Is Roman Abramovich's rule at Chelsea nearing its end?

Roman Abramovich’s absence as Chelsea defeated Manchester United to claim the FA Cup, and the 15th major trophy of his ownership, is now explained by the delay in granting his renewal application for an investor’s visa. Yet, at the time, his non-appearance at Wembley hardly set the alarm bells ringing.

The oligarch has become a sporadic visitor to the club into which he has poured more than £1bn since acquiring it in 2003, missing some significant home games en route and never travelling to away fixtures. While he had attended his side’s loss to Arsenal in last season’s FA Cup final and was regularly seen at Stamford Bridge in the first half of this season, the 51-year-old was last in attendance in his box in the middle tier of the West Stand for the victory over Crystal Palace in March.

Flight records suggest his private Boeing 767 was last in London on 1 April but, with Chelsea’s Premier League title defence having petered out before Christmas, and Barcelona having eliminated them from the Champions League a few days after the Palace win, it did not seem particularly surprising that he had chosen to stay away.

Nor is it unusual for elite Premier League clubs to be overseen by owners from outside the UK. None of those in charge of the top six is based in this country. Sheikh Mansour and Stan Kroenke own Manchester City and Arsenal respectively, while Joe Lewis and John W Henry are in charge of Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. United are under the stewardship of the Americans Joel and Avram Glazer. Avram was at Wembley to see his side beaten by Chelsea on Saturday.

Regardless, while Abramovich is far from an absentee owner, he has long delegated the day-to-day running of the club to his trusted lieutenants on the ground in London. Principal among them on the football side is Marina Granovskaia, formerly an employee of the oil company Sibneft, who has worked closely with Abramovich for more than 18 years. She had acted as a representative of the owner at the club, and in support of the board of directors, before formally joining the board of Chelsea FC plc in the summer of 2013.

Russian-born and a dual Russian and Canadian national, Granovskaia has become increasingly influential at Stamford Bridge, undertaking negotiations over player transfers and contracts, as well as managerial appointments. She assimilated the duties of the team’s technical director into her own following Michael Emenalo’s departure last November, and was at Wembley among the dignitaries from both clubs on Saturday.

She is joined on the board of Chelsea FC plc by Eugene Tenenbaum, a Canadian financier who worked as corporate finance chief in Abramovich’s oil business and accompanied the Russian to London in 2003, and the chairman, Bruce Buck, a lawyer by trade. Guy Laurence, previously of Vodafone UK and Rogers Communications, commenced his duties as chief executive in February.

Chelsea FC plc’s ultimate parent company is Fordstam Limited, which boasts a debt of around £1.1bn in the form of an interest-free loan from Abramovich, theoretically repayable on 18 months’ notice. The parent company’s money has been ploughed into Chelsea FC plc as equity, and then on to the football club itself – Chelsea Ltd – again as equity. Fordstam informed Companies House on 23 March that it was changing its owner’s residence to “Russia”.

Chelsea may have been crowned Premier League champions in 2017, but they have checked the lavish spending of the early Abramovich era in recent times – much to the frustration of the current head coach, Antonio Conte – as they seek to comply with Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations and become less reliant upon the owner’s funds. Some have viewed that as an indication enthusiasm is on the wane for his footballing plaything.

In truth, Abramovich continues to pump money into the club – £34m in the 12-month period up to June 2017, for example – and is intent upon redeveloping Stamford Bridge, having been granted planning permission in January 2017 for a £1bn project to increase the stadium’s capacity to 60,000. The anticipated costs have escalated wildly, largely due to the length of time allocated to the build and the complexity of the plans, with Abramovich apparently exploring the possibility of outside investors buying into the redevelopment project.