Email
Print
Digg This
LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood says Chelsea's grand ambition to become the biggest club in Britain is pure "fantasy".
"I don't want to run Chelsea down, but one has to concede Manchester United and Liverpool are probably the biggest names in UK football," Hill-Wood was quoted as saying in British media after Arsenal reported an annual turnover of 200 million pounds.
"For Chelsea to think they are suddenly going to dominate United and Liverpool is fantasy. It is not going to happen."
Chelsea have been rocked by last week's shock exit of manager Jose Mourinho and by a run of poor form which included a 2-0 defeat by Manchester United on Sunday.
Arsenal, on the other hand, are top of the league and playing in front of full houses at the Emirates Stadium.
Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chairman, has spoken of his desire to overtake United and Liverpool in terms of global appeal, but Hill-Wood pointed to a meagre crowd of just 25,000 for last week's Champions League match at home to Rosenborg.
"I found it very surprising Chelsea had only 25,000 for a Champions League game," Hill-Wood said.
"Our fan-base probably started in the thirties and it's been handed down from father to son and so on. It takes a hundred years to build and about a hundred minutes to destroy. Money is irrelevant to history and how big your club is."
