Former Chelsea chief executive Trevor Birch, has revealed that the deal which saw Roman Abramovich buy the London club in 2003, happened in 10 minutes.
Birch also spoke about how the Russian spent over €160 million on new players in the first six weeks.
“Abramovich didn’t speak English [when the pair first met],” he told the London Evening Standard. “There was an interpreter. I wasn’t totally convinced he was the real thing. I had googled him but he just didn’t appear anywhere.
“Nobody knew anything about him. So I wasn’t sure whether it was a scene from Candid Camera and that suddenly Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out at me.
“But we did the deal in 10 minutes, nothing like that had ever happened. I don’t think people appreciated what a game changer it was. I suggested he spent £20m [€23m] on players. He spent £140m [€165m] in six weeks, the biggest change I’ve seen in English football.”
He also revealed how he planned to sit down with Abramovich and advise him on how to run the club well, with stratgies like investing slowly and lowering ticket prices, before he left the club.
“I said to [Abramovich]: ‘Look, you’re living every supporter’s dream. Why not allow them to share in that dream and therefore, at one fell swoop, just reduce the season-ticket prices? So it announces your arrival with a bang and supporters from every other club would wish they had an owner like you.
“What I thought Chelsea should try was to become everybody’s favourite second team. There are certain ways that you need to act to gain that kind of affection from people. I was voted down. They said, ‘We’re going to run it as a business, break even and be the biggest club.’
“How ironic given the hundreds of millions in losses. The stance he took rubbed the neutrals up the wrong way.”
Birch also spoke about how the Russian spent over €160 million on new players in the first six weeks.
“Abramovich didn’t speak English [when the pair first met],” he told the London Evening Standard. “There was an interpreter. I wasn’t totally convinced he was the real thing. I had googled him but he just didn’t appear anywhere.
“Nobody knew anything about him. So I wasn’t sure whether it was a scene from Candid Camera and that suddenly Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out at me.
“But we did the deal in 10 minutes, nothing like that had ever happened. I don’t think people appreciated what a game changer it was. I suggested he spent £20m [€23m] on players. He spent £140m [€165m] in six weeks, the biggest change I’ve seen in English football.”
He also revealed how he planned to sit down with Abramovich and advise him on how to run the club well, with stratgies like investing slowly and lowering ticket prices, before he left the club.
“I said to [Abramovich]: ‘Look, you’re living every supporter’s dream. Why not allow them to share in that dream and therefore, at one fell swoop, just reduce the season-ticket prices? So it announces your arrival with a bang and supporters from every other club would wish they had an owner like you.
“What I thought Chelsea should try was to become everybody’s favourite second team. There are certain ways that you need to act to gain that kind of affection from people. I was voted down. They said, ‘We’re going to run it as a business, break even and be the biggest club.’
“How ironic given the hundreds of millions in losses. The stance he took rubbed the neutrals up the wrong way.”
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