding his deal for Chelsea.
Former Chelsea director Mark Taylor admitted that they had no clear idea of who they were dealing with when Abramovich’s representatives made it known they wanted to discuss a deal.
“Chelsea had been looking for investors for about 18 months and we'd had a lot of time-wasters and Roman seemed viable,” he told The Athletic’s Straight Outta Cobham podcast.
“Nobody really knew who he was - and so on the Friday morning his lawyers brought in Forbes magazine from America and I think he was No15 on the list with X billion dollars, which seemed to be quite a good starting point.”
Still, there was opposition to the rapid rate at which the deal had been conducted. Ex-sports minister Tony Banks MP, perhaps ahead of the curve in calling for an assessment of prospective football owners before selling to them, was sceptical about Abramovich’s suitability.
"I want to know whether this individual is a fit and proper person to be taking over a club like Chelsea. Until that question is answered, then I'm afraid the jury is out," he told the BBC.
"A sale has been arranged to an individual we know nothing about."
Secret talks and Man Utd snub
It recently came to light that, while Abramovich was always interested in owning an English football club, Chelsea was not his first choice.
At the time, Manchester United were Premier League champions and the dominant side in English football, with Arsenal their nearest rivals. With the club listed on the London Stock Exchange, Abramovich possessed the wealth to purchase the club’s majority shareholding stake.
It is even claimed he went to watch Man United play Real Madrid in the Champions League at Old Trafford, as well as considering buying Portsmouth.
“It’s a smaller scale but interestingly Abramovich thought about buying Portsmouth before he bought Chelsea,” James Montague, author of The Billionaires Club, told The Daily Star.
“He was shopping around – Portsmouth, even Manchester United was mentioned. Pini Zahavi was involved in trying to find a suitable club. It just turned out that Chelsea was in the most financial trouble and was the most available to be bought at such short notice.”
After settling on finding a club in London to base himself in the UK, Abramovich had the choice between Tottenham and Chelsea and held talks with chairman Daniel Levy about buying a controlling interest.
But, as fate would have it, Sven-Goran Eriksson — the former England manager and close confidant of Abramovich — claims to have influenced his decision to head to west London over the north side.
“In 2003, Roman wanted to buy a club in Russia. I went with him to Moscow to see the facilities at two or three other clubs. But then he changed his mind and said he wanted to buy a club in London,” Eriksson said.
“He was thinking Chelsea or Tottenham. He phoned me and said, "Who shall I buy?”
“I said if you want to win the league then Chelsea - because you only have to change half the team. At that time with Tottenham maybe you would have had to change the whole team.”
Only Abramovich knows how much value he placed on Eriksson's opinions. But given that Chelsea have won 15 trophies since Spurs last added silverware to their cabinet, the Swede may be owed a large beverage somewhere in a pub on King's Road for his wisdom.
