Good, bad, and ugly: How Roman Abramovich's 19-year rule of EPL giants Chelsea will be remembered

The early hours of Saturday morning marked the end of a grave period of uncertainty for European Champions Chelsea as the club announced a new ownership group led by NFL franchise LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly-led consortium in which Clearlake Capitals are the majority share holders.

This will mark the end of Roman Abramovich's 19-year ownership of the club which was catalyst in the the landscape of English and European football changing forever. The Russian oligarch decided to sell the club after Russia's invasion of Ukraine which led to the British Government imposing sanctions on him that put Chelsea under an existential crisis as they operated under a special license which expires on 31st May.

As Abramovich says goodbye to the West London club, here is a look back at how his team at SW6 will be remembered by the footballing community-

Under Abramovich not only did Chelsea became a major force in European football, they became serial winners who were a trophy-winning machines. In 19 years since Abramovich stepped foot in London, the club won an incredible 21 trophies and were the most successful English club in the period.

In fact with Thomas Tuchel's men's Club World Cup triumph earlier this year, the Blues won every possible trophy in Abramovich's tenure and became only the fifth club after Ajax, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Juventus to achieve the same. In all, the club won 5 Premier League titles, 2 Champions Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 2 Europa Leagues, 2 Community shields, 1 UEFA Super Cup, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup.

While the trophies will define Abramovich's tenure, a defining legacy of him will be building a state-of-an-arc training ground for the club. Alongside that, the club's academy reached new heights and dominated youth football. Moreover, they have produced some world class youngster's coming out every year who look a class above the rest when given a chance in senior football.

Over the last decade, The Blue's women's team saw significant investment by Abramovich and have become one of Europe's leading team's under the guidance of Emma Hayes. Last year, they reached the Women Champions League final for the first time and they could win the Women Super league title for a third consecutive year on Sunday.

On the business side of things, the club's commercial value grew significantly with the Russian at the helm. The fact that Abramovich bought the club for £140m in 2003 and has sold it for a deal worth £4.25 billion speaks volumes in itself.

Although Chelsea achieved unprecedented success over the last two decades, it came at a cost which was of relentless chaos at the club. The Blues never experienced sort of stability that is currently present at Manchester City or Liverpool. In 19 years, Abramovich hired a total of 13 managers with patience for managers being a rarity under the Russian as a run of poor results resulted in them getting the yellow slip.

While a few can argue against Abramovich's hire-and-fire policy working as Chelsea lifted one trophy after another, the question that many will wonder is whether the club could have achieved more during the period with the sort of investment it received. Ultimately, the Blues won just 5 titles in last 19 with just two of them coming in the last 12 years. Three of Chelsea's five league titles came under Jose Mourinho's six years at the club over two stints.

In comparison, Manchester City are on the brink of lifting their sixth title under Sheikh Mansour with four of them coming in the last five years. Unlike the Citizens under Pep Guardiola at the moment or Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, the Blues never built a dynasty.

While a lot of credit is given to Abramovich for the quality of youngsters coming out from Chelsea's 'Cobham' academy, he failed to create a culture where there was a clear pathway for the youngsters in the first-team. In fact before Frank Lampard making the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount regular first-teamers barely any youngster became a permanent fixture in the squad under Abramovich which was largely a result of the instability at the club.

Although it was because of factors beyond his control, Abramovich could not secure his dream of helping Chelsea build a world-class stadium with an extended capacity. Due to various reasons, the Russian's various attempts at moving away or redeveloping Stamford Bridge failed.

Not many Chelsea fans will have any unpleasant memories of Abramovich's tenure but the ending will leave a bitter taste in the mouth. For the most successful period in club's history to end in a manner where the institution's existence was bought into doubt was less than ideal. The Russian had already stopped being a regular at Chelsea's home games after 2018 following poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury that led to tensions with the government and his British visa not being extended.

Ask any Chelsea fan around the globe and they will tell you how the club's period under his ownership was nothing short of a dream come true. The club not just dominated English football but became a force to reckon with in Europe. There were definitely mistakes made but overall it's hard to deny it was a period not anyone associated with the five-time Premier League champions will swap for anything.

While the Blues fans would have hoped for a better ending, Abramovich's sale demands seems to have the club's best interest at heart with a binding agreement for the new owners to invest £1.75 billion in the club and series of reported agreements that means the club's custodians cannot take dividends from the club for 10 years and restriction on the debt that can be imposed on the club.