How the 17 Chelsea managers of the Roman Abramovich era compare as ruthless Russian puts club up for sale
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH'S 19-year ownership of Chelsea has seen SEVENTEEN different managers take charge of at least one match.
Now the club is up for sale as a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Thomas Tuchel the last man to be recruited by the billionaire oligarch.
But out of the world class bosses brought in to Roman's Empire over the last two decades, who is statistically the most successful?
Jose Mourinho was employed twice, while Guus Hiddink had two spells in interim control, and both Ray Wilkins and Steve Holland had one game each in caretaker charge.
That means overall Abramovich made twelve permanent managerial appointments at Chelsea.
Claudio Ranieri was boss when Abramovich bought the club for £140million in 2003, and it took 59 games for him to get the chop.
That's despite guiding the Blues to a second-place finish in the Premier League and the Champions League semi-finals, with an overall win percentage of 61 percent.
Abramovich's decision turned out to be a justified one though, as in came a certain Mr Mourinho.
Excluding interim and caretaker managers, 'The Special One' boasted a better winning record in his first stint at the club than any other boss managed in the last 19 years.
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Mourinho won 124 out of his 185 games in charge first time round, helping the club lift the Premier League and League Cup twice, as well as the FA Cup.
His spell in the dugout ended with just 21 defeats and 119 goals conceded, resulting in a staggering 67 per cent winning record.
Meanwhile at the opposite end of the spectrum Andre Villas-Boas boasts the most miserable record as boss in the Abramovich era.
AVB won just 19 out of 40 games at the helm, with a meagre 47.5 per cent winning record.
He was sacked in March 2012, less than a year after taking over and on the back of three wins in 12 Premier League games.
Again though Abramovich's ruthless nature proved correct.
Roberto di Matteo took over from AVB and he led the Blues to a first-ever Champions League crown just TWO MONTHS later.
Current boss Tuchel meanwhile has overseen 74 games so far after taking over from Blues legend Frank Lampard in January 2021.
Tuchel has lost just nine of those, and has conceded just 46 goals in those 74 games.
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He too led the club to Champions League glory just a matter of months later, and boasts a winning record of 62.2 per cent.
Excluding caretaker managers and interim bosses, that's only bettered by Mourinho in his first spell, Avram Grant, and Antonio Conte.
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