The story of Roman Abramovich and his influence on Chelsea FC is an interesting one for football fans to contemplate, even though it might frustrate some of them. Roman Abramovich has a net worth of 8.3 billion dollars, making him one of the richest people in the world and certainly one of the wealthiest people in Russia. He has also managed to have a huge effect on the world of sports today.
Roman Abramovich is interesting in that his story intersects with Russian history and illustrates the changes in Russia’s culture that have occurred over the course of the last forty-something years. He was involved in the Soviet army briefly in a time period in which people in the former Soviet Union had few opportunities for privatization. He was able to get started in 1988 when perestroika created privatization opportunities in the Soviet Union. Over the next few years, the Soviet Union collapsed, Roman Abramovich was able to invest the wealth that he made in his preliminary businesses, allowing him to soon take advantage of the cultural changes that occurred at the dawn of the new Russian state.
Starting in the year 2003, he bought the companies in charge of the Chelsea Football Club. Under the indirect leadership of Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea Football Club managed to become much more commercialized. He was interested in bringing the Chelsea Football Club up to the level of Manchester United or similar organizations in terms of their worldwide presence and branding. In the first season after he managed to take over the Chelsea Football Club, they made it to second place instead of the fourth place, which had been their previous level. As recently as 2016, they managed to score a ranking as the seventh most valuable football club in the world, and it is hard to deny the influence that Roman Abramovich had in bringing them to that level.
However, it should be noted that not all of the hardcore or old school fans are happy about this recent development. Some of them liked the old days when the Chelsea Football Club was much less commercialized. The Royal Vegas casino might be happy about some of the changes that allowed them to be what they are today. For people like Roman Abramovich, the money and the financial success involved with nearly anything trump all of the other concerns. However, lots of people view the Chelsea Football Club and other sporting organizations in a very different and emotional light. They might appreciate the success of their favored players, but they also might miss the simpler days before Roman Abramovich.
