Well the russian revolution (or the roman revolution - if you prefer to say so) has started.
the green colour of money flowing from the red russia to the blues of stamford bridge has provided a colourful new dimension to premiership this season. its early days yet, but the signs are there that this wont be just another two-horse race. beware arsenal and man u - here they come.
since the arrival of czar abramovich, the new-look chelsea has taken a giant stride forward. all the previous seasons, chelsea remained a second-tier team, well overshadowed by their london rivals and the big boys from manchester. but not this year. chelsea are already at the top of the table as of today (its 16th oct, 2003). though its a long way to go, it surely speaks volumes. and mr. abramovich has shown he means business. having paid 140 million pounds for stock + clearing the debt + around 110 million pound for players, he was surely not ready to sit back and take it as it comes. though he is not overdemanding in the short term, the goals have been set. the swoop of man u ceo peter kenyon was a master move to top it all.
looking at the players, with cudicini, they already had the best goalkeeper in premiership and they have now got ambrosio. defence with desailly, terry, gallas, babarayo, melchiot, bridge looks strong. attack consisting of mutu, crespo, hasselbaink and gudjohnsen can score against any opposition. and to speak about midfield - well with gems like makelele, duff, veron, gronkjear, petit, cole, geremi, lampard.. you just cannot ask for more. they can actually field 2 equally strong teams. now its just a question of gelling these stars. the ingredient are all there.. ranieri needs to produce the final product. greatfully for him, our czar is not looking for instant rewards.. that gives him enough time to get his team rolling. have secured a place in champions league proper, the world is now waiting for their performance.
well can all this money buy success? you never know. look at real. but this change is more sudden, more acute and can take time to be settled.
eg. communicating the team strategy would be problem. we know that ranieri is not the master of english language. nor are most of the stars mentioned above. he has been quoted saying that he speaks to mutu and desailly in italian and hasselbaink, crespo and veron in spanish!! no wonder if lampard feels he is in a foreign territory. to understand the strategy, to get the instinct of the passes made by other players.. this takes time. and time will tell whether money can make the football world go round.
the tinker-man is under the microscope...