Five things Chelsea's new owner must do to repeat Abramovich's success
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 8 Mar 2022 16:50 CST
- 5 min read
19 years. 19 trophies. The love story is over. Roman Abramovich and Chelsea are no more.
A defining era of the Premier League has come to a close.
Chelsea were by no means a small club, or one without success before Abramovich arrived, but he took the team to new heights, heights they'd never experienced before.
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Domestic and European success followed, and Chelsea were a side to be feared - the Premier League had a new superpower to deal with.
However, with Abramovich placing the club for sale, his tenure at the club will soon come to an end, with a new owner taking his place.
As things stand a bid for Chelsea hasn't been accepted by Abramovich, but the wheels are in motion, with several interested parties readying their offers.
But, whoever takes ownership will be required to follow the most successful and beloved owner in Chelsea's history. It won't be an easy task, so what will the new owner[s] need to do to replicate the success Abramovich experienced?
Show love for the club
The first point is arguably the easiest, and cheapest, thing to tick off. Simply put, Roman Abramovich loved Chelsea. Whenever he attended matches it was clear to see, most notably during the 2012 Champions League final.
He wanted Chelsea to win, not just for his own monetary gain, but also due to his new-found love for the club.
Whoever takes over will need to show a similar adoration in order to create a connection with the fans. Abramovich was loved by Chelsea fans because he truly cared, he even attended youth team games during his time living in England.
New owners may not reach Abramovich's level of status at the club, but they can come close if they show a personal touch in order to build a bond with the most important people at any football club - the fans.
Build a team around Thomas Tuchel
One factor of the Abramovich reign was the constant search for instant success. This meant the manager turnover was off-the-scales, sometimes this worked out, but sometimes it didn't. Of course the overriding success of the Abramovich era suggests it was flawless, but it wasn't perfect. Jose Mourinho, during his first spell, and Antonio Conte both left when signings weren't made to their liking, and that needs to change.
Chelsea finally have a stable, world-class manager in Thomas Tuchel, and he needs to be backed. The German coach is still operating with Frank Lampard's team, yet that may need to change slightly. Any new additions will need to be run by Tuchel in order to maintain the relationship between the manager and the club, and to ensure success is achieved.
Appoint a director of football
Marina Granovskaia is the current director at Chelsea, and she's been an incredible servant to the club. However, her future at Chelsea seems murky, and even if she stays, then a director of football would be a sensible addition.
Granovskaia isn't a director of football, and the recent advancements to the game point in the direction that someone to fill that specific role is needed.
Recruitment of players has been impressive, on the whole, at Chelsea recently, but with Abramovich gone, smart acquisitions, rather than big money moves, may be the order of business in the short-term.
If that's the case, then appointing a director of football to oversee player recruitment, among other responsibilities, is a necessary step to ensure the development of the squad matches up with the ambitions of the club.
Keep the focus on the academy
The recent shift towards promoting players from the famed Chelsea academy has resulted in the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount being handed prevalent roles in the first-team.
With Tuchel handing senior debuts to a host of youngsters, including the highly-rated Harvey Vale and Lewis Hall, he is clearly keen on utilising the youth system.
With that in mind, keeping the focus on blooding youth into the first-team must be high on the agenda for the new owners.
For the most part Chelsea fans want to see their academy graduates play for the senior team, and if that continues despite Abramovich's exit, it will be a win-win.
Keep the money flowing
The last point is fairly obvious: keep funding the club to success.
With the academy providing either first-team players, or monetary value when they're sold, Chelsea are quite a sustainable club right now, but Abramovich's huge wealth was also a massive helping hand.
Whoever comes in will need to stamp their authority on the team by providing a wad of cash for summer spending, which will be needed in order to close the gap to Manchester City and Liverpool.
