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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB

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 UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS
FACULTY OF SCIENCES
INSTITUTE OF SPORTS SCIENCES AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB

DR. MARTON GERGELY

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

MOHAMMAD BAZZI
PHYSICAL EDUCATION-TRAINING BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

PÉCS, 2019
Dedication

This study is wholeheartedly dedicated to my beloved family, who have been my source of
inspiration and gave me strength when I thought of giving up, who continually provide their moral,
spiritual, emotional, and financial support. To my friends and classmates who shared their words
of advice and encouragement to finish this study. And lastly, I dedicated this thesis to Allah, thank
you for the guidance, strength, power of mind, protection and skills and for giving me a healthy
life.

2
Abstract

Football is being the most popular sport industry in the world. Football attracted interest not only
for being a worldwide sport and for its impact on national identities, but also due to generation of
high revenue.
Many football teams in England experienced a very high revenue, but some others faced financial
difficulties. At this point, the football industry is a fast growing market with a lot of profits and
losses.
This Bachelors Thesis is focused on the economics of football and the business of Chelsea football
club. This Thesis will help people understand more the business of the football industry. This
Thesis also provides a compare of two eras of the club, one before the arrival of Roman
Abramovich and the other is after.
Chelsea FC have changed a lot since the arrival of this businessman. The main motive behind this
project is to go through what the team experienced to be at the top for several years.

3
Table of Contents

Dedication ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5
2. Theoretical Background ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.1. The structure of a sports club ............................................................................................................. 9
2.2. The history of financial instability in English football .................................................................... 12
2.3. Governance, revenue, and ownership in the 1990’s ........................................................................ 13
2.4. Profitability and clubs falling into financial difficulties .................................................................. 16
2.5. Chelsea Football Club ...................................................................................................................... 20
3. Aims and Methodology........................................................................................................................... 22
4. Results ..................................................................................................................................................... 24
4.1. Chelsea FC before Abramovich era ................................................................................................. 24
4.2 Why Abramovich bought Chelsea? .................................................................................................. 25
4.3. Chelsea Fc under the ownership of Roman Abramovich................................................................. 26
4.3.1. First phase 2004-2008 ............................................................................................................... 27
4.3.2. Second phase 2009-2013 .......................................................................................................... 30
4.3.3. Third phase 2014-2018 ............................................................................................................. 33
4.4. Chelsea results under the Abramovich era ....................................................................................... 36
5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 38
6. References ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................... 43

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1. Introduction

“Football is not just a game”. Even though this quote seems to be very cliché, but it is real that
football has developed into a huge industry, becoming a business for many people and not just a
game. This game is not only about winning, but also making money. According to Fédération
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Survey in 2006, approximately 243 million people
play football professionally, which means 4.1% of the world. 3 billion messages via Facebook and
672 million tweets via twitter were posted regarding the 2014 World Cup (Şener & Karapolatgil,
2015).
Football is not like any other sports game but it is also an important economic market attracting
investors from all over the world. The UEFA has set rules, and the Financial Fair Play (FFP)
regulations (UEFA 2009) have been enlarged and developed with the intention of bringing more
investors into the industry of football as they ensure stability of the football clubs. In season
2013/14, the top 20 football clubs rose total revenues by 14% to over £ 4.5 billion. Revenues are
still increasing every year especially for the top 5 football clubs (Gazzolaa & Ameliob, 2016).
In the past 20 years economics of football have expanded brilliantly. Let us take Liverpool football
club who is one of the best English teams in history. In 2008, Liverpool FC income was more than
all Premier League clubs in 1992, and Liverpool in 2008 did not make as much as Manchester
United, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Before the English Premier League has started the income of all top
divisions was £150 million. By 2008, this had increased to £193 million. This shows how the
growth rate has increased by almost 16% which grew the UK economy by 3% per year. The
Premier League has always made the most income, but the national leagues of Italy, Germany,
Spain and France (The top 5 European Leagues) have also experienced growth in income
consistently, as have the UEFA Champions League, the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European
Championship and smaller domestic and international football competitions (Szymanski, 2010).
The first questions that come to the mind of every football fan, and everyone who is concerned
about the economics of sports and football in particular. What did boost the economics of football?
And in a quite short period of time. How the teams have changed before and after this ‘boom’? If
the team is not doing well, not having the best days, the good performance, and the consistency no
wealthy businessman would think about buying the club. Working on a normal club to become a

5
top one needs to be taken step by step from the academy to the first team. A football club is not
only players, but also staff and facilities should be as good as the players to reach success
(Gerrrard, 2005).
I will talk briefly about the structure of a sports club and the difference between a profit and non-
profit clubs. I have started my research by looking for publications on several online websites and
bought some books. After reading the book Chelsea FC by Rick Glanvill I got to know more about
the history of a club like Chelsea. Reading publications, in particular, by the author Stefan
Szymanski helped me to understand more about the fact that the whole football industry has
changed a lot especially from the 1990s. I will talk about Chelsea FC and what makes it one of the
best nowadays, and how the arriving of a wealthy businessman made the history of the club and
brought success for this club. I chose this topic because the football industry is growing in a crazy
way, and I have always wanted to know the reasons and the impacts of this big growth.

6
2. Theoretical Background

Sports economics is a growing area. Many economists are interested in the football industry
nowadays, as football is the most popular sport.
Football is an economic market that is attracting investors from all backgrounds not only the ones
who are interested in the sport. When football first started it was not related to economics like now.
Through the history of football clubs most of them were not profit making clubs. Owners of the
clubs back then were businessmen who has succeeded in other fields. Their motives for investing
were either the wish to see their local club succeed on the field of play or the desire for power.
Football clubs have objectives and these objectives are different from a team to the other:
 Profit, it is not the most important objective for all clubs.
 Security, clubs may aim more at ensuring security than improving the team performance
and results.
 Attendance or revenue, having a huge fan base and stadiums attendants is considered a
success itself. Selling match tickets for whatever price the team wants is a profit.
 Playing success, probably this is the most important objective for football clubs. Chairman,
managers, players, and fans all aim for winning and good results (Dobson & Goddard,
2001).
Football was first played on amateur level only. Football did not have a rules set for the game to
be played the same in everywhere. The rules were under the local conditions, until some of London
school clubs met and set the rules of the game.
The English Football Association was found in 1863. The competitive nature of the FA Cup,
inaugurated in 1871, and the income from match tickets led teams to pay players to play. The FA
was opposed to professionalism and it was legalized in 1855. A new competition (the football
league) was founded in 1888 and the commercialization of football clubs was increasing. Until
now football clubs are like any other clubs, they are managed by an elected committee. Financial
transactions entered into under the English law so clubs committee started to borrow money to
improve their clubs or build new facilities, but if they fail to return this money they have to pay it
from their own pockets. Once football clubs started to build huge stadiums to attract more fans
thus higher income from the match tickets to spend on the transfers of players, but the financial

