Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich said he was on warm but not
friendly terms with Blues boss Jose Mourinho and insisted he had no
influence on team selection in an interview published Sunday.
The Russian tycoon's big spending will soon come to a halt at
Stamford Bridge in any case, he told The Observer weekly newspaper,
in his first full interview in three years.
And he has no designs on taking Chelsea into a megabucks
European super-league, insisting that he loved the cut and thrust
of English football and tricky domestic cup ties too much.
Abramovich, the richest Russian and the second-richest British
resident, brought Mourinho to the Premiership after the Portuguese
boss won the Champions League with Porto, and gave him an open
chequebook to sign star players.
In the two seasons since, the Blues have won the English
Premiership title twice. But Abramovich denied he has a hand in
team selection, said he had little influence on transfer policy and
merely characterised his relationship with Mourinho as one of
respect.
"We do not have friendly relations, but they are warm enough,"
Abramovich said.
"Generally speaking, I treat him with great respect and not only
because of his football achievements."
Mourinho has said that if Abramovich forced him to pick certain
players then he would walk out on the Blues.
"I'm not involved in team selection," the Russian insisted.
"I cannot say I'm completely not involved in buying players, but
my role would be significantly lower than that of the manager's.
You cannot compare them.
"To give an example, this would be an impossible situation when
a manager does not want a player to be bought and I try to impose
ideas. It would not work."
He said the free spending at Stamford Bridge would not last for
ever.
"Our strategy is to bring up our own players through the
academy, which we have invested a lot in, and we hope that will
give results.
"We will be spending less in the transfer market in future
years."
He denied that he wanted to take the west London team into an
elite European super-league, which is occasionally floated between
the continent's top clubs.
"I don't see the risk of that," he said.
"Money plays an important role in football but it is not the
dominating factor.
"Everything that happens now - the Premiership, the Champions
League, the FA Cup, the Carling (League) Cup - I am interested in
and just happy about.
"I don't have an opinion about Chelsea playing in a Super
League. My feeling would be that you lose something of the beauty
of the Premiership by joining something not defined at the
moment.
"When Chelsea play a Carling Cup game in a small city and it
could result in a draw - the excitement, the spirit, the atmosphere
- that's the real beauty of football in England."
The 40-year-old said he still had a burning passion for
Chelsea.
"Something that disappoints me is when Chelsea lose. I cannot
stand it," he said.
"Winning the Premiership was a moment of happiness and I could
talk about that for ages. This is a joy very different for Chelsea
fans who'd been waiting for this victory for 50 years.
"I was very happy for myself, not only because Chelsea won the
Premiership, but because the victory made so many other Chelsea
fans happy. Being an observer to that made me happy.
"People who know me said I will win one or two Premierships and
will not be interested after that. The reality is that we've won
two Premierships, but I'm more excited about this particular season
than last year or the year before.
"I am a fan of a special nature. I'm getting excited before
every single game. The trophy at the end is less important than the
process itself."
And he shrugged off Chelsea's current unpopularity within
English football, something that comes with the territory of
winning the top division.
"Everyone likes the situation where the leader loses," he
said.
(China Daily December 25, 2006)