Mr Partridge
Well-Known Member
dctid said:DTeacher said:PMSL.
YCNMIU.
Ranerri - need i say more - if a top manager comes available Hughes is gone
When Chelsea were taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, Ranieri was given a large transfer fund but also found his job under threat. Days after the takeover Abramovich was spotted meeting with England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, although the club denied Eriksson would be taking over at the time, these rumours would haunt Ranieri's season. Ranieri spent £120 million on players in the summer of 2003. These signings included Irish winger Damien Duff for a then club record £17 million, English youngsters Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole, and Glen Johnson, Argentine pair Juan Sebastián Verón and Hernán Crespo, Frenchman Claude Makélélé and Romanian star Adrian Mutu.
The heavy investment brought the best league placing for the club in 49 years, finishing runners-up in the Premier League to the first side in over a century to go an entire league season unbeaten (Arsenal), a position sufficient to automatically qualify Chelsea for the lucrative group phase of the Champions League. The club also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. That season also saw Chelsea break some club records for the least number of goals conceded and highest number of points in a season.
If Roman Abramovich was our owner then Mark Hughes would have been gone a long time ago. But he's not. And that's the important bit.