7
burden was too great so they had to find another source of funding (Samagaio, 2009). The structure
of the common stock, where the ownership of the company is waived to its shareholders, who have
the right to elect the board of directors and to receive profits from the company's profits but its
liability for the losses of the company was limited to the extent of its initial investments, made it
became common in England in 1880s. The football league has become widespread, 88 professional
teams with all professional players participated among 4 divisions.
Although the clubs were not obliged by the league or the FA to restrict their activities to football,
and there is no restriction the takeover of clubs by larger businesses, it is rare for any football club
to be involved in or connected with any other business activity.
From the foundation of the Football League, there existed tension with the FA that was controlled
mostly by 'inexperienced people' who did not like business in sport. This had two results:
First, the clubs were restricted in the returns that they could offer to shareholders, with a maximum
dividend of 5% of paid-up share capital being an inconvenient situation in 1896. Although this
ceiling was after that raised, it represented a significant inhibition to open commercialization.
Second, the FA tended to support the players against the league in matters relating to transfers. It
viewed the ‘retain and transfer’ system, which the league clubs introduced from their earliest days,
as an unfair restriction on the mobility of players. What the FA objected to was economic
competition between the clubs, and its sanctioning of a maximum wage in 1904 should also be
seen in that light. The league clubs were successful in extending control through the transfer
system, and the maximum wage helped them control costs. Neither the league nor the FA used
control over the financial conduct of individual clubs, although clubs were needed to file their
once-a-year accounts and provide other financial information such as move transfer fees. For clubs
that did fall into financial difficulty, the only solution was breaking down and rebuilding or quitting
from the league. (Szymanskic, 2010)

8
2.1. The structure of a sports club

A sports club is like any other organization whose members play together, unpaid, and that is the
non-profit sports club or for a profit.
The structure of these 2 types of sports clubs is not the same. Both of the organizations have
specific job roles and responsibilities to accomplish the organization’s mission. A common method
used is to divide the work according to the business function. For example, in a manufacturing
company the work is divided among people specialized in Marketing, Administration, Human
resources, Sales, etc. Before everything, developing an organization depends on whether it is a
profit or non-profit organization, what is the goal, the key business functions, and the business
philosophy that is used. There are some factors that affect the organization structure.
The mission of the organization, if the organization is non-profit it will not be structured like the
one that aims for profit.
The priorities of an organization, it is always a problem that there is much work but few staff. That
is why every organization set some priorities and assign employees.
Goals and objectives, they change from time to another as they are affected by mainly everything
and they change the organization’s structure.
Available people, this is the most important and it is the key factor for success. Having the perfect
person in the perfect position can lead to nothing but success. Finding the perfect people is not
easy. Especially when it comes to non-profit organizations, you are looking for volunteers.
Priorities, goals and objectives, and funding are mostly determined according to what “perfect
people” can be found.
Available financial resources, organizations cannot just employ people and pay them. The
available money that can be spent on employees is limited and you should make the best out of it.
Even for non-profit organizations which rely on volunteers they still need money.

9
Here is the structure of a typical non-profit sport organization.

Figure 1: The three important parts of the structure.

Source: www.leoisaac.com

As we can see above there are 3 main parts of the structure (Figure 1). The top layer is the board
of management. The key positions of the management committee are President, vice president,
and secretary. People get to these positions by election. Commonly the management committee
are volunteers, so they do not get paid to do the job they are doing.
The middle part is the salaried ones. For example here we have two people development officer
and coaching director, these two get paid to do their job. In many of the non-profit organizations
they do not have any paid employees because they cannot afford it. Other large sports organizations
may have many great employees. At last, these people are doing the important job if not all the job
and that is why they are getting paid.
The lowest part of the diagram is mainly the people who volunteer in the organization. They do
not have much work to do 2-3 hours a week. They are the people who, coach, officiate, look after
the club’s facilities, raise funds, help with the events and run the website.

10
 Figure 2: Real example of the structure of a major football club (non-profit)

Source: www.leoisaac.com

It is not the same how the work is divided from an organization to another (Figures 1, 2). There
will be differences even in similar organizations. The structure of this organization may not suit
another one. The structure can be totally different from a non-profit organization to a for-profit
one.

The organization management should always look after the structure of the organizations and
change as necessary. Developing an organization structure is not easy as there is no best solution.

11
 Figure 3: Real example of the structure of a major football club (Profitable)

Source: www.leoisaac.com

2.2. The history of financial instability in English football

One of the main reasons advanced by the people who are owners of the Football League for its
original creation was the need for financial firm. By providing a settled fixture list, the clubs could
secure that they made enough income to pay the salary of the teams. As football grew between
people in the period leading up to 1914, income also increased quickly, but even though some
clubs fell into financial difficulty.
For example a team called Wigan Borough who was elected to the football League in 1920. The
team could not attract fans because of some Rugby teams who were famous between people in that
area. The club tried to reach success and they spent huge amounts of money, and in September
1931, it appeared that the club was £20,000 in debt. The league gave the club four days to make a

12
rescue plan or they will be excluded from the league. The team resigned and all the matches they
played in the league were counted null. Wigan is an example for the financial failure in 1930s
(Sutcliffe & Hargreaves, 1992).
In 1980s, the football league faced financial crisis as the number of attendants was decreasing and
the players’ wages were increasing. “A report published in 1982 found that the match receipts for
that season for all 92 league clubs totaled £35 million, generating a £6 million operating loss.
During this period, clubs in distress started to approach the players’ union to negotiate wage cuts
and in many cases direct subsidies. Other clubs, such as Preston, Leeds, and Wolverhampton,
solved the crisis by selling their grounds to local authorities. Clubs with attractive locations were
able to sell land for redevelopment (Brentford, Bolton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Hull, and
Tranmere)” (Deloitte and Touche, Various years). Many clubs who were renting pitches and could
not pay the rent anymore they had to go to another places to train.
By the mid of 1980s, the league has started to have more income from sponsors and TV
broadcasting. The football league became much better. A competition was formed as the FA
Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football league first
division to break away from the Football League, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights
deal. (Szymanskic, 2010)

