Chelsea news LIVE: Club withdraw Middlesbrough request after backlash and Roman Abramovich sanctioned by EU

Chelsea in back and forth over FA Cup game against Boro, owner Roman Abramovich sanctioned further by EU and prospective buyers circle ahead of deadline

Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich sanctioned by UK government amid Russian oligarch crackdown

Chelsea continue to deal with the fallout of owner Roman Abramovich being disqualified as a director of the club and sanctioned by the UK government for his links to Vladimir Putin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine as prospective buyers circle ahead of Friday’s deadline for a sale.

The London billionaire, and Blues fan, Nick Candy has emerged as one of the frontrunners to buy Chelsea and several rival suitors have approached the British property tycoon on joining the bid for the Stamford Bridge club.

The UK government initially brought sanctions against Abramovich last Thursday but despite the Russian’s assets being frozen, Chelsea were handed a new licence to continue “football-related activities” and are in negotiations with the government to amend some aspects of it.

The license does not allow Chelsea to sell tickets, however, and the the club released a statement on Tuesday requesting for their upcoming FA Cup quarter-final at Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors after they were unable to sell any more tickets for the match. Middlesbrough responded with a furious statement while the club’s chairman, Steve Gibson, called Chelsea “pathetic” over the proposals.

However, in a dramatic U-Turn, the FA then confirmed that Chelsea had removed their request to play the match in an empty stadium. It comes as Chelsea prepare to face Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday, with manager Thomas Tuchel criticising Boris Johnson’s “priorities” after the Prime Ministers called on Blues supporters to stop chanting Abramovich’s name at matches.

Chelsea FC latest - Roman Abramovich

• Chelsea remove request for FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors after backlash
• Middlesbrough had labelled Chelsea’s request ‘pathetic’ and ‘bizarre and without merit’
• EU confirm sanctions against Abramovich to add to existing UK sanctions
• Nick Candy bid for Chelsea attracting support from rival suitors for the club
• Tuchel calls out PM Johnson over criticism of Abramovich chants
• Sports Minister wants ‘more robust’ Premier League owners’ test
• Abramovich disqualified as director of the club
• Saudi Media Group make £2.7bn bid to buy the club
• Government ‘open’ to sale if Abramovich doesn’t benefit from proceeds

[14 March 2022 18:03 · Michael Jones]

Chelsea ‘pressing the government’ to allow fans to buy tickets

Chelsea insist they are “pressing the government” to allow fans to buy tickets to matches.

Sanctions to Roman Abramovich from the UK government over his links to Vladimir Putin have led to the London club operating under strict conditions on a “Russia Regulations” license.

As well as an inability to sell tickets to fans, there can be no transfers or new contracts.

And Chelsea have now urged the government to ease restrictions and permit supporters to purchase tickets for this weekend’s FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough.

A statement from the club read: “We are pressing the Government to allow our supporters to have access to tickets. Meetings are taking place daily in search of a resolution.

“In addition, the Premier League and FA are also discussing with the Government the sporting integrity issues raised if they do not permit fans to attend.

“We are aware of the high level of frustration our supporters are facing over this issue, and we are doing everything we can to resolve it as soon as possible.”

[14 March 2022 17:48 · Michael Jones]

EU to sanction Roman Abramovich and freeze billionaire’s assets

The European Union has decided to add Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich to the EU list of Russian billionaires sanctioned after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The informal greenlight to Abramovich’s listing came in a meeting on Sunday, according to one source, with EU envoys set to reconvene on Monday to adopt the measure and a further set of economic sanctions against Russia.

Sanctions will be effective only after publication on the EU’s official journal, which usually happens within hours or the day following formal approval.

The West has sanctioned Russian billionaires, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course on Ukraine.

Any potential sanctions on Abramovich would come during the fourth set of EU sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on the 24th Feburary.

The EU is ready to ban the export of luxury goods to Russia, including expensive cars.

According to sources at the EU, diplomats asked the Commission - which drafted the economic sanctions - for assurances that the new economic measures on Russian oligarchs cannot be successfully challenged in EU courts.

