Are Chelsea now a normal club?

[cimt]

In the Daily Mail it states that Roman has pulled the plug in buying players for Chelsea, he has said that they should make money like other clubs do.

John Terry and Frank Lampard are set to leave Chelsea after Roman Abramovich's decision to stop pumping unlimited funds into the club.

The two England internationals have been told they will not be given parity in their pay packets with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack as they attempt to thrash out new deals.

And Abramovich has insisted he is not interested in remaining as the key decision maker at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho will stay as manager but Chelsea will not be ploughing vast fortunes into the transfer market, according to a report in The Sun.

The Russian owner has fallen out of love with the club and wants to spend more time abroad and with his new girlfriend Daria Zhukova.

And it is said that Chelsea's three signings this season will be on free transfers with Steve Sidwell having been snapped up from Reading.

Central defender Alex to join from PSV Eindhoven and Claudio Pizzaro being landed from Bayern Munich.

It is a far cry from the millions splashed out by Abramovich on top stars like Shevchenko and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

And it could spell long-term trouble for Chelsea as they may have to sell unsettled Lampard and Terry to generate further funds.

It also means they may struggle to keep up with the pace set by Manchester United while Liverpool and Arsenal will both be stronger next season with Spurs also making progress in their rear view mirror.

Will Chelsea survive in the top 4 now?

Source

[nffc]

Well lets face it, they hardly need massive investment do they? Apart from a new striker, they're pretty much there.

[Downloads]

Originally Posted by cimt

In the Daily Mail it states that Roman has pulled the plug in buying players for Chelsea, he has said that they should make money like other clubs do.



Will Chelsea survive in the top 4 now?

Source

Yeah and to be fair, they stated they would spend less as time went on. That was always what Kenyon said. My opinion, still deffinitely a top 4 team. Now, if they didn't relace playes as they left, then they could drop lower, but not a single person has left yet.

While i don't believe Sidwell is worth 50k a week, he's deffinitely strengthened the squad. Did very well for me in my fantasy team!

Plus the Mail will have just made the story up anyway, based on what they are seeing. Like Abrama will have had a cosy chat on the sofa with them, telling them he's fallen out of love with the club. Reporting on football is rubbish nowadays, they seem to make stories up all the time just to get people to read.

[sherer]

as others have said most of these stories are all a load of rubbish but i'd love to spend more time abroad with Daria Zhukova

i read a few months ago how Abramovich had to sell Chelsea to pay some debts and stuff in Russia and don't forget the 100s of stories about Jose leaving this summer.

if this was true then Chelsea could have a few problems as I think they were still in debt and lost money last financial year, 80m i think IIRC plus they have lost money every year since RA has been there so unlike United and Liverpool and Arsenal who make money each year they couldn't keep going like this without RA.