2.3. Governance, revenue, and ownership in the 1990’s

Big teams in England like Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal were not happy
with the distribution of the TV rights income with football league so they formed FAPL. For the
first time the TV-broadcaster had to pay the clubs which greatly increased the income of the clubs.
The total revenue for the first season 1992-1993 was about 380 million pounds. This number has
increased to 1.6 billion pounds in the 2002-2003 season. Figure 4 shows the seasonal increase in
revenue, adjusted for inflation. Figure 5 indicates the growth of value of broadcast rights for FAPL
clubs. In that time, revenue has increased in crazy way as it has increased by 311% in the FAPL
and 77% in football league division 1 while it has increased by 158% and 140% in divisions 2 and
3 respectively. The total revenues in 2002-2003 season were 1.25 billion pounds in FAPL and 206

13
million pounds in football league division 1, the difference from the standards was 35 million
pounds and 5 million pounds respectively. After the promotion and relegation system, the increase
in income and difference of it between the divisions the clubs were motivated to get promoted or
avoid relegation.
Football clubs in England were not aiming to make profit or return their investments. However,
the teams were not looking for profit in the end of the 1980s. Due to the need of investments in
new stadiums following the Hillsborough report, the FA stated that football clubs should be invest
friendly. Football clubs around Europe would try all the strategies to make more profit and boost
their performance. Football clubs started to go on the stock market. The capital markets increase
and the rapid growth in betting on match outcomes means good results may translate in financial
rewards. Many football clubs are on the stock list (Floros, 2014). In 1983, Tottenham Hotspur
was the first to be on the London stock exchange, after that in 1989 Millwall and in 1991
Manchester United followed. Between October 1995 and October 1997, 16 more clubs joined the
market (Szymanskic, 2010).

Figure 4: English football’s revenue bye season from1993-1994 to 2002-2003

Source: Deliotte and Touche (various years)

14
 Figure 5: Rights values for live and highlights packages for the football Association Premier
League (FAPL)

Source: FAPL Limited, English Football

That has brought more revenue for the clubs, so they can build new stadiums and invest more in
player assets, but to balance between financial investments and team performance is difficult.
Many teams have failed to find the balance between Football and its financial side. The approach
of rich businessmen to buy football clubs resulted success especially for the clubs. In the early
1990s, Jack Walker’s funds got Blackburn Rovers to get promoted to the FAPL and then to win
the title in 1993-1994. The walker wealth is still supporting the team till now. Most recently,
Roman Abramovich a Russian businessman who owns Chelsea Fc spent 200 million pounds in
transfer markets and on player wages, to make the team win the FAPL title (Hope, 2003; Michie
& Walsh, 2003).

‘Another novel approach to financing has been ‘securitization’, whereby lending is provided by
investors against anticipated cash flows, such as season ticket sales or total gate receipts including
corporate hospitality income (Morrow, 2003).
Securitization is a method for guaranteeing against risks. Be that as it may, sometimes, that risk
can be expanded if the funds drawn from securitization are inadequately spent. In 2001, Leeds
United went into a 25-year, £60 million securitization drawn against ticket and corporate

15
friendliness pay and utilized the assets to back the buys of player enlistments. Some of these
transfers were at above-market prices, and different valuations fell once Leeds United went into
financial disaster and was constrained to sell players as fast as they can. Likewise in 2001,
Leicester City gotten a £28 million securitization bargain drawn against future media incomes.
These media incomes were seriously diminished on relegation to Division 1 at the end of 2001–
2002 and further diminished by the breakdown of ITV Digital.” The revenue flows English
Football 169 on which football club securitization rely are simply too uncertain and too risky to
make this a credible financing strategy” (Morrow, 2003). In any case, the issues encompassing
securitization have as a lot to do with an absence of appropriate observing of club chiefs'
securitization system likewise with the technique itself.

2.4. Profitability and clubs falling into financial difficulties

As per the accounting information, English football has experienced losses in eight of the ten
seasons since 1993-1994. Between 1995-1996 and 2001-2002, the announced overall loss was
£957 million. In the FAPL, there have been flighty moves between pre-charge benefit and losses,
however the superseding impact is an overall loss. In the other three divisions, no benefits were
pronounced, and Deloitte and Touche report that the complete loss for the Football League was
£52 million at the end of the 2003–2004 season. The benefit of every division is appeared in
Figure6.

16
 Figure 6: Net pre-tax profit (loss) in English football by division and season from 1993-94 to
2002-03

Source: Deliotte and Touche (various years)

In the 1990s, we noticed a big increase in the income of football clubs, but still some clubs faced
financial difficulties because of the increase of players’ wages too (Figure 6).
Each year the FAPL has increased the wages (Figure 8), and paid players more to improve the
sports performance (Haas, 2003). Due to the big gap between FAPL and division 1 football clubs
feared to get relegated, and we noticed that wages and relegation were proportional as the wages
are less the probability of getting relegated was higher. Conversely, qualification to European
competition is positively correlated with relative wage bill (Simmons & Forrest, 2004). The wage
revenue proportion likewise gives a point of view on clubs' exhibitions. In the FAPL, the
proportion has been rising yet has reliably stayed beneath or around 0.6. In Division 1, nonetheless,
the wage proportion has been in abundance of 0.6 and in 2000– 2001 surpassed 1 (Figure 7).

17
Figure 7: Seasonal wage bills for the FAPL and Divisions 1, 2 and 3, from 1993-94 to 2002-03.

Source: Deliotte and Touche (various years)

Given the issues with the broadcasting agreement between ITV Digital and the Football League,
clubs have been compelled to change their wage proportions, and this is clear in resulting seasons.
In the previous five years, a few clubs have made the stride of going into administration. As noted
before, this is basically a court request that places a football club, similarly as with some other
business, under the control of an indebtedness master and offers lawful security.

