When Roman Abramovich swallowed his pride and dialled José Mourinho’s number in 2013, in many ways it seemed the ultimate remarriage of convenience. Those close to the Russian, who turned English football upside down when he bought Chelsea in 2003, say once his mind is made up it is difficult to change.
His rapprochement with Mourinho, though, was based on a mutual desire to do the one thing neither man had managed: show they could build a long-term dynasty rather than produce success based on chaos and shifting sands.
Having sunk more than £1bn into Chelsea over the course of a decade, Abramovich had successfully lobbied Uefa to bring in financial fair play, invested heavily in an academy that he was determined would start bearing fruit and craved the respect that would only come from long-term success achieved with a modicum of style.
The Portuguese, meanwhile, was desperate to leave behind the turmoil – much of it self-inflicted – of the Bernabéu for somewhere that he knew he would feel unconditional love pouring down from the stands.
Sweeping back into “my dugout, my dressing room, my office” in 2013, he gave every impression of wanting to remain at Stamford Bridge for a decade or more. When Mourinho returned for that “happy one” press conference, he professed to have changed. The club hierarchy gave every impression of believing him and talked privately of a different, more mature Mourinho.
One that was prepared to delegate yet would take an interest in the development of players beyond the first-team squad. One that was happy to work with the technical director, Michael Emenalo, and the board to target players and work within a limited budget. One that wanted to build sustainable success. There was a desperate wish to believe it to be true, even when all the evidence began to scream otherwise.
Success, when it came, was achieved largely via the same patented means that had made Mourinho one of the most successful managers in history. And when the shameful Eva Carneiro saga unravelled, a club that had six months previously been loudly proclaiming its commitment to diversity and equality felt obliged to back their manager over the club doctor he had in effect bullied and demoted.
While much had changed at Chelsea since Mourinho’s first spell at the club, and there was notably less sense of turbulent power struggles behind the scenes, the flat management structure at Stamford Bridge remained. So when chaos began to envelope Mourinho, as it always does, there was no one to rein him in.
The de facto chief executive, Marina Granovskaia, chairman, Bruce Buck, and director, Eugene Tenenbaum, are all longstanding close associates of Abramovich’s. All are hugely capable, yet, ultimately, will always be trying to second-guess their patron. For all that has altered since 2003, it is only one man’s opinion that matters.
Plenty else has changed. The FFP era did not turn out quite the way that Abramovich had hoped and Chelsea’s rivals have turned up the heat by spending big once again.
Chelsea, proud of their newfound prudence, ratcheted up their commercial deals – and it is tempting to wonder how all this is going down with Yokohama Tyres – while forging an innovative sideline in producing and selling on young talent.
The academy has continued to churn out promising youngsters but the vast majority were summarily dispatched around Europe to join a huge army of loanees. Despite his travails this season, Mourinho remained curiously reluctant to trust those who remained.
The irony is that it is Manchester City, who embarked on their grand project some five years later than Abramovich, who appear to have stolen a march. Residual uneasiness underscores both clubs about the manner in which they suddenly came into vast wealth but it is City – coming from further back – who have made the more convincing stab at building a sustainable structure.
Pep Guardiola – who has long been coveted by Abramovich for marrying success with the style he craves and who has spurned him at least once – would clearly now favour City over the turbulence at the London club. For Chelsea and Abramovich, facing a season out of the Champions League at best and with a temporary move to Wembley in the offing while Stamford Bridge is completely rebuilt, the only guarantee is more uncertainty.
The Russian is unlikely to want to antagonise his fanbase in quite the same manner as when he installed the hated Rafa Benítez as the interim manager and will be mindful of the fact that Mourinho has remained popular, despite this season’s travails.
It might not be a bad start for the silent owner to communicate his reasoning to fans, many of whom blame the players over the manager, for once.
Abramovich was perhaps more desperate for Mourinho’s second coming to work than the man himself. Yet, ultimately, he appears to have concluded for a second time that the Portuguese was the problem rather than the solution.
Abramovich has proved far more committed to Chelsea and English football than many predicted when his helicopter swooped over Stamford Bridge in 2003. He shows no sign of going anywhere and has committed to a hugely complex and expensive stadium redevelopment.
However, on Monday as he watched a team managed by the manager he inherited, Claudio Raneiri, dismantle a disintegrating side overseen by the one with whom his ownership is most closely entwined, he may have reflected – not for the first time – that money can’t buy everything.
His billion-pound investment has produced an avalanche of silverware, global recognition and unprecedented success to SW6 – but stability and any semblance of a long-term strategy remain elusive.
