Roman had a dream, and it died a quiet death
Roman had a dream, and it died a quiet death
Like Martin Luther King Jr., Roman Abramovich has a dream. Or, rather, he had a dream, which really was less a dream than a looming reality. Problem is, it was ever looming, and it now seems to have passed him by. The Champions League trophy was on Abramovich’s horizon for years, yet it turned out to be no more than a mirage, a now long-lost memory of hope forgone. After all, he was the first in England to do what he did. That morose night in Moscow is the closest the Russian came to grasping his dreams by the throat. John Terry, now proprietor and poster-boy for lube, slipped. It was the ironic, pre-emptive karmic guillotine.
In some respects, it isn’t wrong to feel sorry for Roman. Luzhniki aside, there was also a Nordic fella named Tom Henning Øvrebo, who single-handedly defenestrated Chelsea’s chances of a second consecutive final against Manchester United. Barcelona benefitted from the most questionable decisions in refereeing history, and eventually went on to win the trophy; Roman’s dream was engaged in a laboriferous skirmish for its last breath.
By this time, the ageing process of what could be classed as the nearly-team of European football was firmly under way. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba were the clichéd spine of the Chelsea side, but no longer filled with the (relatively more) youthful endeavour and tenacity they previously had. In fact, neither did the other cogs of the Stamford Bridge project – Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko (who was released on a free to Dynamo Kiev) the biggest culprits in that domain.
The weakening of Chelsea was not the only factor attributable to the death of Roman’s dream. Post-2009, Barcelona had become the indefatigable, pertinacious, yet pretentious squire of tiki-taka, the new brand of beautiful footballing arrogance. Sheikh Mansour and his gazillions in precious commodity dollars oversaw, and is still overseeing, the impregnation of Manchester City – they have the looks of a Chelsea Mark II, potentially the one that will not fail. Manchester United and Real Madrid remain Manchester United and Real Madrid, empyrean football clubs with by amaranthine leaders, never to be written off. It is not Chelsea’s fault anymore; it wasn’t Mourinho or Ancelotti at fault, it was the competition. The competition is just too good.
Roman is learning to count the cost of a rebuilding process. Romelu Lukaku and Juan Mata will be the future of Chelsea. Andre Villas-Boas should be allowed to be. It is far from a complete process. Each year, the media suggests that this is the last year Chelsea has to make their mark in Europe, but we know that that chance has passed. Gone with the Moscow rain, gone with the Norwegian Howard Webb prototype. Will the future see Abramovich’s dream come to pass? It is doubtful.
