Chelsea face going BUST if any sanctions are handed to owner Roman Abramovich who could demand the club to repay £1.5billion owed to him.
Ministers have been urged to take away or freeze Abramovich’s assets in the UK after the government had privately named him as a person of interest in 2019 due to his links to the Russian state and his “public association with corrupt activity and practices”.
The Times report that if that did happen it could prompt him to ask the Premier League to pay him back £1.5billion it owes him.
Kieran Maguire, a Football Finance Lecturer and Price of Football Podcast Presenter, said: ‘If he feels he is being made a scapegoat for the activities of Putin then the worst-case scenario is he tries to call in the loan.
‘Then we’ve got a crisis. He and Putin could argue that it is the British government that has destroyed Chelsea Football Club.
‘There could be a lot of misrepresentation and accusations made from all parties if the British government does go down this route.
‘But I suspect this government will not want to upset football fans as we have a populist government. I suspect Chelsea’s legal team would be going through all the options.’
Abramovich’s name appeared in papers leaking to an MP earlier in the week that linked him to Vladimir Putin’s regime and ‘public association with corrupt activity and practices’.
The Home Office document which was released urged for calls for him to be stripped of his right to own a football club in Britain.
Downing Street decided not to name him among those to be punished in the wake of Putin’s strike against Kyiv, but instead naming five senior Russia-based cronies of the regime.
He’s been affected nonetheless, due to the turmoil created in global markets with shares in mining firms Evraz and Polymetal International falling by between a quarter and a third the Daily Mail add.
Abramovich is Evraz’s largest shareholder and its shares went down to close 30% on the day – wiping nearly £300m off his holding.
He has had to turn his focus into his business in recent days and has always denied any wrongdoing or grounds for him to be sanctioned.
Labour MP Chris Bryant used parliamentary privilege to issue a leaked Home Office document to the Commons.
He said that the document was from 2019, and questioned why no action had yet been taken against Abramovich based on its warnings.
At business questions the Rhondda MP and former minister said: ‘I have got hold of a leaked document from 2019 from the Home Office which says in relation to Mr Abramovich – ”As part of HMG’s Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices.
”An example of this is Abramovich admitting in court proceedings that he paid for political influence.
”Therefore HMG is focused on ensuring that individuals linked to to illicit finance and malign activity are unable to base themselves in the UK and will use the relevant tools at its disposal, including immigration powers to prevent this”.
‘That is nearly three years ago and yet remarkably little has been done in relation. Surely Mr Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country? Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets including his £152million home? And making sure that other people who have had Tier 1 Visas like this are not engaged in malign activity?’
In 2011, the High Court learned that the Chelsea owner had used oligarch Boris Berezovsky as his ‘political godfather’ to help him make business deals in a country where police were ‘corrupt’ and courts ‘open to manipulation,
The court heard he believed it was his ‘moral obligation’ to give Mr Berezovsky £1.3billion to make what his life is today.
Abramovich gave his old pal the cash because he felt it was part of the ‘code of honour’ that had replaced the rule of law in Russia after the collapse of communism, it was alleged.
The billionaire hasn’t been seen at his club’s stadium for the last few months.
He withdrew his application for a British Tier 1 investor visa in 2018, after delays in his application led to criticism of Russian oligarchs in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings.
Downing Street wouldn’t be drawn on the claims about Roman Abramovich made in the Commons.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I couldn’t comment on individuals in that way or on leaked documents of that type.’
Thomas Tuchel has said he understands criticism directed towards Chelsea in response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 26, 2022
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has given his thoughts after Labour MP Chris Bryant demanded that Roman Abramovich sell the club. The Russian oligarch has come under the spotlight after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The German coach said: “We are aware of it and it’s distracting us, it’s worrying us.
“To a certain degree I can understand it to such a degree the opinions and the critical opinions towards the club, towards us who represent that club. I can understand that and we cannot fully free ourselves from it.
“We should not pretend that this is not an issue. The situation in general, for me and for my staff and for everybody here at the training ground, for the players, is horrible.
“Nobody expected this. It’s pretty unreal, it’s clouding our minds, it’s clouding excitement towards the final and it brings huge uncertainty.
“Much more to all people and families who are actually in the moment more involved than us. And our best wishes and our regards and thoughts are obviously with them, which is absolutely most important.
“Maybe people understand that me as a coach or the players, we don’t have the insight what is really going on.
“At the moment we don’t feel responsible for all this. We feel that it is horrible and there can be no doubt about it. War in Europe was unthinkable for me for a long period.
“The impact is clear and the discussions have an impact. Let’s be a bit more patient and understand what the measurements will be and then we have to maybe deal with it.”
Tuchel adds: “I think the situation is too big and it is not an isolated situation somewhere. It concerns Europe, it’s in Europe and we are part of Europe. We cannot say let’s put this to the side. It’s the opposite.
“We have to live with it right now. There is no running away from it. There is no shutting the doors and now we focus on football. We are still privileged to live in peace and freedom right here where we are right now.
“And we are still privileged to have a game of football, to have an emotional but peaceful environment with fans in the stadium. We are very, very, very privileged, so this is a hardcore reality check right now. How privileged we are.
“And I don’t think this will go away, that my mind is clouded. It will not go away for anybody. The issue is too big.”
Twitter users reacted as reports claimed that Chelsea face going BUST if any sanctions are handed to Roman Abramovich…
@HindChristopher: OK, what’s the downside?
@stevekaney: Isn’t it the case that it was always gonna reach that point for Chelski at some point? There are any number of reasons RA’s cash could be stopped. Can Chelski survive if/when that happened?
@DPSD37: Couldn’t happen to a nicer set of fans.
@travelred: Perfect opportunity for the government to seize Abramovich’s assets and sell them to the Chelsea Supporters Trust for a nominal fee. Supporter owned, not oligarch or nation owned, is the way forward.
@Turnditch_Man: Chelsea FC going out of business? Tough luck.
@Alistair61: So what. And I say that without specific animus towards Chelsea. If the consequences of doing the right thing are that a football club has to change ownership and won’t have oodles of ‘stolen’ cash to spend, then so be it.
@jamie_ritter: Good – it is financed by stolen money from millions of poor people.
@AndrewHarbison1: Thereby proving that any success over the last 10 years is simply a by-product of money stolen from ordinary Russians by its oligarch owner. Therefore, if it goes bust, it’s about time.
@MachinDanny: Don’t threaten us with a good time
@ShowerAbsolute: Pretty much the definition of threatening people with a good time
@LeedsInShetland: Slaps on “Something Good” by @UtahSaints 😅
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