18
Figure 8: Seasonal wage bills for the FAPL and Divisions 1, 2 and 3. From 1993-94 to 2002-03.

Source: Deloitte and Touche (various years)

Over the period from 1999 to 2004, 22 Football League clubs, just under the quarter, experienced
administration, and three clubs (Bradford, Luton, and Swindon) experienced two spells. Of these
22 clubs, 14 included were relegated in the past five seasons, and just five (Barnsley, Bradford,
Ipswich, Leicester and Wimbledon) had delighted in FAPL status. Generally, these clubs had
aggregated huge obligation troubles and had neglected to alter club asset reports to coordinate their
new lower status. The obligations of clubs entering organization were biggest for clubs relegated
from the FAPL to Division 1. Huge debts, of the request of £30 million to £40 million, were
aggregated by clubs in administration at Bradford (May 2002 to August 2002 and February 2004
to December 2004), Ipswich (February to May 2003), and Leicester (October 2001 to February
2003). Yet, even generally little debts, on 172 Football Economics and Policy the request of £1
million, were sufficient to constrain clubs, for example, Barnsley and Chesterfield into
administration (Forrest & Simmons, 2004).

19
2.5. Chelsea Football Club

It has started in 2003 with the Roman Abramovich arrival. “I remember exactly where I was and
what I was doing when I heard” says Frank Lampard. “I was in America on holiday, in LA, in a
shoe shop buying sandals. And my dad rang me and told me. I’d been tipped off about a similar
thing month before but it never came true. It is funny I remember it exactly, but it was a big thing,
a billionaire taking over” (Glanvill, 2005).
After the arrival of Roman Abramovich in July 2003, the team started to think about going far in
the competition for the league title and on the European level. “I cannot remember ringing anyone
like John Terry straight away to talk about it” says Frank Lampard. “I just remember being in a
cab with my missus, and discussing it, a mixture of amazement, happiness and a bit of worry. I
was in my on world for a while thinking about it” (Glanvill, 2005).
Many say that appointing Ruud Gullit as player-manager is the turning point as the Dutchman was
able to attract big stars from all over Europe to come and play for the Blues. The club started to
compete on the top level and played in the Champions League for the first time in 1999. Chelsea
had been invited to participate in the inaugural European Cup in 1955 but had not been allowed to
compete by the head of the FA at the time Alan Hardaker. The Blues made an impression in the
Champions League but never were close to win it in the early days.
When Claudio Ranieri was appointed as Chelsea manager he improved the team. Manager David
O’Leary said “Chelsea were still throwing money at old pros whose hunger for success had long
been sated or never amounted to anything more than a big salary”. This was still the image. This
was what Ranieri wanted to change, as seen by his signing. Ranieri had a specific idea for the
team, and he knew what he would do, as the signings became ever more elite. Lampard was
impressed. It was in this time when that brought in Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen, while John
Terry was promoted to the first team. “The Financial Times reported that, in 1998, its travel
operation - Elizabeth Duff Travel - had a bigger turnover than the actual sporting side. Chelsea
had become the first British club to enter the debt market, issuing a £75m Eurobond, something
that caused a lot of problems when the football market collapsed in 2002” (Delaney, 2018).
“That close season, for the first time in years, Chelsea didn’t spend big in the transfer market,”
Lampard said in his autobiography. “Actually, they did not spend anything. In previous times there
seemed to be a revolving door ushering expensive footballing into and out of Stamford Bridge. In
20
2002, Chelsea made only 2 transfers and they were free transfers – Marco Ambrosio from
Chievo and Enrique De Lucas from Espanyol. The lack of activity was slightly confusing and only
later in the season would the facts emerge about how badly the club was struggling financially”
(Delaney, 2018).

21
3. Aims and Methodology

The main objective of this work is to understand the Economics of English football and study how
Chelsea Fc became a top level football club after the arrival of the Russian billionaire.
The method we used in this study is modeling the Chelsea Fc growing period, and taking it in
details. Chelsea Fc is a top level team now, with so many factors that made the team conquer
Europe.
The sportive information was collected from some highly trusted websites, like Transfermarket
while the financial performance such as income statements, and other important key ratios were
taken from the official Chelsea website and Transfermarkt. Sportac was an important search engine
to get financial statements that were missed in other databases. Also, the information about the
exchange rates to convert some financial data were found on Statista website.
In this study we decided to take Chelsea Fc and analyze the team variables that can summarize the
financial performance of the team. With these variables we tested the sports performance of the
club and the effect of the financial status on the team performance.
In this set of variables, variables such as players’ transfers, players’ wages, total expenses, net
income, and total revenue were included. These variables can explain the financial situation of the
club in analysis.
In this study we specifically analyzed the era after Abramovich buying the club. We focused on
the transfers that were made every year and their costs. Players’ wages is an important factor as
some say higher players’ wages means better sports performance. We went through the 15 years
of Roman Abramovich at the club and divided them into phases. In every phase we compared the
financial results and the sports performance results.
The panel data analysis method was the method we used. We used this method because it will
allow us to achieve better results than using other methods. This means that there will be more
variability among the variables than is typical of cross-section or time-series data.

22
As mentioned before, the aim of this work is to show the relation between the financial situations
of Chelsea Fc after the new businessman bought the club and the sport performance. We studied
the financial indicators that Chelsea worked on to achieve the main sportive objectives. The
Chelsea Fc model has become a role to follow now.

This model below shows how Chelsea Fc became one of the top teams in England.

23
4. Results

They always say it is impossible to win the league title 2 times in a row. No one tells you this may
take 50 years. In truth even though the team showed some consistency in some periods but it never
looked like they are going to do it again. To win a league you need all elements squad,
management, and luck to be in place. Chelsea never had the combination of mettle, depth, and
managerial brilliance before 2004-05.

4.1. Chelsea FC before Abramovich era

On March 10th 1905, Chelsea Football Club was founded in The Rising Sun pub on Fulham Road.
Just a year before that, businessman Gus Mears had purchased the Stamford Bridge athletics
complex and was looking to turn it in to a football ground. Mears offered the ground to Fulham
FC, which was founded in 1879, but the club refused his offer. Undeterred, Mears decided to form
his own club and debated calling it Stamford Bridge FC, London FC, or Kensington FC but
eventually decided on Chelsea FC, naming the club after the borough adjacent to Fulham.
In the first century of the club, the club experienced success in cup competitions and won the
league title in 1955. The club was known for signing big names players, but was never consistently
successful. They were relegated but came back in the early years but they faced their bleakest
period in late 70s and 80s. In 1982, the team was relegated to the third division but the following
year Chelsea won the second division. In the 1987-88 season the club was relegated again but
bounced back by winning the Second Division in 88-89 and have remained in the top ever since.
Many point to the appointment of Ruud Gullit as player-manager the turning point as the
Dutchman was able to attract major stars from all over Europe to come and play for the Blues. The
club began to establish itself among Europe’s best and made its first appearance in the Champions
League in 1999. Chelsea had been invited to participate in the inaugural European Cup in 1955
but had not been allowed to compete by the head of the FA at the time Alan Hardaker. The Blues

24
made an impression in the Champions League but never really threatened to win it in the early
days (Delaney, 2018).

