Wednesday, Aug 22nd, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Categories:
Sports
Posted by
Administrator
I’m not really a sports fan, but I found this interesting:
“The EPL [English Premier League] is the biggest league in the UK and is reckoned by some as the single most popular sports league in the world. Its product is considered among the best soccer played anywhere. It also comes stocked with enough tradition, style and intrigue to make American sports look like the junior varsity.”
I learned quickly that, with apologies to Manchester United, my beloved Chelsea
is far and away the most hated club in England. This stems from the opinion that the Blues, as they’re called, essentially bought back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005 and are viewed kind of like the New York Yankees of the EPL, only without the decades-long tradition of winning.
After languishing in mediocrity for much of the 1980s-90s, Chelsea was purchased by Russian oil tycoon (and apparent crazy person) Roman Abramovich 
in 2003 and morphed into an overnight powerhouse. Abramovich brought both a hunger for winning and a willingness to spend money that makes George Steinbrenner look like a penny-ante grinder. He immediately pushed the payroll to more than $200 million and gobbled up a who’s-who of the world’s best players - forward Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast, goal keeper Petr Cech from the Czech Republic, defender Ricardo Carvalho from Portugal. The club even set an EPL record in shelling out an unknown sum between $60-100 million to bring in Ukranian striker Andriy Shevchenko from famed Italian club A.C. Milan.
Abramovich also hired Portuguese super manager (and apparent crazy person) Jose Mourinho to lead the team. Mourinho is widely acknowledged as brilliant coach, a snappy dresser and a complete egomaniac. “(There is) God,” he’s been quoted as saying. “And after God, me.”
[Chad Dundas @ the Missoulian: Link]
