Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich sanctioned by UK

[Euler]

Martyn Ziegler

@martynziegler

Massive news: Roman Abramovich sanctioned. All UK assets frozen. Chelsea can still operate under a special licence but sale now on hold. Club will not be allowed to sell any more tickets - only season ticket holders can go to games for the foreseeable future.

[Trader Pat]

The only thing surprising about this news is it took so long.

Not sure what the government were waiting for?

[Archery1969]

The only thing surprising about this news is it took so long.

Not sure what the government were waiting for?

They have been worried all along that they would get multi million pound legal action taken against them by those sanctioned. The law has now been changed, so that can't happen. Like everything else it takes awhile for laws to get changed/passed in Parliament etc.

[Trader Pat]

The only thing surprising about this news is it took so long.

Not sure what the government were waiting for?

They have been worried all along that they would get multi million pound legal action taken against them by those sanctioned. The law has now been changed, so that can't happen. Like everything else it takes awhile for laws to get changed/passed in Parliament etc.

They were very quick to sanction Usmanov. I know his links to Putin are more obvious than Abramovich but it doesn't take much digging to find the links between them.

[Archery1969]

The only thing surprising about this news is it took so long.

Not sure what the government were waiting for?

They have been worried all along that they would get multi million pound legal action taken against them by those sanctioned. The law has now been changed, so that can't happen. Like everything else it takes awhile for laws to get changed/passed in Parliament etc.

They were very quick to sanction Usmanov. I know his links to Putin are more obvious than Abramovich but it doesn't take much digging to find the links between them.

It was a bit of a grey area before, they needed more evidence from a legal point of view but now it seems they need very little under the new laws being passed. The EU and US laws required allot less to meet the bar for being sanctioned hence they were able to implement allot quicker.

[Trader Pat]

They have been worried all along that they would get multi million pound legal action taken against them by those sanctioned. The law has now been changed, so that can't happen. Like everything else it takes awhile for laws to get changed/passed in Parliament etc.

They were very quick to sanction Usmanov. I know his links to Putin are more obvious than Abramovich but it doesn't take much digging to find the links between them.

It was a bit of a grey area before, they needed more evidence from a legal point of view but now it seems they need very little under the new laws being passed. The EU and US laws required allot less to meet the bar for being sanctioned hence they were able to implement allot quicker.

I wonder what song Chelsea fans will be singing tonight?!

[Archery1969]

They were very quick to sanction Usmanov. I know his links to Putin are more obvious than Abramovich but it doesn't take much digging to find the links between them.

It was a bit of a grey area before, they needed more evidence from a legal point of view but now it seems they need very little under the new laws being passed. The EU and US laws required allot less to meet the bar for being sanctioned hence they were able to implement allot quicker.

I wonder what song Chelsea fans will be singing tonight?!

I wonder as they cant buy or sell players now but players will be able to leave for FREE if their contract is up in the summer.

[Archery1969]

According to the sanctions, Chelsea:

"They can pay "reasonable" costs of travel to and from fixtures but not exceeding £20,000 per game per team."

Its must cost them allot more than that when they travel to Europe to play games ?

[Dallas]

Like others above I'm surprised this has taken so long, I can only assume the high profile of Abramovich meant they wanted to be extra sure they'd done everything right and nothing could come back and bite them at a later date

[wearthefoxhat]

It was a bit of a grey area before, they needed more evidence from a legal point of view but now it seems they need very little under the new laws being passed. The EU and US laws required allot less to meet the bar for being sanctioned hence they were able to implement allot quicker.

I wonder what song Chelsea fans will be singing tonight?!

I wonder as they cant buy or sell players now but players will be able to leave for FREE if their contract is up in the summer.

Unless the players agree an extension to their contract out of goodwill.

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[greenmark]

Maybe being sanctioned helps Abramovich. He can tell Putin "I can't help you". He can't sell Chelsea. It's stasis for him and he can afford it.

[Archery1969]

There are now calls for Chelsea to be relegated.

[wearthefoxhat]

There are now calls for Chelsea to be relegated.

Realistically, they could be put into administration with a 9pts deduction...and still qualify for champions league football next year...

[Derek27]

Can't see the point of barring selling tickets or a cap on travelling. The owner's been sanctioned and the club is with a trustee, at least let them run the club to the full benefit of the club, players and fans.

[Archery1969]

Can't see the point of barring selling tickets or a cap on travelling. The owner's been sanctioned and the club is with a trustee, at least let them run the club to the full benefit of the club, players and fans.

Apparently they have bad finances which was supported and underwritten by Roman. Some of which was hidden from the Premier League. They can’t actually pay the overall wage bill unless they got extra help.