4.2 Why Abramovich bought Chelsea?

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich was a businessman who had made money in oil and gas, he
failed and succeed but buying Chelsea was a success. He said in an interview with BBC he wanted
to buy a football club as he is a passionate fan for this game.
Chelsea was not the only choice for Roman. Pini Zahayi an Israeli agent offered some other options
like Manchester United, Portsmouth Fc and others were clubs offered to Roman Abramovich by
the Israeli agent Pini Zahayi. Chelsea being a team in the capital of England London was something
special, as Abramovich has made London his second home. Chelsea was also in financial debts.
In the early 1980s Ken Bates bought the club for 1 pound and he then brought the club into modern
football. But by 2003, the club had a huge amount of debt and was struggling financially.
According to then Chelsea CEO Trevor Birch Abramovich concluded the deal in just 15 minutes.
At the time of Roman Abramovich takeover, Chelsea had been a PL top six club for seven straight
seasons. They have always been one of the traditional decent sized clubs in England. In ten separate
seasons, they got the biggest crowd attendances in the country. They went through many years in
the doldrums after being a very fashionable club in the 1960's and early 1970's.

In 2002-03 season everyone knew that team’s future was dependent on qualifying for the
Champions League and they did it. “The club was in the position to attract a Roman Abramovich,”
adds Minto. “OK, financially, they desperately needed an Abramovich, but if Chelsea were in a
similar position now, they’d get so many potential owners for so many reasons. It was in effect
waiting for that next step” (Montague, 2018).

25
4.3. Chelsea Fc under the ownership of Roman Abramovich

“He is a devoted fan like any you have seen at Stamford Bridge. He has the luxury of being able
to do something about the results. We are all playing Championship Manager on our PCs; he is
doing it for real” says Bruce Buck on Roman Abramovich.
The Abramovich investment to buy Chelsea was near 140 million pound- 60 million for the club,
80 million to cover its debts.
Success at Chelsea under the ownership of Roman Abramovich has been a constant theme. Since
he bought the club in the summer of 2003, Blues supporters have never had it so good.
Five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups and two European trophies, including
the Champions League, is undoubtedly a haul of which to be proud. The fact that in the past 15
years, Chelsea is the club in England that has won the most major trophies only serves to highlight
just how positive his overall impact at Stamford Bridge has been.
When Abramovich arrived at the club in July 2003, he invested heavily in the playing squad.
British youngsters such as Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson were recruited, alongside
big-name foreign stars like Claude Makelele and Hernan Crespo, and there was a genuine sense of
optimism among fans that we could launch a Premier League title challenge.
The positive feeling was certainly justified and the team, under the stewardship of Claudio Ranieri,
performed extremely well for much of the campaign, eventually recording our best-ever Premier
League finish as runners-up behind Arsenal. The Gunners had gone through the league campaign
unbeaten but it was the Blues who eliminated them from the Champions League quarter-finals
when Bridge scored a memorable winner on a wonderful night at Highbury.
There was a managerial change ahead of the 2004/05 season with Jose Mourinho, fresh from
leading Porto to Champions League glory, brought in to replace Ranieri.
It was a move which paid immediate dividends as the Blues finished as champions of England for
the first time in 50 years, losing just one game and breaking all manner of records along the way.
The League Cup, the first trophy won under Abramovich’s ownership, was secured courtesy of a
dramatic 3-2 win over Liverpool in Cardiff.

26
Consecutive Premier League titles were achieved a year later in fitting style when Chelsea beat
Manchester United, their nearest challengers, 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to finish top of the pile once
more, and although they were unable to make it three league titles in a row in 2006/07, trophies
continued to arrive, with Didier Drogba’s goal ensuring we came out on top in the first FA Cup
final to be played at the redeveloped Wembley, against the Red Devils. We had also won the
League Cup again.
In December 31st, Chelsea Fc official site posted the financial results. They announced that they
made the highest ever turnover and a record profit of £62m. This was the third time Chelsea makes
profit in the last 4 seasons since Abramovich bought the club in summer 2003. This is also the
ninth time Chelsea records a turnover in the 15 seasons under the Russian owner. The club came
a long way from a record loss in 2005 of £140m. Chelsea did not record loss only in 2005, but in
the first five years of Roman Abramovich the cumulative losses amounted to £447m. So how was
Chelsea able to transform from a club that spends too much money and experienced losses in the
first couple of seasons to a profitable club (www.Chelseafc.com).

The 15 years of Abramovich owning the club can be divided into 3 phases of 5 years each. In each
phase financial results and sports performance results will be stated.

4.3.1. First phase 2004-2008

Financial Results
In 2003, Abramovich paid £140m for a club that was attempting to remain above water. The club
was overloaded with lost £28m from 2002-03 and was in debt in excess of £70m. In 2002-03,
Chelsea had recorded turnover of £109m and brought about working expenses and amortization
of £127m and was paying interest of £9m on its debt.
By 2008, Chelsea had expanded turnover by 65% to £210m. Yet rather than cutting costs,
Abramovich picked to invest heavily. He funded the buy of new players and he didn't hesitate to
hand out huge contracts to key players. Costs expanded to £274m by 2008, an increase of 115%.
The average cost of purchasing new players between 2004 and 2008 was £66m versus just £28m
in 2002-03. Total losses were £447m (Mcmahon, 2019).

27
In this phase Chelsea has experienced a high amount of losses. Chelsea spent money the most in
this phase as the team was still building the squad and needed to buy many important players for
the team.

