Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea will not be able to continue the way they operate once a new owner takes over from Roman Abramovich.
“This has never been about business nor money for me, but about pure passion for the game and the club.” — These are Abramovich’s words in the official statement released last week.
The successful 19 years Chelsea have had under his ownership clearly supports his statement.
This, however, will soon not be the case any more at Chelsea, according to Carragher.
“I think whoever comes in and takes over from Abramovich will find it difficult to replicate the success that they’ve had,” the former Liverpool defender told CBS Sports.
“You may get someone who’s willing to put in the same amount of money, [but] it’s the actual losses that Chelsea make that an owner [will have to be] prepared to take, really.
“Changing managers year after year, players coming in left, right, and centre, huge money getting spent on players, and this is not a football club that generates a lot of money.
“They haven’t really got a big stadium like Manchester United and what Liverpool are trying to do now, what Tottenham and Arsenal got in terms of bringing money into the club.
“They have an owner who writes off money.
“No matter how rich any owner who buys a football club, they all see it, more often than not, as an investment, really.
“The owners who don’t, you’d say, are Manchester City and now Newcastle. That’s what they have with Roman Abramovich and it’ll be very difficult to get.”
Carragher may have had a good point — it is very rare to see owners who do not see buying a club as a business investment.
In December, Chelsea announced a £153.4m loss (£145.6m after-tax per Sky Sports) for the year ended 30 June 2021.
The Covid-19 situation played a big part, obviously, but the club’s spending a club-record fee on Romelu Lukaku despite the losses illustrates Abramovich’s ambition to win at all cost.
Fortunately, Abramovich will leave the club in a state which is arguably more than good enough to take up a more self-sustainable model, thanks to his investment in the squad and in the academy, in particular.
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