Roman: Don't bank on title in first year

Chelsea players had better practice their Russian because Abramovich plans to send them on a goodwill tour of Russia's key clubs.

He said: "I think that it would be a good idea to have informal friendly games with Russian teams. This would help Russian football teams to realise what actual position they have in football."

He also praised Chelsea fans, saying they "understood a lot" about football and transfer speculation.

He said: "The supporters understand. The other day I received a letter from a 10-year-old boy, he described the situation in the team perfectly. This 10-year-old boy named three of the five players we were thinking of buying. At the age of 10, I could not even write well.

"I didn't realise they would write so much about me in British newspapers - it is incredible - but I did know that in England football is a kind of religion, so I suppose there was always going to be a lot of interest.

"Some people in Russia, who call themselves patriots, said I should have put more money into Russian sport, not into a foreign team.

"The problem is that we don't live in a free country. We are not used to people spending their own money how they want to." But his enthusiasm for Chelsea contrasted with anxieties over the attack by the Kremlin on Russia's tycoons.

The past months have seen the wealth of Russia's richest tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, plunge, after his Yukos oil company was raided by armed tax inspectors.

Abramovich said the investigations, rumoured to be extended to his own Sibneft oil company, will damage confidence, just as foreign companies were preparing to return to Russia: "It's disturbing, it worries the whole market," he said. So why, with so much on his plate, had he decided to buy Chelsea Football Club?

He said: "I looked through 10 football teams in England. Realistically, four were available to buy. If we compare the quality and the position, Chelsea was the best option."

He was happy to confirm his longterm commitment to Chelsea.

"It's very difficult to speak about the period of 10 years. Maybe 25 years, maybe 50 years. It could be 25 or 50."

Asked about whether his wife and children will also follow Chelsea, he joked: "They will have to."