Dangers lurk for Chelsea all-stars

As the Abramovich millions pour in and the high-profile signings line up, it is essential the kings of the King's Road marry patience with expectation or a dose of Sudden Wealth Syndrome could destroy the club's lofty ambitions. Glenn Moore reports

In the wake of the dot.com boom a new illness was identified on America's west coast: Sudden Wealth Syndrome. As Dr Stephen Goldbart, a psychologist operating near Silicon Valley said of sufferers at the time: "It can ruin their lives, rip their families apart and lead them on a path of destructive behaviour. Money does not always bring peace and fulfilment. It often brings guilt, stress and confusion."

SWS may now be heading for SW6. Claudio Ranieri, who last season was extolling the benefits of stability after a barren summer in the transfer market, is spending like Viv Nicholson. The celebrated pools winner blew the lot, the question intriguing English football this Premiership season, is whether Ranieri will do the same.

A year ago Ranieri was a bystander in the transfer market. Constrained by Chelsea's debt mountain his only recruit was the loan signing of Enrique de Lucas. Undaunted he adopted the old fashioned method, developing a team on the training ground, integrating the fruits of Chelsea's youth policy and building team spirit. He was rewarded by a well-timed late-season run which secured Chelsea a return to the Champions' League. Largely unknown on his arrival, and unfairly derided for his comical English, he had earned respect.

Then Roman Abramovich, looking for a high-profile interest to help open doors in his newly-adopted UK home, alighted upon Stamford Bridge. It was an appropriate choice. Moscow Dynamo began their legendary tour at the ground in 1945. The club is also used to being dominated by strong-willed individuals from the Mears family, who created it almost a century ago, to Ken Bates.

This history is unlikely to have interested Abramovich but it is relevant. Chelsea have always made a noise but have rarely backed this with achievement: the 1955 championship won under Ted Drake remains their only league title. As a result it has become a difficult club to manage with expectations customarily outstripping reality. This has now reached an extreme pitch. After spending £75m to date, with more promised, anything short of the championship will be seen as failure and seized upon as such.

Failure is probable. Chelsea now have a lot of good players but they do not yet have a team, the sort that digs itself out of the mire on a cold night at the Riverside, or an intimidating one in Europe. They are constructed the hard way. The footballing telemetry is developed by long hours of practice, the mental strength by shared adversity. Neither process can be short-circuited. Creating a team is not like picking a boy band.

Abramovich has offered this tenet a nod of acknowledgement. "There will be many new acquisitions playing, so it is hard to believe this season will be successful," he has said. "Even if we buy the best players, we won't be a team. They need time to play together."

The Russian's patience will not, though, be infinite and a few factors suggest it will be stretched. Firstly, the disparity in wages will not help foster team spirit. The new players appear to be coming in on salaries significantly higher than most of the incumbents. Already there are rumblings of discontent. A dressing room can absorb one Winston Bogarde but not a clutch of them.

Secondly, to judge from Wednesday's Champions' League qualifier in Zilina Ranieri's penchant for tactical over-elaboration does not appear to have been doused. Fielding five of his new signings was to be expected but playing Juan Sebastian Veron on the right, and Géremi in central midfield, less anticipated. Ranieri nicknamed himself "The Tinkerman" and it is hard to imagine, given his squad, that he will be able to resist constant changes.

Another problem, the lack of balance between artists and artisans, is at least being addressed with the approaches for players such as Steven Gerrard and Claude Makelele. The likes of Veron and Joe Cole need an enforcer and at present they have only Emmanuel Petit, a fine player but one whose aching body increasingly restricts him.

Chelsea supporters thus have much to ponder as they await the new season but so do neutrals. Abramovich's sudden, energetic arrival in the English game could have far-reaching repercussions. Already he has fuelled the transfer fee and wage inflation which, in the wake of diminishing TV deals, appeared to be in decline. Instead the agents, whose exploitation of the game seemed to have peaked, are back with their snouts in the trough.

His takeover also underlines the unregulated nature of the English game. Abramovich went from being unknown in this country to owner of one of its major football clubs overnight. The Football Association and other authorities were mere bystanders. While there is no reason to believe Abramovich would fail the FA's proposed 'fit and proper person' test of ownership there is little to suggest it would have acted if there was. Yet the Russian, with no experience of the English game or the national culture, now has a vote and a voice within a Premier League which increasingly runs English football. Abramovich will thus have an influence over the England team, the FA Cup, youth development and a myriad other aspects of the sport about which he will know little and probably care less.

It is another demonstration of the manifest need for government regulation of the game. Football may be a niche industry but it is one of England's most high-profile. However, HMG's only interest in the sport is for glamour by association. The FA, incidentally, should encourage independent regulation, not fight it. Having someone else to do the dirty work would ease their relationship with the clubs and free the many good men and women within Soho Square to concentrate on enhancing the game.

Not that Abramovich's arrival is all bad. He has provided football with excitement and publicity during the fallow months. His wealth, encouragingly, has been largely spent within the English game, predominantly on young English (or Irish) men. The prospect of players such as Glen Johnson, Joe and Carlton Cole, Frank Lampard and Wayne Bridge developing their game alongside the cream of European talent should have Sven Goran Eriksson booking a permanent seat alongside his Russian "friend" and hang to speculation.

At a time when the championship is increasingly being passed between a gilded few Abramovich has also provided a reminder that, should they uncover a benefactor wealthy enough, anyone can break into the élite. Although Blackburn did so less than a decade ago it had seemed, from the way Jack Walker's riches were neutralised by the Sky millions, that the cost was becoming prohibitive. Certainly Fulham's progress under Mohammed Al Fayed has been brought to a halt. Ironically it had seemed a year ago that Fulham would draw level with their neighbours.

Before Chelsea fans gloat they should look at the Fulham example. When considering selling Craven Cottage, Al Fayed has spoken of getting his money back. This highlights a common misconception regarding football investors. Many do not "give" their money to the club, they "loan" it - Walker, like Sir Jack Hayward at Wolves, was an exception. There thus may come a time when the owner wants it back. If the club then has a large squad of hugely paid players on long contracts it is then in trouble. Then Chelsea could be looking at Sudden Poverty Syndrome, which appeared on the American west coast following the dot.com bust. On this side of the Atlantic, in football, it might better be be described as "Leeds United Syndrome".

For the moment everyone at Stamford Bridge is brimming with enthusiasm and that, at the start of the season, with cut grass filling the nostrils, is how it should be. With patience Chelski ought to lift the championship within three seasons and the potential is there to become an English Real Madrid. The King's Road swingers may finally be about to live up to the promise Joe Mears envisaged when he took over the London Athletic Club and built the Bridge 99 years ago. Patience, however, is almost as rare in football as billionaire benefactors.