No concerns were raised about the new listings of oligarchs and businessmen - which are in a separate legal document drafted by the EU external action service - and one diplomat was confident that Abramovich’s sanctioning “will go through”.

Further Russian oligarchs will be added to the EU list after dozens have already been sanctioned.

The new sanctions will hit people active in the Russian steel industry and others who provide financial services, military products and technology to the Russian state.

Abramovich holds a Portuguese passport, which means that Portugal could in principle refrain from imposing on him the asset freeze and travel ban decided at EU level which is aleady in place on Chelsea’s owner in Britain.

[14 March 2022 17:35 · Michael Jones]

Saudi Media Group make £2.7bn bid for Chelsea

Saudi Media Group have reportedly made a £2.7bn ($3.5bn) offer to buy Chelsea. Mohamed Alkhereiji who runs Saudi Media and is CEO of it’s parent company Engineer Holding Group is an apparant Chelsea fan and is leading a private consortium with no direct government links.

There is is support in finding funding and partners from Mohammed bin Khalid Al Saud who is also chair of Saudi Telecom Company (STC). STC is State-owned and Newcastle owners PIF still have shares in it despite selling some in December.

(AFP via Getty Images)

[14 March 2022 17:28 · Luke Baker]

Has Roman Abramovich been spotted in Israel? Or Turkey?

A mystery has popped up around the exact whereabouts of Roman Abramovich after a jet used by the oligarch touched down in Israel on Sunday night before apparently leaving for Turkey.

A £50million Gulfstream jet linked to the Chelsea FC owner took off from Moscow on Sunday and landed in Tel Aviv five-and-a-half hours later, flight tracking data shows, although it is not known if Abramovich - who is an Israeli citizen - was on board when it arrived at Ben Gurion Airport.

Israel has been urged not to become a safe haven for sanctioned oligarchs and it is understood that Abramovich’s jet took off on Monday afternoon headed for Istanbul after Israel’s foreign minister appeared to warn the oligarch that the country could not be used to “bypass sanctions” imposed by the West.

A car with blacked out windows was seen leaving his £65million fortress near Tel Aviv at 2.20pm local time and security guards patrolled the street outside the mansion which Abramovich bought in 2020. His jet took off from Tel Aviv at around 3.30pm local time and is believed to be headed to Istanbul.

[14 March 2022 17:22 · Michael Jones]

Chelsea fans told to stop chanting Roman Abramovich’s name by government

Chelsea fans must stop the “completely inappropriate” chanting of Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s name, the Prime Minister’s spokesman has said.

Blues supporters again expressed their backing for Abramovich during Sunday’s home match against Newcastle, after he was sanctioned by the UK government last week over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich’s assets were frozen, with Chelsea placed under a special licence which allows them to operate but unable to generate new revenue.

The billionaire has brought unprecedented success to Chelsea since he bought the club in 2003, but Boris Johnson’s official spokesman insists supporters should not let that blind them to Abramovich’s association to the man leading the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[14 March 2022 17:10 · Michael Jones]

Premier League and FA flag ‘integrity issues’ over Chelsea ticket ban

The Premier League and the Football Association have raised integrity concerns with the government over the Chelsea ticket sale ban, the club have said.

The government has placed the club under a special licence after sanctioning owner Roman Abramovich over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The licence is designed to prevent Chelsea – and by extension Abramovich – generating any new revenue, including from ticket sales.

Chelsea released a statement on Monday afternoon saying they were pressing the government for the right to sell tickets, and that the club were holding daily meetings to get the licence amended.

The club also revealed the Premier League and the FA had raised concerns over the licence, which prevents Chelsea selling new tickets to home areas of the ground, to away supporters visiting Stamford Bridge or to Chelsea fans wishing to watch their team on the road.

