You are reading a single comment by @cliveo and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@cliveo
While Liverpool were riding high thanks to the largess of the pools money gien to them by the ghastly Moores family, Chelsea were in a financial mess. Success in the 1950s and 1960s and even greater success in the early 1970s led to the Mears family, who had founded and owned Chelsea since their inception, embarking upon grandiose ideas for ground redevelopment. The East Stand was built and still stands today. An economic down turn, rampant inflation and the oild crisis followed and the financing of the redevelopment became a problem. Players were sold to raise funds. By the end of the 1970s, Chelsea were fielding sides entirely made up of home grown players and any decent home grown players were sold on to deal with the financial problems.
The Mears family then sought to screw the club completely and almost got rid of the ground for redevelopment and a quick buck. Bates came in. Bought some players. Got promotion. Resolved the ground issue. Obtained further finance. Got the club back up to where they had been and into the Champions League and into a position where it could be sold. He had a number of options as to who to sell it to and chiose the one who was likely to be the most advantageousd to the club. And Abramovich came.
Just filling you in on some history Mike because history is clearly not your thing as you appear to not to have heard of Chelsea until very recently.