To truly capture the way Roman Abramovich’s wealth dazzled and beguiled, rather than becoming absorbed in the ugliness of its endgame, as fans interrupted a tribute to Ukraine to chant the name of a Russian oligarch, it’s best to return to where it all began in an attempt to make reason of the rancid. After all, it’s a sense of desperation that cultivates the illusions of a saviour, and Chelsea was the ailing but beloved institution in need of a financial lifeline. And so when Abramovich strode authoritatively and then absently through the halls of Stamford Bridge, even MPs weren’t unsusceptible to being wooed by the air of mystery. “At the end of the day, it required a fairy godmother to appear,” said David Mellor, who had chaired the government’s Football Task Force. “That fairy godmother appeared from Russia in the last three days.”
Then and now, it would require a test of anaemia to determine who out of politics and football has a paler moral compass. Certainly though, they are at their most insipid when combining forces. There were few dissenting voices in Parliament when Abramovich completed the £140m purchase of Chelsea in 2003, even if the means by which he’d amassed his billions had been well-publicised. Tony Banks, the late Labour MP and a passionate Chelsea fan, did urge an inquiry into the sale “to establish whether [Abramovich] is a fit and proper person to take over a football club in this country”, but his voice was drowned out by other supporters’ cheers.
