The Chelsea Situation

alderz

I feel like this is going to warrant a discussion thread of its own, so I'm starting one.

It's breaking today that the government are putting in sanctions against Roman Abramovich for his alleged ties to the Putin administration. This includes pretty serious repercussions for Chelsea - including the halting of any potential sale of the club.

You can find more on the BBC link below, but they are reporting that the licence that allows Chelsea to continue operating will:

BBC Sport said:

What does the special licence mean for Chelsea?
Chelsea are able to pay the wages of all employees, including players and coaching staff
They can pay "reasonable" costs of travel to and from fixtures but not exceeding £20,000 per game per team
They can pay "reasonable" costs towards hosting home fixtures, not exceeding £500,000 per fixture per team
Fans who bought season tickets or individual match tickets before 10 March 2022 can attend games
Rights-holding broadcasters can broadcast any fixture involving the club

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60689645

PrestonHammer

I wonder if they will let in the away fans free?🤔

IronHerb

So we keep Rice for another season?

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Rules them off Rice surely?

That leaves only United as genuine clubs to move to (sont think City/Liverpool will go for him with Rodri and Fabinho in their primes)

Why would he go to United right now? The club is in an awful position, they won't get top 4

OutcastLondoner

There’s still a long way until the summer so the war might end and sanctions get lifted by then, especially with the way things are going, but who knows with Putin.

What happens with contracts? Isn’t Tuchel out in the summer?

MrsGrey

BBC reporting that at present no contracts can be negotiated... Affects players like Azpi and Rudiger

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Does this make Boris the de facto owner of Chelsea? Probably the only possible way they could become less likeable.

Slacker

Really really shouldn’t laugh……………………….😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Ace of Clubs

Does this mean they cannot pick up any silverware?

Slacker

I know it’s early days but this might be the beginning of the end of Chelsea being able to buy trophies and championships.
They’ve had twenty odd years of lifting some of the best players and coaches from around the world just because they had a bottomless pit of money.

It would give me so much pleasure to see that come to an end and watch the rat’s deserting the sinking ship.

IronHerb

OutcastLondoner said:

There’s still a long way until the summer so the war might end and sanctions get lifted by then, especially with the way things are going, but who knows with Putin.

What happens with contracts? Isn’t Tuchel out in the summer?

I don't see sanctions being lifted, well I hope not, until the Russian army have left Ukraine, and that is not going to be in the near future.

OutcastLondoner

IronHerb said:

OutcastLondoner said:

There’s still a long way until the summer so the war might end and sanctions get lifted by then, especially with the way things are going, but who knows with Putin.

What happens with contracts? Isn’t Tuchel out in the summer?

I don't see sanctions being lifted, well I hope not, until the Russian army have left Ukraine, and that is not going to be in the near future.

I agree with your first part about the sanctions. About when they'll leave, you're also probably right because Putin will probably persist, but hopefully the sanctions and the struggle they're having in progressing will have an impact. They seem to have dialled back their demands (though still many are ridiculous). So maybe there's a little hope.

But if he doesn't, then yes it's going to be very interesting for Chelsea. Tuchel out of contract. They'll be out of the running for Rice. I wonder how much money they have to keep going?

IronHerb

There was someone on twitter this morning saying they had £16m in cash on their last results. I can see them allowing Chelsea to be sold but the cash to be held in an escrow type account frozen by the government.

alderz

Presumably they will still be eligible for the prize money they pick up from their PL finish, but who knows if they actually will. They also won't be able to sell players, which will mean they have to deal with what they have other than those that are out of contract, but it also puts them into a tricket spot for those out of contract in 2023, and even 2024. Most clubs like to try to sell with 2 years left on a contract to maximise the sale value.

BubblesNeverDies

Slacker said:

I know it’s early days but this might be the beginning of the end of Chelsea being able to buy trophies and championships.
They’ve had twenty odd years of lifting some of the best players and coaches from around the world just because they had a bottomless pit of money.

Slacker, you could correctly put Citeh in the same bracket apart from the length of time.

Huttonhammer

The rules around ownership of Premier league clubs should have been reviewed years ago. All the Russian oligarchs were given cheap shares during the dissolution of Russia in the 90s and made their billions from it. They swindled their own country .
Very few people earn that sort of money in a proper manner.
Don’t understand how it took this long to sanction him either . Would love it if Chelsea were finished . Fancy being owned by the man who told Yeltsin to choose Putin!!

yoyo

Their sponsors,Three, have requested a suspension of their sponsorship and asked for their name to be removed from shirts and the stadium.

Ravel49

alderz

Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

I wonder if they are able to sack managers

Ravel49

Could resign
And go to United 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yeoldhammer

Im still not 100% sure what is happening so Roman gets sanctioned by UK government so he cannot get money out the club and his assets are frozen ? how can the club not have a sustainable way to pay its players or has he been forking out above what the PL TV money / Champs league etc pay for players ?

Ravel49

Really could work out in United’s favour
Mentor already their and has say in new manager
TT worked with Sancho and could influence Haaland move
Might be able to persuade Bellingham who was close to signing for United before.

OutcastLondoner

Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

Annoying. Though wonder if he’ll want to stay

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

I can't see this being the end of chelsea, nor do I think this should be the end of them

Think they should be allowed to be purchased by someone else, how that happens I have no idea but don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to continue, chelsea have been around for over 100 years, they aren't Abramovics personal team he created

They should be punished as much as the FA should for letting him buy them in the first place

It's not like Chelsea FC could choose who bought them

Slacker

I don’t want to see the end of Chelsea either, I would just like to see them playing on an even playing field.
Same goes for Man City.

alderz

I don’t want them to go out of business , but then again I also didn’t think it was fair on the fans that Wimbledon moved, that Bury went out of business, that Derby got a massive points deduction. All clubs live and die on the actions of their owners to some extent.

They have reaped the rewards of getting into bed with an incredibly unsavoury guy, loved him the whole time, never questioned his affiliations, and even at the weekend showed themselves up by singing songs about him during a minute for Ukraine.

yoyo

I'd like to see them on an uneven playing field, like Hackney Marshes

BubblesNeverDies

Slacker said:

I don’t want to see the end of Chelsea either, I would just like to see them playing on an even playing field.
Same goes for Man City.

MrsGrey

Yeoldhammer said:

Im still not 100% sure what is happening so Roman gets sanctioned by UK government so he cannot get money out the club and his assets are frozen ? how can the club not have a sustainable way to pay its players or has he been forking out above what the PL TV money / Champs league etc pay for players ?

Loans, apparently.

Seems sop.

Abramovic was proposing to cancel all repayments. Will be interesting to see how PL and FA deal with that.

PrestonHammer

How were Chelsea allowed to rack up 1.5 billion in loans under FFP?

whupathman

AFC Chelsea has a nice ring to it I think