Terry calls for heavy spending to ensure era of title dominance

Out of the dozens of congratulatory text messages that bombarded John Terry's mobile phone after Chelsea's coronation as Premier League champions following their spectacular 8-0 victory over Wigan, one in particular stood out. It contained just one word – "champagne" – and it came from the club's former manager Jose Mourinho.

"Simple as that," Terry said as he spoke in the Stamford Bridge tunnel about the Special One's text. A nice gesture from Mourinho, who had seen current Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti match his own achievement of winning the Premier League title in his first year in charge.

Mourinho's succinct message perfectly summed up the occasion for it was certainly champagne football from Chelsea, who set a new Premier League goalscoring record with 103. It can hardly get much better than winning the title on the last day of the season with the biggest league victory in the club's 105-year history.

But this being Chelsea, it simply has to get better. The FA Cup is likely to join the Premier League in four days' time for the club's first Double, but even that is not quite sufficient to satisfy the demands of owner Roman Abramovich. A move in the summer for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is a very real possibility for Chelsea, and is one that would be welcomed in the dressing room.

Terry said the club need to sign new players in the close season because of the pressure coming from the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City. "I think the big four need to strengthen next year because everyone's become closer to us, you know us, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool," he said. "No doubt in the summer it's going to be a busy summer for the big clubs."

There is a certain logic in Abramovich spending big again, after a period of relative parsimony since his catastrophic decision to blow £30.8m on Andrei Shevchenko four years ago. The new Uefa rules mean that from 2015 Chelsea will have to balance their books without the aid of their Russian benefactor, so he should spend sooner rather than later.

Winning the Champions League would also help the club achieve their stated aim of breaking even in the foreseeable future, as it would inevitably trigger a huge increase in income. The big question is whether Abramovich, who has ploughed more than £700m into the club in the past seven years, has the desire to spend his own money buying someone like Torres.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay said yesterday the money is there should manager Carlo Ancelotti want to spend it. However he also repeated the club's desire to break even without the help of Abramovich's largesse – a task seemingly incompatible with the idea of spending £50m on one player by a club that recorded a loss of £44.4m last year.

Asked if Abramovich would fund what Chelsea call a "marquee signing", Gourlay said: "The avenue is there to take. But we have set out our strategy, and our strategy is to run this club self sufficiently. If the question is, 'Is the ability there for us to go into the marketplace and spend x?' then yes. If it's right for the football club.

"In an ideal world it would be nice if the money we spend on incoming players could be part-financed by players going out. We're going to try to build on this. We didn't win the league for four years as we weren't good enough and have to keep on improving. Carlo will recommend players he wants in the squad for next season, but we have to get this football club self-sufficient. That's the goal of the club."

After lifting the Premier League trophy on Sunday, Terry spoke of matching Manchester United's achievement of winning it for three straight years. "We want to kick on again next year, year after year just keep winning the trophy back to back," Terry said.

That kind of domination could only be ensured with a return to the wild spending that characterised the early Abramovich years, which is clearly not on the cards. Chelsea instead will attempt to walk a middle ground, with a policy of selling off some of their older players to make room for younger talent, while Abramovich decides whether to lavish more of his millions on a world-class player such as Torres.

As Mourinho said, Sunday's title triumph was a champagne moment for Chelsea. Whether there are more such moments to come in the next few years may depend on Abramovich's willingness to put his hand in his pocket once again this summer.