The
Football, Finance and Future of
From its formation in 1905, Chelsea have
been regarded as the most glamorous of clubs. Visitors to the Bridge have
included Hollywood actresses, Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and even
an American Secretary of State complete with Secret Service entourage. But
while famous names seem attracted to Chelsea’s proximity to London’s
West End, the team has often disappointed.
More recently Chelsea have become one of
the most successful of the new breed of Premiership clubs. Under Bates,
Stamford Bridge has become home to 39 businesses ranging from travel
agencies to banks, restaurants and hotels to insurance companies, with the
express aim of insuring his football club against the inconsistencies and
dangerous internal feuding that have hamstrung previous chairmen.
 Over the past 6 years Chelsea has undergone a revolution,
but along with ‘progress’ has come rampant commercialism – as one
Chelsea fan noted, ‘loyalty is measured by how much you can spend rather
than how much you care. The life-long emotional bond that forms between a
football club and its supporters is now almost a weakness, there to be
exploited by the money-drunk millionaires that have taken over our sacred
game.’
 In blue tomorrow?,
life-long Chelsea fan Mark Meehan discovers a club in a hurry: an
ageing chairman frantic to win the championship before he retires, a club
facing mounting debts, an expensively assembled playing staff and a new
manager brought in because the old one could only deliver five trophies in
three seasons.
Clearly, nearly 20 years after assuming control, Ken
Bates is still chasing his elusive blue tomorrow
– but, as Meehan discovers, he is in danger of losing control of his own
club with potentially disastrous consequences...
Published in paperback, 270pp with 15 photographs.
£9.99
paperback ISBN 1 901 746
16 X - Order it here
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