Table 1.1: Chelsea fc financial results from 2003-2004 season till 2007-08.
Season Transfers Main buys Wages Losses Players
In/out
2003-04 £121.3m Damien Duff £17m, £114.8m £87.8m 22/20
(net£111.3m) Hernan Crespo £16.8m,
Claude Makélélé £16.6m,
Juan Sebastian Veron £15m
2004-05 £95.8m Didier Drogba £24m, £108.9m £140m 24/23
(net £92.2m) Ricardo Carvalho £20m,
Paulo Ferreira £13.2m,
Arjen Robben £12m
2005-06 £54.2m Michael Essien £24m, £114m £80.2m 16/15
(net £27.9m) Shaun Wright-Phillips £21m
2006-07 £66m Andriy Shevchenko £30m, £132.8m £132.8m 22/23
(net £36.2m) John Obi Mikel £16m
2007-08 £43m Florent Malouda £15m, £172.1m £65.7m 15/19
(net £18m) Nicolas Anelka £15m,
Branislav Ivanovic £9m
Sources: -https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-f.c/payroll
-https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc/transfers/verein/631/plus/0?saison_id=2017&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=
-https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2018/12/31/chelsea-fc-financial-results-show-record-revenues

Sports Performance Results

This phase started with Ranieri the manager of the club buying some good players and building a
team that came second after Arsenal golden EPL cup. . In the very next season, Abramovich sacked
Ranieri and brought in the special one. Jose Mourinho, the manager who has just won the UEFA
28
Champions league and the Portuguese first league with Porto. That was a changing step and a
change that is considered for Abramovich. The arrival of a big name in Europe the special one for
a team that is developing and working on conquering Europe made many players accept the offer
from Chelsea without thinking twice. In the first season for Mourinho Chelsea won the double the
English premier league and the League cup. The special one is special for Chelsea fans at least, in
his second season at the club he won the English premier league again, something all Chelsea fans
were dreaming about. Mourinho had problems with Abramovich, 2006-07 season was the last
season for Mourinho with Chelsea where they won FA cup and the League cup. Abramovich
always wanted his team to win the Champions league, and it could not be better than winning it in
Moscow. In 2007-08 season, Avram Grant replaced Jose Mourinho and reached the Champions
league final but lost against Manchester United in penalty kicks, and they came 2nd in the league
(Chelseafc.com).

By the end of this phase Chelsea has already proven himself to be considered as a big team in
Europe that will be at the top level for at least the next years.

Table 1.2: Chelsea fc sports performance results from 2003-2004 season till 2007-08.
Season Premier Fa Cup League Champions Europa
League Cup League League
2003-04 2nd 5th Quarter Semi Finals -
Round Finals
2004-05 Won the 5th Won the
Semi Finals -
Title Round Title
2005-06 Won the Semi ThirdRound of 16 -
Title Finals round
2006-07 2nd Won the Won the
Semi Finals -
Title Title
2007-08 2nd 6th Final Final -
Round
Source: https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc

29
4.3.2. Second phase 2009-2013

Financial Results.

Both income and costs developed amid this period, yet the last at a lesser rate. Compared with the
years from 2004 with 2008, revenue was up 36% while costs increased by only 14%. The cost of
new players fell by 30%. 2011-12 was outstanding in that the club turned its first profit for
Abramovich, yet just £1m. From 2009 to 2013, Chelsea began to turn a solid profit on the transfer
of players: £89m. Five years before, the profit was only £25m. The increase of £64m in profit from
player sales was a contributing component in decreasing the cumulative loss by £216m to £231m
(Mcmahon, 2019).

Table 2.1: Chelsea fc financial results from 2008-2009 to 2012-13.

Season Transfers Main Buys Wages Losses Players
In/out
2008-09 £28.2m Jose Bosingwa £16.2m, £167.2m £44.4m 21/21
(net profit Deco £8m
£12m)
2009-10 £21.5m Yuri Zhirkov £18m £174.1m £70m 16/18
(net £14.7m)
2010-11 £95.8m Fernando Torres £50m, £191.2m £67.7m 24/23
(net £81.7m) David Luiz £21m,
Ramires £19.8m
2011-12 £72m Juan Mata £23.5m, £172.9m. Profit: 26/24
(net £51.6m) Romelu Lukaku £18m, £1.4m
Raul Meireles £12m.
2012-13 £84.5m Eden Hazard £32m, £140.3m Profit: 25/26
(net £64.5m) Oscar £25m, £18.4m
Victor Moses £9m,
Demba Ba £7m.
Sources: -https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-f.c/payroll
-https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc/transfers/verein/631/plus/0?saison_id=2017&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=
-https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2018/12/31/chelsea-fc-financial-results-show-record-revenues

30
Chelsea has already built the squad here, the team only needs some soft touches in the squad.
Chelsea started to make profit, after first 5 years of only losses. The team is on the right track.

Sports Performance Results

At this time Chelsea has already made the big name that everyone fears. Having one of the best
squads in Europe. On the 11th of June 2008, Luiz Felipe Scolari the manager who won the world
Cup with Brazil in 2002 was set to replace Avram Grant as Chelsea manager. Scolari last long as
he was sacked, and in February 2009, Guus Hiddink was appointed as caretaker manager till the
end of the season. Hiddink won Chelsea the first title after Mourninho, the FA cup. In May 2010,
Carlo Ancelotti was appointed as Chelsea manager, and won the first league and FA cup double
for Chelsea. In 2009-10 season the title had been won in style, with a record 103 goals scored in
the 38-game campaign, and a share of the Golden Gloves for Petr Cech, who had kept 17 clean
sheets. After not winning any title the following season Ancelotti got sacked, and Andre Villas-
boas replaced him. He was the 7th manager under the Abramovich era. The fans and the board
expected high from Villas-Boas, but on the 11th of March he was sacked due to bad performance
and only one win in 11 games. Roberto Di Matteo ex Chelsea player, was the assistant manager at
the time but he was appointed to be the manager until the end of the season replacing Villas-Boas.
Di Matteo was better than just caretaker manager, Chelsea came from far and won the Champions
League. The following season Di Matteo was given a contract for his achievement, but he did not
stay long as he was sacked on 21 November 2012 after losing 3-0 against Juventus and not
qualifying to the round of 16 in the Champions league. Rafa Benitez ex Liverpool Manager was
appointed as Chelsea manager and he won the 2012-13 Europa League
(Transfermarkt.com/chelseafc).

31
The team here has a squad that could win any game. Chelsea is an experienced top team in all
aspects, and that is why this was the most productive and best phase for Chelsea.

