Speaking to Chelsea TV in an exclusive interview, Buck said "The process is that Mr Abramovich and Claudio Ranieri, together with the directors and chief executive, consult on what is appropriate, necessary and desirable.

"A list is then derived from that. For sure, there are financial limitations and, in the summer, there will be a discussion as to what is appropriate in terms of the money to be spent.

"One of the problems we have is every day you read a story Mr Abramovich is going to be buying something else - a football club in Argentina or a Formula One team - and every player looking to improve his contract with his club says Chelsea is after him.

"That makes it difficult for the directors and the management to tell employees that the price is too high for their pencils or whatever. We just have to get to a position where people understand that this is a business and we are looking at our costs. Yes, we want to put money into the football team but, at the end of the day, it's not unlimited by any means.

As for his thoughts on Peter Kenyon.... Buck had this to say "It's very important to be a successful business. You can see what Mr Abramovich has invested in this club - the shares cost about £60m, the debt was about £80m and the newspapers report that we've spent about £110m on players. So that's about £250m invested in this club.

"You look at a club like Manchester United, which, if it was sold today, could yield £500m, £600million or even £700m, depending on the Stock Market. That's what we want to achieve.

"We want to have a successful club and then build a successful brand image. Manchester United have a very good brand that is reasonably well recognised around the world and we think that we can do that - or better - largely because we're a London club."

A bit of food for thought for the day...