Roman Abramovich hands over ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea football club

[tsubaki]

Ultimately, doesn't he profit from any monies made by the club?

That's why they're doing this, so the club generates no revenue at all by which he might benefit.

It's harsh on the club and their supporters, but they've had 20 odd years of success off the back of his money; now they are paying the price for this.

He might, but if they want to stop that there are ways of doing it - when a club is placed in administration for example, the administrator oversees the business and any profits are held separately (to be distributed later) rather than going to the owner.

What has been done here is both new and perverse; it seems to be designed to ruin the club and for that reason should be found illegal.

 

[Alan Whittle]

Seeing for the first time all the restrictions placed on Chelsea. Quite stringent.
I'm watching that Kaveh joker on Sky sports talking about the situation like he is an official spokesman. He's a clown, everything prefixed " I'm told", "A source tells me", "I'm led to believe" does anyone take him seriously?

Talks for 20 minutes about what could be said in 2 and tells you nothing that you didn’t already know.

 

[anton66]

Ultimately, doesn't he profit from any monies made by the club?

That's why they're doing this, so the club generates no revenue at all by which he might benefit.

It's harsh on the club and their supporters, but they've had 20 odd years of success off the back of his money; now they are paying the price for this.

It’s a bit strange as they can sell the club but the money is frozen but can’t sell any ticket/merchandise which monies could also be frozen?

 

[GraemeS1980]

Just a different perspective on what is happening with Chelsea. Whilst I find it utterly abhorrent what is happening in Ukraine and agree that people like Abramovich should have assets seized in the peace effort, I find it very interesting the situation at Chelsea. How is it that someone can carry on given what they have done over the last few years and still have an operating premier league football club, I am talking about the lot that own Newcastle now. Surely what is happening to Chelsea the same sort of thing should be happening there too given the crimes the oil rich have committed?

 

[davek]

This is why Chelsea and Everton are being punished unfairly by a UK Government (Tory and New Labour) up to its necks in oligarch corruption and allowing oligarch corruption to happen on their watch:



Either punish them all or dont punish football clubs with their cash received from them.

 

[COYBL25]

I have a lot of sympathy with the fans and you're right, there are a lot of other club owners that also wouldn't stand too close a scrutiny of their activities.

However, it's undeniable that the owner is close to a regime that have invaded another sovereign nation with no provocation, pulling Europe and potentially the world closer to war than anything seen since 1939. There have to be consequences for anyone associated with such a regime.

Graham Mellor, ex MP and lifelong Chelsea fan, was on News Night last night, saying something similar.

He also said, even though he`d be saying, since day one of Abromovich`s ownership, that his ties with Putin, made his ownership questionable, at very best, he`d been all all but ignored.

 

[Yid4life]

I wonder if they will stop playing The Liquidator before matches?

 

[davek]

Chris Bryant, the 'new New' Labour MP who has gone after Chelsea and Everton in the HoCs: why isn't he demanding Peter Mandelson - one of the Russian oligarch's biggest enablers in the UK with financial ties to their companies in London - be sanctioned, turfed out of parliamant and investigated? Oh yeah, that's right, he's a mate of Bryant's he used to take to watch the opera with him.

The hypocrisy stinks to high heaven.

WTF are we doing paying the price for this when even the so called witchfinders of kleptocracy are up to their elbows in it themselves?

 

[MisterJ]

Just a different perspective on what is happening with Chelsea. Whilst I find it utterly abhorrent what is happening in Ukraine and agree that people like Abramovich should have assets seized in the peace effort, I find it very interesting the situation at Chelsea. How is it that someone can carry on given what they have done over the last few years and still have an operating premier league football club, I am talking about the lot that own Newcastle now. Surely what is happening to Chelsea the same sort of thing should be happening there too given the crimes the oil rich have committed?

Agreed; but I think the tipping point is that in the Russia / Ukraine situation we are dealing with a Nuclear power.

That changes things

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

This is why Chelsea and Everton are being punished unfairly by a UK Government (Tory and New Labour) up to its necks in oligarch corruption and allowing oligarch corruption to happen on their watch:



Either punish them all or dont punish football clubs with their cash received from them.

Think if the fans accepted principle of the Sanctions rather than chanting and crying in support of Dear Roman, then the hypocrites who are bringing about the sanctions could be challenged. But they are literally hitting themselves in face in the support of these owners such as Ambramovich. The wider optics of this is a politician heaven, thick people played like fiddles "straight out of the Trump playbook".

 

[davek]

Think if the fans accepted principle of the Sanctions rather than chanting and crying in support of Dear Roman, then the hypocrites who are bringing about the sanctions could be challenged. But they are literally hitting themselves in face in the support of these owners such Ambramovich. The wider optics of this is a politician heaven, thick people played like fiddle "straight out of the Trump playbook".

A few hundred Chelsea fans singing that is not influencing events off the pitch. That's just been seized upon to clamp down on criticism of the move against their club.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

A few hundred Chelsea fans singing that is not influencing events off the pitch. That's just been seized upon to clamp down on criticism of the move against their club.

Was enough to paint the average Chelsea fan as a group who cares for Romans money more than bombed out maternity hospital, that's the trouble with tribalism its good at generalisations.

 

[davek]

Was enough to paint the average Chelsea fan as a group who cares for Romans money more than bombed out maternity hospital, that's the trouble with tribalism its good at generalisations.

Maybe it's more that they can see the utter humbug from politiciains in parliament destroying their football club who are punishing everyone else but their own rats they lobby in parliament for?

 

[davek]

When all this settlers down - as it will - there'll be a massive resentment amongst Everton fans that'll match or even surpass the resentment felt over our expulsion from European competition in the 80s.

Chelsea fans too.

If we have been robbed of our finances then every penny that comes into this PL should be scrutinised concerning where it came from. And that goes for US capital flouting into clubs as well as Russian, Arab, Thai and Chinese.

 

[EverTheOptimist]

And Abramovich has really weakened off the investment in recent years.

He hasn't though, he's pumped in over £350 million since 2019, Swiss Ramble who posted Abramovich's tenure years funding of the club every year showing the 1.5 billion debt.

2019 alone was £247 million that he put into the club, last season investment included an urgent need for him to cover wages last season as the club's cashflow was low to cover the wages in the last few months of the season from the loss of matchday income during the Pandemic.

Astounding though, 20 years almost and the club has been a recipient welfare case so reliant on their owner to keep them above water in the background, they are like the Enron of Football, an entity built on quick sand, they were hoping Abramovich would be the owner forever, it was always eventually going to bite them on their *rse when he wasn't there anymore.

PSG and City are the same, their huge wage bills and summer splurges only happen because their turnover is artificial, it's not club generated, it's at the behest of their owner. Their owners go and they are in a perilous state and very quick, the owners go and the owner linked commercial deals go with them, then the wage bill will be bigger than the entire turnover.

If FSG Kreonke or the Glazers left their clubs, the turnover would be the same, nothing would change, the owners have nothing linked to them that props up the turnover, self reliance to the core.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Qatar sell PSG after the World Cup, they tried to win the holy grail and can't, wasted so much money to be annual failures in footballs biggest prestigious club competition and are hindered playing in a farmer's league, they sportswashed to put Qatar in the football consciousness, they hit their glass ceiling with PSG, now Qatar name is tarnished by getting the best players in the world to fail in the CL.

No Sportswashing interest in Chelsea in the bids which is fantastically super great, I suspect the new owners will be of the mantra "spend what you earn"., Chelsea fans are going to have one big come down for a few years before they have built a reliance to spend big again.