Pizzas galore!

So was Sven-Göran Eriksson exploiting Abramovich to get a longer England contract, as some have speculated? “I do have an opinion but I am not telling you,” Tenenbaum said. “It’s the same as everything when we came to London: this bunch of Russians. There’s a lot of negative stuff. We didn’t think it was going to last more than four days.

“Peter Kenyon has had to work hard to try to put a different sort of environment around it, to try to control the costs and really make it a business, not just a game but a business as well.”

Abramovich is threatening to fight Ken Bates, the former Chelsea chairman, who has issued a writ against the club for £2 million expenses and says that he has the power to subpoena the Russian. “The same with Ken Bates,” Tenenbaum said. “Give me two million pounds or I’ll sue you and I’ll force Roman to come to court; of course Roman is a quiet guy, he’ll pay me. Ken: we’ll see you in court.”

Tenenbaum, a Canadian financier who worked for Salomon Brothers International before becoming corporate finance chief in Abramovich’s oil business, admits being a football novice. “I was never a football person before. I said: ‘Roman, are you sure you want to do this?’ when we bought it a year ago. I’m not fanatical about football.”

The finance chief has learnt to love the game through his seven-year-old son’s obsession. “I understand why people are so excited about football in England,” he said.

The Tenenbaum File

Born: September 27 1964, Soviet Russia

Home town: Thornhill, Ontario. Moved to Canada with parents aged 10, returned to Russia in 1991

Notorious for: Telling Claudio Ranieri he was sacked over the telephone

Trained as: Chartered Accountant

Jobs: Director of Chelsea; director of Millhouse Capital UK, Abramovich's investment vehicle in Weybridge, Surrey; chief financial officer at Abramovich's Russian oil giant Sibneft

Previous employers: KPMG, Salomon Brothers International

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football