Fans have took to fume with ticket sales restricted as Roman Abramovich gets sanctioned by the United Kingdom government.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has had his assets frozen, a prohibition on transactions with UK individuals and businesses, a travel ban and transport sanctions imposed.
From Reuters: Britain said on Thursday it had imposed asset freezes on Russian businessmen Roman Abramovich, Igor Sechin, Oleg Deripaska and Dmitri Lebedev after they were added to the country’s sanctions list.
The situation with Chelsea is under review, meaning the club can still operate, but the sale is on hold and only season tickets can attend matches meaning no away fans at Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League was informed 15 minutes before it was announced, with the Government putting in place a license to ensure the club can fulfil its fixtures, staff and players can be paid, and as a significant cultural asset that it can continue.
This is about Roman Abramovich not being able to make any money or benefit from Chelsea FC.
Season ticket holders are able to still attend games they have tickets for but club can not now sell any more tickets that haven’t been sold already
The merchandise shop will be closed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.
“Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
“The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
“Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine.”
THE NEWS IN BRIEF VIA STEVEN SWINFORD
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
Licence for continued operation of Chelsea is VERY narrow
Only EXISTING season ticket holders can attend fixtures
Club can pay players and staff, pay for travel to and from games = pay director fees & cover costs of security, catering and stewarding – but that’s it
Official sanction listing for Roman Abramovich:
– Close personal relationship with Putin for decades involving preferential treatment
– Financial benefits, including tax breaks for his companies, buying & selling shares at favourable rates and contracts in run up to World Cup
The Government would need to give special dispensation for the sale of Chelsea, and no money could go to Abramovich either directly or indirectly
‘He [Abramovich] will not get a penny from the sale of the club’ Likely to be a protracted process
Sanctioning Chelsea Football Club effectively places it in limbo
A special licence from the Treasury means that ‘football-related activities’ such as tonights game against Norwich can go ahead
Abramovich is one of seven high-profile oligarchs who have been sanctioned by the government
The others include Oleg Deripaska, the owner of the EN+ Group, and Igor Sechin, the chairman of Rosneft
But Abramovich cannot sell the club
As mentioned, some fans fume with ticket sales restricted as Roman Abramovich gets sanctioned, others took the piss…
@geoffwhitingba1: This looks serious, we can’t buy tickets for home games any more, looks like this will cover the rest of the season, away games and neutral grounds will be OK I think but we’ll soon know, I support the people of Ukraine but am just a bewildered and sad blues fan not a politician
@cgsneal: Can they also relegate them for good measure?
@Laceybod: He’s been given ample wriggle room by our gov’t in order to move his assets.
@WellesleyDOW: He was asking £3 billion for it. Now he’s getting nothing. His houses ect seized. I am sure the sanctions will hit him in the pocket.
@jamiewiIkinson: True colours shown by those now dancing on the grave of Chelsea Football Club as the bent, corrupt, reprehensible government hang a question mark over the jobs of thousands. It’s not just Roman Abramovich losing here. The collateral damage is unfair and unjustified.
@siphillipssport: Chelsea fans, staff, players, managers, who have had a close affinity to our beloved club for generations made to suffer for something that is absolutely NOTHING to do with us. Fans can’t buy tickets. Ludicrous.
@CFCDUBois: Chelsea waking up to be completely frozen on their birthday 😭😭😭261811,456
@willreyner: These sanctions have affected Chelsea fans, employees, players, management etc who have done nothing wrong. They haven’t affected Roman at all.
@PatrickTimmons1: Chelsea in the mud. What a beautiful Thursday morning.
@JarrieSam: We’ll see how big a club Chelsea are when the money tap is turned off
@linkylionel: All comes as a big surprise to a lot of that Chelsea fan base that all the years of trophies funded by blood money has now taken an illegal war to bring it to light, amazing how they have sung his name as some hero where he clearly is complicity linked to Putin, shame on them
@gaust59: As a Chelsea fan for over 50 years If this can contribute in any shape or form to ending the war in Ukraine then so be it. Unfortunately the fans staff and all players will suffer so there must also be common sense when it comes to crippling the club.
@OBaStann: Chelsea survived a transfer ban for 2 transfer windows, made top 4 with bunch of kids, won their UCL trophies with managers they hired in January & march. If there’s any club in world football that can survive this sanction then it’s Chelsea,that club function better with chaos!!!
@ibemarkwilliams: Still, nice of those Chelsea fans to chant his name during the silence for Ukraine at the Burnley match. They’re definitely on the right side of history…
Chelsea fans changing team for the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/m83eXs8cru
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) March 10, 2022
Chelsea next season. pic.twitter.com/AigRlrbiXd
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) March 10, 2022
Or more likely… pic.twitter.com/Y7xOM49qyv
— Duncan Evans (@Duncan24041974) March 10, 2022
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