The
European Union has imposed sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in
new measures targeting Russia.
The EU included the Russian oligarch in its updated list of individuals
facing assets freeze and travel bans due to his close links to Vladimir
Putin.
Sky Sports News understands that the latest sanctions will not affect
Chelsea's Champions League game against Lille on Wednesday. UEFA are seeking
clarification from the EU about how the latest sanctions may impact Chelsea.
The news comes as Chelsea have also withdrawn their request to play
Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final against Middlesbrough behind closed doors
after wide-spread criticism.
Chelsea originally released a statement arguing their game should be behind
closed doors because they only sold 650 tickets out of their initial away
allocation of 4,620 for the game at the Riverside, meaning they were at a
sporting disadvantage and that a behind-closed-doors game would be "the
fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances".
Middlesbrough called the request "bizarre" and "without any merit
whatsoever" and the UK government said they saw "no reason" why the match
should be played without fans.
But hours later Chelsea withdrew the request. An FA statement said: "After
constructive talks between the FA and Chelsea, the club has agreed to remove
their request for the Emirates FA Cup Quarter-Final tie against
Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors.
"The FA remains in ongoing discussions with Chelsea, the Premier League and
the Government to find a solution that would enable both Chelsea fans to
attend games and away fans to attend Stamford Bridge, whilst ensuring
sanctions are respected."
Earlier on Tuesday, Sports Minister Nigel Huddlestone gave evidence to the
Department of Media, Culture and Sport select committee and said the
government may amend its licence to allow Chelsea to sell tickets, so long
as Abramovich does not profit from the move.
He said: "The measures we have taken and the licence we have given to
Chelsea is to precisely stop [Chelsea going out of business]. It is to allow
Chelsea still to play, for staff to still be paid, to honour ticket sales
already, and we are discussions with Chelsea and the fans to see if we can
allow further ticket sales, because we want the sanctions to hit those we
intend to hit and not others.
"But we want to ensure the sanctions hit those we intend to hit and there is
minimal impact elsewhere. But there will be inconvenience as a result. We
would welcome the sale (of the club) and we would change the licence to
enable that sale, and that would be important for Chelsea."
Why Chelsea tried to have Boro game behind
closed doors
Kaveh Solhekol, chief reporter, Sky Sports News:
"A PR own goal? That is a very good way of putting it. It was such a bad
move on Chelsea's part that even their own fans, the Chelsea Supporters'
Trust, released a statement asking Chelsea to withdraw this request.
"Everybody in football can see it is ridiculous for Chelsea, the world
champions, the European champions, to be saying playing a Championship side
on Saturday, when they have 30,000 fans and Chelsea only have 600 is unfair.
It's totally ridiculous for Chelsea to be doing that. And they have been
condemned for that all day.
"There are two things I'd say from Chelsea's point of view. Chelsea need to
defend their supporters, their supporters haven't been sanctioned by the UK
government, they want to be able to follow their team and support them on
Saturday.
"The second point is the bigger picture: from the beginning Chelsea knew
there was no chance this game would be played behind closed doors but
Chelsea feel they've been backed into a corner and they want to put as much
pressure as possible on the government to get them to relax some of these
restrictions so for the rest of the season they can sell or give away
tickets to their supporters.
Who is in the running to buy Chelsea?
- London-based luxury property developer and Chelsea supporter Nick Candy is
putting together a consortium to buy the club. Candy wants to have a fan
representative on the board and he is willing to put money into the club as
soon as possible to meet short-term financing needs.
- Todd Boehly, Hangjorg Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein form a leading
consortium which has made offer in the region of £2 billion. LA Dodgers
part-owner Boehly tried to buy Chelsea in a £2.2 billion deal three years
ago with Jonathan Goldstein. They have now teamed up with US-based Swiss
billionaire Wyss. Goldstein is a property investor and Tottenham fan.
- Former British Airways and Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton is in talks
about forming a consortium to buy the club. Lifelong Chelsea supporter who
played a key role when Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010.
- New York Jets owner Woody Johnson is not commenting on reports he is
considering making a bid. He is a billionaire philantrophist and heir of the
Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company. Johnson was appointed US
ambassador to the UK by Donald Trump in June 2017.
- Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris already co-owns a minority stake in
Crystal Palace which he would need to sell if he buys Chelsea.
- RedBird Capital Partners US private equity firm who last April paid £533m
for an 11 per cent stake in Liverpool owners Fenway Sport Group. Premier
League rules would prevent them owning another club.
- Vivek Ranadive is a computer software billionaire and owner of NBA side
Sacramento Kings is interested in bidding for Chelsea.
- Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak said he was confident of agreeing a deal
to buy Chelsea by the end of last week.
- MMA fighter and Manchester United supporter Conor McGregor has claimed on
social media that he is offering £1.5 billion for Chelsea. His management
company Paradigm Sports are working with McGregor Sports & Entertainment and
Empowerment IP Capital on a bid.
- One of the UK’s richest men Jim Ratcliffe has looked at Chelsea but
believes Premier League clubs are overpriced. His Ineos Football Group now
own Nice and FC Lausanne. Ruled out bidding earlier this month but as a
Chelsea supporter there is an outside chance he may be tempted to
reconsider.
"A lot of people will say, Abramovich is sanctioned. He's not allowed to do
any business in the UK. He can't even pay his telephone bill on the mansion
he owns in Kensington. Why is his club being allowed to continue? You could
make the case that the government have bent over backwards to be
accommodating to Chelsea and their supporters. They could have just shut
Chelsea down for the rest of the season. But the government have decided
they will try to make sure Chelsea stay in business and continue playing.
"A lot of people will say, maybe Chelsea should just be quiet and be
grateful they are allowed to carry on playing and accept the terms the
government have set. But Chelsea are worried about the existence of the
club. They feel there's a real chance they won't be able to continue this
season if some of these restrictions are not loosened and relaxed."
MP: Chelsea should be seized and profits
used to rebuild Ukraine
Chelsea should be seized by the Government and proceeds used to help
reconstruct Ukraine, MPs have heard.
Abramovich has been sanctioned by the Government and must not profit in the
UK under the terms of the restrictions.
Labour former minister Chris Bryant told the House of Commons: "We should
not just be freezing, we should be seizing assets. I don't think the
Government has the power to do that, in normal times you wouldn't want the
Government to be able to seize assets, but we need to have that power now.
"Because if you just look at Chelsea Football Club, it's in a kind of limbo
at the moment. It ought to be able to flourish, I have no ill-feeling
against Chelsea Football Club. I'm Welsh, I don't really care about football
very much.
"What I do care about is the asset should be seized by the Government so
that it can be spent on reconstruction in Ukraine. If the Government doesn't
take that power, it's not going to be able to do that."
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