The 9 most iconic moments from Chelsea’s Abramovich era | OneFootball

The Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea ended a year ago, almost as suddenly as it began. The Russian billionaire swept into the club, spent billions, won it all, and just when he had become a fixture of the league, vanished again. Looking back at the last 20 years, there were some truly special moments, made all the more pleasurable to remember by the chaos that has followed since.

That first summer

We’re rather used to it now – especially after the past 12 months – but back then, Chelsea were pretty modest spenders and would generally pick up players from smaller clubs in the Premier League, along with the occasional big-name free transfer from Europe.

But once Abramovich arrived, everything changed. Suddenly, the team suddenly had the budget for “Galactico” signings. There wasn’t much time left in the summer of 2003 when the deal was finalised, so fans got a thrilling supermarket trolley dash – from Claude Makelele and Joe Cole to Juan Sebastian Veron and Damien Duff. It was a uniquely exciting time for fans who had never seen anything remotely similar before.

That next summer, players like Petr Cech and Arjen Robben would arrive, along with some big names from Portugal, to form the core of the first title-winning team, but only after…

Sacking Ranieri

Roman Abramovich brought a lot of good things to Chelsea, but he also brought a new level of ruthlessness in terms of sacking coaches. Given the club’s success, there is no denying it was a largely effective strategy, and the best example came right at the start.

Sacking Ranieri after a Champions League semi-final was considered brutal and harsh at the time – but nobody knew that it would lead to…

The arrival of Jose Mourinho

Jose was not going to be on the market for long after leading Porto to the Champions League final that year, and Abramovich reacted fast to get him. He booted Ranieri, took the flak from the press, and appointed the hottest coach in Europe to Chelsea.

It took that legendary “special one” press conference and a win against Manchester United in the season’s first game to tell the world that the old order had changed. Then, 9 months later…

Winning the first Premier League title

Again, winning titles seems natural to Chelsea now, but in 2005 it had been 100 years since our last League win. Watching the Blues lift the trophy felt truly surreal, even after it had become an almost certainty that it would happen. Frank Lampard lashed in two at the Reebok, and the away fans went wild – and not for the last time.

Sacking Carlo Ancelotti

After that first title, the trophies started to mount up. But Roman was never truly happy and always reached for more – he wanted beautiful football, as well as the medals. After some false starts, it was in Carlo Ancelotti that he found a man who could provide both goals and beautiful football. But a couple of dodgy moments in the Champions League caused Ancelotti’s sacking, perhaps the harshest and most regrettable of the managerial changes made, and a reminder that Roman’s itchy trigger finger definitely cost us titles as well as earning them.

Winning the Champions League – at last

While the first Premier League trophy came easily, the first Champions League was a different story. It took years of bitter battles, unfair eliminations, and penalty heartbreak before Chelsea finally did it. The quest for the trophy with the big ears even cost Jose his job, but when they finally did it, the reward was all the sweeter for the pain along the way.

Antonio Conte’s Rise and Fall

With the ultimate trophy conquered, there were rumours that Abramovich was losing interest. He came to fewer games and spent less lavishly. But the arrival of Antonio Conte sparked the club back to life and left a legacy we can still see today in the team’s tendency to return to a back 3. In the space of a year, Conte took the club from the doldrums of Jose Mourinho’s second spell, made them the best team in Europe, won the Premier League – and then blew the whole thing up deliberately when he decided he wasn’t happy.

For Abramovich, appointing managers was all about taking risks. As it should be, considering the beautiful game’s long standing relation with the matter. Every tackle is a risk, every sprint a risk, every single kick of the ball with the potential to go awry.

It extends to off-pitch matters too – there’s a reason betting has become so intrinsically linked with football. The highs and lows of true footballing fandom are often buoyed or quelled with a bet riding alongside on your own favourite team. A look down the Sun’s list of the best new casinos probably reveals more than one familiar face for those of us who have been watching the Premier League for any length of time, with sponsors adorning so many kits and stadium walls.

The farewell Champions League

The final brutal axe of Roman’s era fell when he booted club legend Frank Lampard out after a bad run and appointed Thomas Tuchel instead. The fans weren’t happy, but they didn’t have long to complain. A few months later, Chelsea were adding a second Champions League to their collection, in great part thanks to Tuchel’s genius and Abramovich’s ruthlessness.

Completing the set – just in time

Abramovich sold the club just after he saw his team win the Club World Cup, filling the final gap in his trophy collection and producing a neat finish to his era. In a whirlwind of 20 years, he won it all, most of it twice, and left his mark on the club and on European football forever.