Recently, more than any other player, Chelsea board room member Marina Granovskaia has come to the limelight. We take a look at who she is as almost no one seems to know about the mystery woman pulling the strings behind the scenes.
“She is basically the power at Chelsea,” a source quoted by the Evening Standard said of her. “Roman trusts her implicitly. She’s not interested in being a celebrity but there is no doubt who’s in charge and who calls the shots.
“It is symbolic of her role that she was crucial in getting Jose back. He had fallen out with Roman in very acrimonious and public circumstances and received a massive pay-off.”
Marina, in easy words, can be called Roman’s lieutenant. She was brought in from the Russian oligarch’s oil company to London after he bought Chelsea and by 2010 had joined the board. Three years later she was pretty much in charge of everything at the club and had negotiated powerful deals for the likes of Torres and Mourinho to come to the West London club.
She now sits as the almighty in the Chelsea board room and while she has tied down some handsome deals, one former player is not impressed with her; Thibaut Courtois, who claims that a promise was made to him and broken by Marina.
Chelsea are yet to respond publicly but are reportedly furious with Courtois’ comments.
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