Table 2.2: Chelsea fc sports performance results from 2008-2009 season till 2012-13.
Season Premier Fa Cup League Champions Europa
League Cup League League
2008-09 3rd Won the Round Semi -
Title of 16 Finals
2009-10 Won the Won the Quarter Round of -
Title Title Finals 16
2010-11 2nd 4th round 3rd Quarter -
Round Finals
2011-12 6th Won the Quarter Won the -
Title Finals Title
2012-13 3rd Semi Semi Group Won
Finals Finals stage the Title

Source: https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc

32
4.3.3. Third phase 2014-2018

Financial Results

Three years of profit were affected by £23m and £72m losses in 2015 and 2016. Turnover
surpassed £300m for the first time in 2014 and hit £443m by 2018. Expenses increased by just 7%
despite the fact that the club turned on the transfer tap.
Amortization costs found the middle value of £85m per year, with a record charge of £123.7m in
2017-18. Nonetheless, the silver shot for Chelsea has been the money that came from selling the
players. In the five years, Chelsea recorded a profit of £337m from player sales, with £113m in
this previous year alone. Cumulative profit was £6m. The total losses through the 15 years since
Roman Abramovich purchased Chelsea aggregates £672m, and it has all been changed over to
value together with the original investment and some capital costs. The loss would have exceeded
£1.1b without the profit from the sale of the players.
Chairman Bruce Buck said: ‘The club has now posted a series of record-breaking revenue figures
and our profit margin has increased in consecutive years. This has occurred against a backdrop of
varying participation in European football, and different degrees of achievement in the Premier
League, which demonstrates we have built a sound business footing to support our on-pitch quest
for success.
“With our match day income steady, despite not finishing in the top four of the Premier League
last season, and our global fan base increasing, we thank our loyal supporters as well as our hard-
working staff and valued partners for helping to make a successful financial year”
(Chelseafc.com), (financialfootballnews.com/category/Chelsea).

33
The team now is more of profit team the spending in the transfer market is not at all like when
Abramovich arrived. Financially Chelsea now is a very successful team.
.

Table 3.1: Chelsea fc financial results from 2013-2014 to 2017-18

Season Transfers Main Buys Wages Losses Players

In/out
2013-14 £115m Willian £30m, £119m £49.4m 34/31
(net £66.6m) Matic £22m,
Salah £14.3m
2014-15 £118m Diego Costa £33m, £145m £23.1m 39/37
(net £125m) Fabregas £29m,
Cuadrado £26.5m
2015-16 £77.8m Pedro £23m, £162m £4.7m 32/37
(net £75m) Baba £17.3m, profit
Begovic £9.5m
2016-17 £114m Batshuayi £33.5m, £132m £15.3m 29/27
(net £93m) Kante £31m, profit
David Luiz £30.3m
2017-18 £225m Alvaro Morata £57m, £113 £24.9m 28/36
(net £173) Bakayoko £34m, profit
Rudiger £30m
Total £1.3b £2.1b £656.8m 373/
( net £1b) 380
Sources: -https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-f.c/payroll
-https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc/transfers/verein/631/plus/0?saison_id=2017&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=
-https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2018/12/31/chelsea-fc-financial-results-show-record-revenues

34
Sports performance results

After the 2012-13 season Rafa Benitez left Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho returned home with a 4
years long contract. Chelsea did not win any title in Mourinho’s first season after the return, but
they reached the Champions league semifinals and came 3rd in the league. The second season for
Jose Mourinho always come with success, 2014-15 season Chelsea won the Premier league and
the League cup. In December 2015, Mourinho got sacked after 9 defeats which left Chelsea only
1 point above relegation zone.
Guus Hiddink the Chelsea savior was appointed as the caretaker manager, but still Chelsea ended
the season 10th in the Premier league. On July 2016, Antonio Conte was the new manager. In his
first season, he won the English Premier league and reached the FA cup final. Antonio did not
have the best relation with the players and the board, he won the FA cup but came 5th in the league
and got sacked at the end of the season (www.Chelseafc.com).
This phase is not the best for Chelsea, but it is considered the best for many other teams. Chelsea
are rebuilding the team now after the legendary generation, the academy players that are the future
of the club are now taking part and making the team’s future. The team is facing some non-
consistency in the sports form but still manage to win trophies.

Table 3.2: Chelsea fc sports performance results from 2013-2014 season till 2017-18.

Season Premier Fa Cup League Champions Europa

League Cup League League
2013-14 3rd 5th Quarter Semi -
round Finals Finals
2014-15 Won the 4th round Won the Round of -
Title Title 16
2015-16 10th 6th round 4th Round of -
round 16
2016-17 Won the Final 4th - -
Title round
2017-18 5th Won the Semi Round of -
Title Finals 16

Source: https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc
35
4.4. Chelsea results under the Abramovich era

The arrival of the Russian billionaire has brought success the team never experienced before. It
started with Chelsea winning titles and staying in the top 4 in the EPL for many years. The arrival
of the Russian billionaire ushered-in the influx of trophies with the Blues winning twelve trophies
so far asides the community shield and youth cups. Chelsea had their first major success in 1955,
when they won the league championship, but their greatest period of success has come during the
last two decades; winning 21 trophies since 1997. Chelsea have won five top flight English League
titles, seven FA Cups, five League Cups and four FA Community Shields. In Europe, the club has
won one UEFA Champions League, two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, one UEFA Europa League
and one UEFA Super Cup.

Chelsea is the only London club to have won the UEFA Champions League, and one of four clubs,
and the only British club to have won all three main UEFA club competitions.

Figure 9: The trophy triumphs over the past decade and a half.

Source: Chelseafc.com

36
Chelsea have won 5 Premier league titles, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Community Shield, 1
Europa League, and the Champions League. Chelsea have won 531 matches and went undefeated
for many matches in a row. Scoring 1651 goal and conceding only 747 shows the quality of this
big team. This is what every owner would dream of achieving in only 15 years.

Figure 10: The stats since the arrival of Roman Abramovich until July 2018
until July 2018.

