Reason No. 398,285 why it's not good to have your club owned by a Petro-Oligarch

[Crimson Dynasty]

On the eve of our playing them in the Carabao cup, I found this interesting article about Chelsea's predicament under the current circumstances and goings-on in the Russian-Ukranian situation:...

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/soccer/chelsea-could-go-out-of-business-if-roman-abramovich-faces-sanctions/ar-AAUkKpA?ocid=msedgntp

"Prime Minister Boris Johnson is coming under increasing pressure from ministers and leading parliamentary officials to seize or freeze Abramovich's UK assets in response to Russia's deadly invasion of Ukraine.

In 2019, Abramovich was named as a person of interest because of his “public association with corrupt activity and practices” in Russia, and it was confirmed earlier this week that prohibitive measures would be put in place to target Vladimir Putin's 'inner circle'.

However, Abramovich, who has close ties with Putin in the past, is yet to be sanctioned despite confirmation earlier this week that Russian banks and businesses would have their assets frozen.

Kieran Maguire, a football finance lecturer at Liverpool University, has now warned that Abramovich, who is owed a £1.5 billion loan by the club, could use the complicated nature of his Chelsea ownership to ward off any threat of government sanctions, which may put in jeopardy the future of the Blues long-term.

“If he feels he is being made a scapegoat for the activities of Putin then the worst-case scenario is he tries to call in the loan,” Maguire said via The Times. “Then we’ve got a crisis. He and Putin could argue that it is the British government that has destroyed Chelsea Football Club.”

I highly doubt it would actually happen (obviously BoJo lacks the balls to actually pull this off), but if it were, they could find themselves on the selling block for upwards of £2-3 billion sale price (which would include the £1.5 billion owed to him by the club as well as the assets, the club, the stadium itself and all other related assets estimated in the region of £1-1.5 billion.)

All further complicated by the fact that Abramovich isn't allowed on British soil (or in Russia for that matter since his falling out with Putin), and is an Israeli dual-citizen and current resident in Tel Aviv.
And he likely still has assets in Russia and held by Russian banks that are currently being hit hard by international sanctions as well as the plummeting value of the Russian Ruble.
Though he probably never had access to those since he got frozen out by Putin there.


Interesting times ahead....

[ianlfc]

Roman hands over the club to charitable trustees ? So what does that mean for them going forward ?

[Insidious]

Roman hands over the club to charitable trustees ? So what does that mean for them going forward ?

Thankfully Micah Richards will have insightful comments on the situation to help guide us towards enlightenment.

[redebreck]

Roman "loaned" the club 1.5 billion (as reported in the OP). Do we expect the loan to be repaid, or written off?
How will Chelski's FFP position be viewed, I wonder.

[teesred]

Thankfully Micah Richards will have insightful comments on the situation to help guide us towards enlightenment.

Haha, The Nadine Dorries of punditry.

[Crimson Dynasty]

Roman "loaned" the club 1.5 billion (as reported in the OP). Do we expect the loan to be repaid, or written off?
How will Chelski's FFP position be viewed, I wonder.

It means he still owns the club.

Even if the "gives up control" as they are now claiming.

The only way that Chelsea FC as an entity get out of under Roman's thumb would be if they stump up that dough to pay him back (plus interest) before offering themselves up for sale for a potential buyer.

Otherwise any potential new buyer would have to do the same and pay off that loan first.

It's a clever way that billionaires sometimes use (typically to get around taxes and tax laws) to continue to own and keep their hold on something, by basically loaning out the entity (or the club in this case) an amount of money in the aid of "saving them" when buying them out, that they can never possibly pay back through their regular revenue streams (in a reasonable amount of time anyway), and then simply never call in the loan or try to get it paid off through the club's regular operating profits.
That way, they are always the de facto owner even if other new minority owners or partners are brought in later on, and any new buyers into the club who want to own it outright first have to pay off that loan before they can assume control, no matter how many of the controlling shares they may actually own.

And Roman knows calling in the loan now would basically bankrupt the club and put it almost immediately into administration.

In other words, the absolute worst kind of (potential) ex-boyfriend/ex-husband/ex-spouse to have.

(See also : Putin and Ukriane)

[Taksin]

I’m sure he could relinquish the loan / debt as a condition of sale

[shminkyred]

Thankfully Micah Richards will have insightful comments on the situation to help guide us towards enlightenment.

Lol...it was funny though!!!

[LFC vs PFC]

Wish this hadn't come out today though. Don't want them getting some siege mentality and all pulling together for the final.

[Insidious]

Wish this hadn't come out today though. Don't want them getting some siege mentality and all pulling together for the final.

They're 5 points ahead of an Arsenal side that have a game in hand.

Chelsea are capable of winning this - they're a very good side, it's a one-off match and the best team doesn't always win, as we can attest to when looking at our 04/05 Champion's League campaign - Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan were all "better" than us yet we found a way.

More often than not though, these days, if we play to our best, we should come out on top.

We're the better side, have better individuals in more areas of the pitch, have better understanding of our patterns of play and so on, as the core group has been together for longer.

If we lose today, it's on us. Bring our best and don't get robbed by iffy officiating, we win.