Published: 09:38, 3 November 2025 | Updated: 09:38, 3 November 2025

Roman Abramovich marched into the Chelsea dressing room and asked his players whether they wanted to be 'top players, or just players on top salaries' , Joe Cole has revealed.

The former Chelsea owner made the furious address after watching the Blues dismally crash out of the Champions League at the hands of Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan in March 2010.

Cole, who was the sixth signing brought to Stamford Bridge after Abramovich arrived in west London, has shared a rare insight into how the the Russian oligarch operated in his new autobiography, Luxury Player, serialised in The Telegraph.

The former midfielder was benched for the two-legged affair which saw Inter run out 3-1 victors, with a 79th-minute Samuel Eto'o strike proving to be the death knell for Chelsea's European hopes that season.

And Cole recalls Abramovich being incensed at the side's performance on the evening.

He wrote: 'We would see him briefly after games. He gathered us together once in 2010, after we lost in the Champions League to Inter Milan, by then...