[14 March 2022 16:58 · Michael Jones]

Chelsea, football’s grim reality and the ‘huge opportunity’ to change the sport’s ownership model

Chelsea fans enjoyed a fleeting moment of joy and exhilaration sparked by the genius of Kai Havertz after 88 minutes of frustration on Sunday. That sublime goal was a welcome distraction to many after a turbulent week, but the cold reality bites today amid the uncertain future of the club. A peculiar atmosphere greeted those in attendance for the match against Newcastle following the financial restrictions imposed on Roman Abramovich. It was a grim outlook for the Premier League as the two clubs that best represent the height of sportswashing fought it out for three points.

The uncomfortable background, from the government sanctions on the Blues to the execution of 81 people on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, was only intensified by the visiting supporters. The Toon Army revelled in their own new-found wealth from their Saudi benefactors, while lauding the miserable outlook of their opponents with Saudi flags seen fluttering in the Shed End throughout.

It is important to state that there is a sizeable contingent of the Chelsea fanbase who hold resentment towards the government, failing to observe the bigger picture with their selfish reactions. One fan held up a sign outside Stamford Bridge with the message: “Don’t use Chelsea for your bull**** politics”.

[14 March 2022 16:45 · Michael Jones]

Thomas Tuchel vows to meet ‘responsibility’ to Chelsea’s behind-scenes employees

Thomas Tuchel has vowed to meet his “responsibility” to Chelsea’s behind-the-scenes employees who continue to fret for their futures.

Kai Havertz’s last-ditch goal steered Chelsea to a 1-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday, their fifth-straight Premier League victory.

The Blues’ commanding form on the field belies the club’s state of flux after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government.

Chelsea’s sale can continue under Government supervision, but Abramovich cannot profit after Downing Street claimed to have proven the 55-year-old’s direct links to Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.

Tuchel has steadied the Stamford Bridge ship through the choppiest of waters and revealed his determination to provide a positive distraction for the club’s 1,000-plus employees and fans alike.

[14 March 2022 16:31 · Michael Jones]

Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea exit offers rare chance to reimagine club ownership

As the news of Roman Abramovich’s sanctions properly sank in, many within the Chelsea squad were considering their futures. Some had purely financial and career concerns, but a few wondered how it reflected on them to even be tangentially connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Such questions have made elite football a grim enough exercise, but the last two weeks do show how the sport still has the capacity for searing moral lessons. More trivially, it also has the capacity for narratively perfect twists.

Just as the Chelsea situation has provoked a profound examination of football club ownership and the game’s relationship with geopolitics, the club’s very next opponents are Saudi Arabia’s Newcastle United.

“You couldn’t make it up,” one Premier League source said. It does hark back to classic fiction, though. Sunday’s match is the ghosts of football’s past and present against the ghosts of football’s future.

Some of the more politically aware Newcastle fans should at least be conscious that they may soon face similar problems. It is one of many reasons so many people caution against sportswashing and states owning clubs. You are at the mercy of global events way beyond football’s control.

It is similarly an indictment of the Premier League that they have done business with Mohammed bin Salman, given he is chairman of the Public Investment Fund that owns Newcastle, but Joe Biden will not. The US president refuses to deal with the crown prince over what the CIA says was his responsibility in the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, as well as other “despotic acts”.

The effects may not be immediate, but this all has huge potential to ripple out. We are in a changed world. Football is not going untouched.

Miguel Delaney examines how current events could reshape ownership in English football:

[14 March 2022 16:22 · Michael Jones]

Roman Abramovich disqualified as director of Chelsea

Roman Abramovich has been disqualified as a director of Chelsea, the Premier League have confirmed.

The UK government brought sanctions against the owner on Thursday over his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Despite Abramovich’s assets being frozen, Chelsea were handed a new licence to continue “football-related activities” and are in negotiations with the government to amend some aspects of it.

A statement from the league on Saturday read: “Following the imposition of sanctions by the UK government, the Premier League Board has disqualified Roman Abramovich as a director of Chelsea Football Club.

“The board’s decision does not impact on the club’s ability to train and play its fixtures, as set out under the terms of a licence issued by the government which expires on 31 May 2022.”