I would dispute Chelsea being nobodys until Abramovich came in a little bit.
They started motoring above us from the mid 90s imo.....when the likes of Gulit, Zola, Di Matteo, Desailly, Vialli all came in.
In that period they won the league and cup winners cup in 98, obviously the FA cup in 2000 and 1997 and got to the quarter finals of the champions league in 2000. They were also regularly finishing above us in that period and due to the worldwide known foreign players, getting a good following abroad going.