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Roman Abramovich, already Russia's richest man, has had a good week. The Chelsea owner is estimated to have made £5.1 billion pounds from the sale of Sibneft, the oil group in which he has a substantial stake, to Gazprom, the state controlled Russian natural gas monopoly. Chelsea already dominate English football, but the additional money will help them to achieve their objective of becoming the biggest club in the world, turning the world blue as they put it. They have already set up informal arrangements with a number of clubs around the world, including PSV Eindhoven and Benfica. One potential awkwardness that was got rid of with the sale of Sibneft was its involvement in CSKA Moscow, although European footballing authorities have not been very active on dual ownership issues. Mr Abramovich, was born into poverty and orphaned at the age of four. His first business venture was selling plastic ducks. He made his fortune buying large stakes in Russia's oil and aluminium industries, which were privatised after the fall of communism. The shares were sold for a fraction of their current worth, leading to allegations that these were shady deals with the industries being bought on the cheap, but Abramovich defends himself as a risk taker. What he is also clearly good at is establishing effective working relationships with Russian politicians. He was part of the inner circle of former president Boris Yeltsin, but managed to ingratiate himself with the new Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Less fortunate oligarchs have ended up in prison or in exile. He spent £150m on acquiring Chelsea and has spent twice as much on players, but now he will have more money for what he describes as a 'hobby'. In a sense, Russian government money is now shaping the future of English football. Lenin, shortly to be removed from his Red Square masoleum, will no doubt be turning in his new grave, although Uncle Joe (Stalin) might see it as the kind of macabre joke he enjoyed. As far as football fans are concerned, the arrival of Chelsea as a big money club at least offered the promise of breaking the United-Arsenal monopoly, but instead we may have a new monopoly that erodes interest in the top level of the game.
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