Russian Roman Abramovich has had his part in a fair share of controversies since arriving on the shores of Stamford Bridge back in 2003.
There’s no doubting that he’s improved the prospects of Chelsea pumping cash through the doors, taking them from a relegation side to a domestic title winning, European powerhouse.
This hasn’t been without a few bumps and bruises along the way, however. Indeed, a whole host of questionable decisions have been made on their road to glory, and some of them have certainly stifled the clubs progression rather than aided it.
With that said, here are two recent decisions made by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich that have cost his club in the last year…
Conte mess
The transition from Conte and Sarri was, to put it lightly, a mess.
Despite winning the club a Premier League title the previous season, Abramovich handled the release of the Italian with a typical lack of grace, class, respect, and appreciation. We’ve seen it done many times before, and we don’t doubt it’ll happen again.
Indeed, rumours of the worlds worst kept secret, that Conte was to be replaced by Sarri at the end of the season, were already flying during the Premier League campaign.
How exactly is knowing you’re going to be sacked any time soon conducive to performing well as a manager, you ask? It isn’t.
Chelsea performed way below expectations and Conte, quite rightly, didn’t look particularly bothered. We rarely saw his animated figure bounce around the touchline once he knew he was going to be replaced. And the team really suffered.
Poor transfer window
The aforementioned, regarding the Conte-Sarri debacle, dovetails rather nicely into our next point.
If things weren’t bad enough that Abramovich botched the fluid removal of his old manager, it didn’t help that he gave his new man barely any time to flex his influence in the transfer market.
Sarri was officially appointed Chelsea manager on the 13th July, less than a month before the window closed. He managed to bring in Jorginho, who has proved to be a revelation in midfield. But we suspect he would’ve wanted to address the problem(s) they have up front.
Chelsea are doing well at the moment with Hazard firing; however, there may come a point where his goals dry up, and who do they turn to then?
