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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMPOVERISHED EAST AND AFFLUENT WEST HAS NEVER BEEN MORE APPARENT THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW.

What’s become known as the Roman revolution going on in west London has dominated the summer’s transfer news, as Roman Abramovich’s millions have enabled Chelsea to indulge in a spate of fantasy football never seen before in the Premiership.

There is nothing illegal in what Abramovich has done – he’s simply a bored billionaire looking for a bit fun with his money – but to listen to some of the chatter going down in the pubs along the Kings Road, you would think that Chelsea had somehow earned the right to have a rich benefactor, as if it was the club’s destiny to be propelled toward European superclub status.

Jesper Gronkjaer’s winning goal for Chelsea against Liverpool on the last day of the 2002-03 season had a much bigger significance than any of us thought at the time. Chelsea’s win meant that they, and not Liverpool, would enter into the qualifying stages of this season’s Champions League. With that famous pot being the ultimate prize, would Abramovich been so quick to part with his Roubles had Chelsea only been entered into the comparatively cheap and cheerful Uefa Cup?

By his own admission, Abramovich ran his eye over 10 clubs before setting his sights on Stamford Bridge. Had he gone elsewhere, Chelsea were on the brink of going the same way as Leeds United and failure to get past the qualifying stage of the Champions League would have resulted in a drastic reduction in playing staff at the very least.

Leeds chased the European dream and crashed to earth spectacularly, shedding two managers, a chairman, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Keane, Robbie Fowler, Lee Bowyer, Olivier Dacourt and Harry Kewell in the space of 13 months. They just clung on to their Premiership status last season and, although it’s not a wholly accurate barometer of form, have not managed a single win in their pre-season friendlies.

So it appears that Chelsea have been played the ultimate Get Out of Jail Free card. From the brink of potential financial ruin, they are suddenly splashing the cash throughout Europe as they assemble a squad of highly paid mercenaries keen to cash in on a billionaire’s fancy.

Once the excitement of the initial spending subsides though, what have the Chelsea supporters really got out of Abramovich’s arrival? It would take a coaching genius to bed all the disparate talents in quickly enough to form a championship winning side in their first season and if Claudio Ranieri manages that task, fair play to him, but surely the view from outside the Bridge would be that the title has been bought, not won by a fair fight after years of toil, but sealed by a few squiggles in a cheque book.

Do you remember the excitement of watching a 17-year-old Tony Cottee leap twice his own height to score with a header against Tottenham on his debut in 1983? When was the first time you saw a gangly young Rio Ferdinand challenge for a ball and sweep it from defence and promote an attack on goal? Were you one of the 20,000-plus fans who crammed into Upton Park to watch the youth team beat Coventry 6-0 in the second leg of their 1999 Cup final? That’s football. Following the players, more often than not from your own streets, battling their way through the ranks, breaking into the first team, eventually making their own headlines and perhaps even the England team beyond.

Those are the things that make you proud of your club. Not how much money you can spend, but getting a return for years of your own investment, being there when the latest young talent makes his debut, watching his and the team’s development, seeing his passion for your club, knowing that he cares about pulling on the shirt.

The likelihood is that Chelsea will win something at some stage, but face it, they are not a force in Europe, never have been, and any player joining them declaring a passion to keep them among Europe’s elite is kidding himself and the fans.

Fantasy football? You can keep it.