When Roman Abramovich paid £140m to buy Chelsea in the late spring of 2003, Manchester City had just played their last ever game at Maine Road. They lost 1-0 at home to Southampton and literally sold the door to Kevin Keegan’s office for £70 and seats for £12 a pop.
It’s fair to say, then, that Chelsea’s Premier League money arrived a good while before City’s did. While Peter Kenyon – briefly employed by Chelsea as chief executive – was promising to ‘turn the world blue’ City did not even wear the most prominent colour in their own town.