Ashley And Abramovich - Is There Cause For Concern?

Last updated : 21 May 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor

Roman Abramovich is the orphan who rose from tragic and humble beginnings in the icy north of the Soviet Union to become the most famous oligarch after making his spectacular fortune in the rollercoaster capitalism of the new Russia.

Tonight he will not get a better chance of winning the greatest prize in European football in ... of all places ... Moscow.

The opposition is formidable in Manchester United. Yes 40,000 sperm donors have left Manchester, leaving fertility clinics fearing a shortage of wankers ... but are those 40,000 from Manchester?

Anyway ... back to the subject in hand ...

Many in Moscow believe that for Chelsea it will be like playing at home with most Russians supporting the Stamford Bridge club because of the Abramovich factor.

And yet there is an odd feeling, here in Moscow as well as in London, that some of the passion has gone out of the tycoon's love of football and that perhaps, if even securing the trophy when the game ends in the early morning local time, it will not mean quite as much to him as it might have done a year or more ago.

One reason is Abramovich's recent 10-game absence from Chelsea matches, even as the club crept up the Premier League to come within a whisker of the title.

And just as Chelsea seem reluctant to outspend all-comers, as they used to, the owner is all too ready to splash out £61 million on paintings by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.

Abramovich's spokesman, John Mann, denies any diminution in the Chelsea owner's interest in the club, and points instead to the 41-year-old billionaire's need to concentrate on other priorities.

Several months ago, he was reported to have been examining mining options in Zimbabwe, a challenge that might well be time-consuming given the political situation in the country.

So perhaps Chelsea fans have nothing to worry about in their owner's sudden failure to fly from any corner of the globe to watch his team.

Yet one Muscovite who first met him as a teenager said: "His life is full of examples of him moving from one passion to another. He has done so with women and in his business life."

Such is the life of a club owner.

Should we be worried?