This article is in this weeks Private Eye, interesting from a Chelsea point of view and City's from a FFP angle.
Roman Abramovich's generosity may next year finally reach the £1 billion mark in terms of funding Chelsea's bid to rule the Premier League and Europe, if not the world.
Fordstam, the parent company for the club and it's intermediate parent Chelsea FC, had received loans of almost £820m as at June 2011. The Fordstam money gushes rather than trickles down via Chelsea FC to fund the club's transfers and other costs.
The club made a loss in 2011 of £72m. Chelsea has stated that it made a £1.4m profit for last year, but those accounts have yet to be published, as have those for the club and Fordstam. The Chelsea FC loss in 2011 was £67m. The Fordstam figures for the year 2012 similarly will not become public for some weeks but are likely to show another rise, given the transfer spending. The increase in the loan on 2010 was almost £80m.
When the £59m Abramovich paid to purchase the club is added, the total of his largesse was already nearer £900m by June 2011. The Fordstam loan is interest-free and requires 18 months' notice for repayment. Exactly how this fits within the Uefa FFP rules about breaking even by 2015 remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the cost of hiring and firing Chelsea managers appears mere petty cash in comparison