Source: Chelseafc.com

37
5. Conclusion

Mid90's was the moment when the European Football started to become a great business. Moving
to a new format English Premier League, achieving a proper environment for the huge potential of
this market, the growing interest from media companies, increasing football investments from all
over the world, all these have transformed a small industry into a global business. TV rights,
player’s transfers, and all revenue has increased a lot and more money came into the football
industry. Some teams fell into financial crisis and other teams knew how to benefit the most from
this expand of the whole industry and made the best out of it. We saw the first big investments in
English football where middle level teams went onto the top level. After the English football has
become a huge market, and many people made money from it. The arrival of some wealthy
businessmen into the industry made it bigger.
Chelsea and Abramovich worked on a long term plan that as we saw and still seeing is one of the
most successful plans for a modern football club. Spending money on the club is not enough for
success. A team who spent loads of money in the transfer market, we saw them succeed and had a
good season or two seasons. After that they had bad performance in which they couldn’t be on a
high level anymore. Chelsea in the last couple of years didn’t spend money in the transfer market
as much as their rivals in the premier league for example Manchester United and Manchester city.
When Abramovich arrived he wanted to make Chelsea a team that always competes on winning
the titles locally and in the European competitions. Chelsea now is one of the most successful
English teams due to the consistency of the performance, and winning a title every two years is an
obvious proof. Abramovich made Chelsea fans aim high and expect the team to win against any
other team in the world. Chelsea Football Club is a perfect example on how to build a modern
successful profit club nowadays with the big change in the football industry. Just like what Chelsea
has done the building of the top team started even before the arrival of Roman Abramovich but his
arrival brought everything was missing. Many rumors now are talking about Abramovich selling
the club which its market value now is around £3 billion. Every football club aims to be a top one,
but when you aim you have to shoot. In the expensive football industry you need to have a big
budget to develop the club and its facilities. Reaching the top level is not a one year or even two
years mission, it needs years of work. Chelsea before the arrival of Abramovich was a normal club,
but they were a good club too. If the team is not doing well not having the best days, the good
38
performance, and the consistency no wealthy businessman would think about buying the club.
Working on a normal club to become a top one needs to be taken step by step from the academy
to the first team. A football club is not only players, staff and facilities should be as good as the
players to reach success. Just like what Chelsea has done the building of a top team started even
before the arrival of Roman Abramovich but his arrival brought everything was missing.
Abramovich is not the only business man who bought a football club and spent a lot of money in
it, but the Arabs and the Americans are investing in this sport too. Manchester city the team who
was not well known before the arrival of the Arabic business man Sheikh Mansour. Man city had
another plan which is faster to reach top level but costs more money and still till now Manchester
City didn’t achieve all what Chelsea did and still doing. Every football club aims to be a top one,
but when you aim you have to shoot. In the expensive football industry you need to have a big
budget to develop the club and its facilities. Reaching the top level is not a one year or even two
years mission, it needs years of work. Chelsea before the arrival of Abramovich was a normal club,
but they were a good club too. If the team is not doing well not having the best days, the good
performance, and the consistency no wealthy businessman would think about buying the club.
Working on a normal club to become a top one needs to be taken step by step from the academy
to the first team. A football club is not only players, staff and facilities should be as good as the
players to reach success. Just like what Chelsea has done the building of a top team started even
before the arrival of Roman Abramovich but his arrival brought everything was missing. The
economics of football changed a lot in the last 30 years, it went from almost having no market to
being a big market that everyone wants to invest in and make money from this huge industry.
Finally, Football as a game is still developing and the teams are getting better and better, the sport
itself it is getting harder and on higher levels of tactics and techniques. It is important to balance
the financial stability and the success on the field of play to guarantee the club growth now and in
the future.

39
6. References

1. Christos Floros. (2014) Football and Stock Returns: New Evidence.

2. Deloitte and Touche. Annual review of football finance. (Various years). Manchester, UK.

3. Forrest, D. & Simmons, R. (2006) new issues in attendance demand: The case of English
league football. Journal of Sports Economics.

4. Gerrard, B. (2005). A resource-utilization model of organizational efficiency in

professional sports teams. Journal of Sport Management, 19, pp. 143-169.

5. Goddard, J. (2005). Regression models for forecasting goals and match results in
association football. International Journal of Forecasting, 21(2): 331-340.

6. Haas, D. (2003). Productive Efficiency of English Football Teams: A Data Envelopment

Analysis Approach. Managerial and Decision Economics 24: 403–410.

7. Hope, S. (2003) the Ownership Structure of Nationwide League Football Clubs 2002–03,
Football Governance Research Centre, Brubeck College, London

8. İrge Şener, Ahmet Anıl Karapolatgil. (2015) Rules of the Game: Strategy in Football
Industry.

9. James Montague. (2018)Why did Roman Abramovich buy Chelsea?

10. Michael, J. & Walsh, A. (1999) Ownership and governance options for football Clubs, in
S.Hamill & J. Mitchie (eds.), the Business of Football: A Game of Two Halves?
Mainstream, London.

11. Miguel Delaney. (2018) Glitz, glamour and Gianfranco: Remembering Chelsea before
Roman Abramovich.

40
12. Morrow, S. (2003) The People’s Game? Football, Finance and Society, Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.

13. Patrizia Gazzolaa, Stefano Ameliob. (2016) Impairment test in the football team financial
reports

14. PKF Football Services Group. (2005) Controlling Club Performance—the Annual Survey
of Football Club Finance Directors, Author, London.

15. Rick Glanvill, (2005). Chelsea FC the official biography.

16. Samagaio, A., Couto, E. & Caiado, J. (2009) Sporting, financial and stock market
performance in English football: an empirical analysis of structural relationships.

17. Simmons, R. & Forrest, D. (2004) Buying success: Team salaries and performance In
North American and European sports leagues.

18. Stephen Dobson, John Goddard. (2001) The Economics of Football by of Management and
Economics, The Queen’s University of Belfast and Department of Economics, University
of Wales Swansea.

19. Steve Tongue. (2013) Roman Abramovich 10 year Chelsea anniversary.

20. Sutcliffe, C. E. & Hargreaves, F. (1992) the History of the Lancashire Football Association,
Yore Publications, Harefield, UK (Original work published 1928).

21. Szymanski, S. (2002) the promotion test, World Economics, 3, pp. 171–183.

22. Szymanski, S. (2003): The economic design of sporting contests, Journal of Economic
Literature. 41, pp. 1137–1187.

23. Szymanski, S. (2010) Football Economics and Policy.

24. Teodor Dima. (2014) the Business Model of European Football Club Competitions.

41
Links:
1. A well-known sports financial statistics website:
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/chelsea-f.c/payroll

2. www.leoisaac.com

3. The Official website of Chelsea Football Club:

www.chelseafc.com

4. The Official website of the Transfermarkt.de:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelseafc/transfers/verein/631/plus/0?saison_id=2
017&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=

5. A trusted financial football news website:

http://financialfootballnews.com/category/chelsea/

42
 Acknowledgments

Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Marton Gergely for the
continuous support of my work, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge.
His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have
imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my thesis.

I am deeply grateful to all my teachers at University of Pécs for helping me from the day I arrived
to Hungary. I would like to thank them for their encouragement, insightful comments, and hard
work.

My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. Tamas Atlasz who has helped me through all my studies in
Pécs, and was there for me whenever I needed him.

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for providing me with unfailing
support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of
researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without
them. Thank you.

43

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