Chelsea’s ownership is finally facing deserved scrutiny but there is a double standard when it comes to Newcastle’s ownersThe internet always knows what you want. This week a particular video clip has been popping up in those wormholes filled with adverts at the side of my screen, pressing its nose up against the glass for hours on end like an unhappy cat mewling at the window.Alan Shearer slams Roman Abramovich over Ukraine statement. There it is again. And here is the text of Alan’s actual slamming: “There’s still no condemnation from Roman or the club about what’s happening in Ukraine.” It is a robust and sincere statement, deserving of serious treatment. So let’s break this down. Continue reading...
The departing owner transformed them into an indisputable superclub but the game he changed may be about to shift againZilina is a pretty town of squares and churches with a population of a little more than 80,000 that sits at the confluence of three rivers in the mountains of north-west Slovakia. It was, frankly, an incongruous place for a revolution in English football to begin, but it was there in 2003 that Chelsea played their first game under Roman Abramovich, a routine 2-0 win over MSK in a Champions League qualifier. Their last may come at Norwich in a couple of weeks, or perhaps at home to Brentford a fortnight after that, depending how soon a buyer emerges and how...
Abramovich’s departure after 19 years brings uncertainty for Chelsea and prompts wider concerns for English footballStop all the clocks. Stow the faux-fur hats. Delete the Russian folk music from the pre-match playlist. Roman Abramovich is now officially looking for a buyer. Indeed, if we are to believe the reports, Chelsea Football Club could even be sold within the week.It is an impossibly narrow timeframe for such a complex transaction, made credible only by the fact that, frankly, right now anything seems possible. Continue reading...
Roman Abramovich’s move to step aside at Chelsea highlights the issue of omnipotent foreign owners in the English gameAs the old romantic saying almost goes: if you love something, let stewardship and care of it go – naturally, while retaining possession of all the relevant deeds and liquid assets. The news that Roman Abramovich is apparently giving up day-to-day control of Chelsea to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation has been interpreted in wildly different ways which, with the benefit of a little reflection, seems to have been the entire point of the exercise.For some it is the ultimate sacrificial act of devotion: Abramovich’s way of insulating the club he adores from the threat of sanction, censure, even seizure....
Chelsea’s Carabao Cup defeat by Liverpool marked the start of an unclear future in their post-Abramovich eraAs Kepa Arrizabalaga’s losing penalty kick soared high into the dark Wembley skies, still rising, some said, as it cleared Wembley Park tube station, the mass of Liverpool fans behind the goal produced a vast barrelling cheer, bodies tumbling, flares turning the night red.For the Chelsea end, relieved from glorious distraction of an apparently never-ending penalty shootout, the immediate future seems less clear. Continue reading...