Abramovich - a ruthless operative who rewrote the rules

When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in July 2003, the official statement announcing his arrival described the Russian as "a keen follower of sport and international football".

Abramovich's decision to narrow that interest down to solely Chelsea transformed the domestic and European game as his vast finance fuelled a 19-year era of success in which they were England's most successful club.

One of the most important goals in Chelsea's history was scored by Jesper Gronkjaer to give them a 2-1 win against Liverpool on 11 May 2003, the final day of the Premier League season.

It put Chelsea into the Champions League at Liverpool's expense, made the club a vastly more attractive proposition to potential buyers and led to Abramovich's £140m purchase from Ken Bates, giving them the base to attract the players that fitted the new owner's grand plan.

Since then it has been an almost unbroken tale of success in which Abramovich, even watching from afar, provided the one constant.

Managers have come and gone with ruthless regularity. Big-name players were replaced by even bigger-name players - but what remained ever present was Abramovich, his ambition and, most significantly, his money.

Now that is all about to change. You could even feel the uncertainty in the air in the unlikely surroundings of Luton Town's Kenilworth Road on Wednesday when the news Abramovich would sell the club was announced 62 minutes before kick-off in Chelsea's FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Abramovich led the way for the big-money "sugar daddy" foreign owners but will also be one of the most divisive, controversial figures to populate the game. The football legacy, however, will be one of success.

Abramovich noted that the established order when he arrived at Chelsea centred on Arsenal, Manchester United and, at that stage to a lesser degree, Liverpool. He did not want to join them, he wanted to overtake them.

The plan was to disrupt that normality. Abramovich achieved his aim spectacularly and quickly.

The popular Claudio Ranieri was backed heavily and finished second in the Premier League, also reaching the Champions League semi-final in Abramovich's first season. It was not good enough for the owner, who sacked him.

It was a clear signal of what the Russian wanted. Namely everything.

Jose Mourinho, who had just won Abramovich's cherished Champions League with Porto, breezed into Stamford Bridge and famously announced himself as "the special one", fulfilling his new boss' desire by winning the club's first title in 50 years.

The pair, one with the money and the other with a silver touch as well as bags of charisma, successfully challenged the previous dominant forces and Chelsea were on their way.

Abramovich had a thirst for success and Mourinho was the catalyst to satisfy it.

Rewriting the rules of success

For years, the old mantra was that stability brought success. Patience was a virtue that would be rewarded. Manchester United had their own laird in Sir Alex Ferguson, while Arsene Wenger ruled everything at Arsenal.

Short-termism won nothing, so the rules seemed to suggest.

Abramovich turned this logic on its head. It was not quite a chaos theory but stability has been a stranger to Stamford Bridge during his tenure - and has brought 19 major titles, putting Chelsea at the top of the game, clinching the Club World Cup just weeks before he announced his planned departure.

He appointed 10 full-time managers in his 19 years. Mourinho was hired twice, while Guus Hiddink had two spells in interim charge and Rafael Benitez was appointed on the same basis.

Even left-field choices such as Avram Grant ended with an appearance in a Champions League final in 2008, when Chelsea lost on penalties to Manchester United. Grant was a very average manager and the beneficiary of a high-quality squad that ran itself powerfully - many felt too powerfully - when it came to the firing of managers.

No matter how quickly Abramovich shuffled them, the trophies rolled in as Chelsea won five Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League twice, the Uefa Super Club and finally last month's Club World Cup.

Courtesy - Phil McNulty and BBC Online