Following the continuing Russian invasion of neighboring nation, Ukraine, the UK Government has slapped sanctions to Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich.
As some of you may know by now, Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich made a series of announcements late last week as a fallout of the situation taking place between Russia and Ukraine. One of the announcements at first was, that he would be stepping away from his ownership role with the club.
Later that week, he would announce that the club will be up for sale. A move that he made clear, that it would be on the best interest of the club.
As a fan of the club or of the game, really, you may be wondering why the sanctions and what does this mean for Chelsea’s future? Here are the details.
Why is Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich Being Sanctioned?
BREAKING
Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the Government and his asserts – including Chelsea Football Club – have been frozen
Chelsea have been given a special licence to continue with football related activities but the sale effectively bars the sale of the club
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) March 10, 2022
The breaking news of the day in the world of the beautiful game is Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich being sanctioned. However, many are wondering why the move and what it entails.
For awhile now, the UK government has described Abramovich largely as “Pro-Kremlin Oligarch”. While Abramovich himself has denied such allegations, culture secretary Nadine Dorries in a press conference mentioned that “Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them”. The secretary also announced that while Abramovich’ s assets would be frozen, the club would be granted a special license that would allow them to fulfill its fixtures and for the staff members to be paid. Existing ticket holders would also be allowed to attend matches.
What Does This Mean For Chelsea? Part 1
Following the announcement of owner Roman Abramovich being sanctioned, a lot of people are wondering what this means.
First and foremost, this brings a series of problems for Chelsea. For starters, the sale of the club will need to halted for now. While Abramovich does have the option to apply for another special license to be granted, if he does that, it could mean that if the sale goes through, he cannot receive any profits made out of the sale.
One thing to keep in mind is, the UK Government is not opposed to the sale happening. However, it is a touchy subject where treasury would need to be involved and as mentioned previously, this could end with Abramovich receiving nothing in return if the sale should move forward.
Aside of that, there are a few more things that could bring a serious impact. Here are some of those:
- Single game tickets no longer can be sold until further notice.
- Away fans cannot attend matches at Stamford Bridge under current licensing.
- Chelsea needs to suspend all merchandise sales effective immediately.
- The club is allowed to spend a max of 500,000 euros on staging games.
- A max of 20,000 euros staging away games. Very important to note, this could bring some major issues especially for Champions League games logistically speaking.
What These Sanctions Mean? Part 2 – The Players!
If you are a Chelsea fan, you must also be wondering what these sanctions in place could mean for the players.
Especially, as reports have it that there are about 4-5 players that could be on the move come summer time. Players like Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Romelu Lukaku and some others.
Well, it’s not looking very good per say. While under these sanctions, players do still get paid as well as coaching staff and general staff, there is trouble ahead for sure.
For starters, Chelsea is unable at this time to renew any contracts or look towards buying any new players. What this means is, any ongoing negotiations and any transfer targets the club was looking into, will need to be put on hold until further notice. Potentially risking their ability to replace some of the talent that will look to leave regardless, especially those whose contracts will expire this summer.
In the meantime, the club can continue to make payments to clubs that are owed money from previous transfers.
In Conclusion…
Tough times are ahead for Chelsea. I personally find it unfair to the players who have nothing to do nor are they involved in the situation.
While some may say, “It’s their choice to sign with Chelsea, they should know the consequences” I would personally argue that there is no way for anyone, nevertheless a player, to know that this situation was going to be happening.
Stay on the lookout for episode 75 of the Yellow Card Podcast. The Soccer podcast for the Couch Guy Sports network as they will be following up with this story as it unfolds.
(Featured Image credit to Forbes.com)
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