Abramovich branded a ‘coward’, as Chelsea trustees raise concerns and hold off on stewardship takeover
Chelsea trustees are yet to take over stewardship of the club from owner Roman Abramovich after raising concerns in a meeting, a report has claimed.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine remains, at its forefront, a humanitarian crisis. However, it has already had far-reaching consequences in the world of sport. Indeed, UEFA stripped St Petersburg of the Champions League final last week.
Paris’ Stade de France will now host the showpiece in May. But the spotlight has more recently focused on Chelsea. Their owner, Abramovich, is a Russian billionaire. He has links to the Russian state and alleged association with corrupt activity and practices.
In fact, Labour MP Chris Bryant claimed last week that the 55-year-old should have his assets seized. Mr Bryant also questioned whether Abramovich should be able to operate in the UK, let alone run a football club.
Following the criticism of Abramovich, the chief released a statement on Saturday evening. He revealed that he was handing over “the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC” to trustees of the club’s charitable foundation.
According to Sky Sports, though, the six trustees of the Chelsea FC foundation have raised concerns.
The trustees want more information on whether their running of the club would comply with UK charity law. As a result, they aired their points in a meeting on Sunday.
The situation at Chelsea remains unclear, with the six trustees all having other major commitments away from the foundation.
Bruce Buck heads up the six trustees as chairman of Chelsea. Emma Hayes, meanwhile, is the manager of the women’s team. Elsewhere, John Devine is a partner at sports legal firm Muckle LLP.
Chelsea continue to face the spotlight over their ownership and Abramovich has faced further criticism.
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Shortly after the statement, Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards slammed the – in his opinion – ambiguous statement.
And Gary Neville has also voiced his concerns with the statement.
Gary Neville slams ‘cowardly’ Abramovich
Neville said: “Maybe myself and most others who saw that statement thought, ‘oh, this is a noble gesture, it’s the right thing to do’.
“When you look at who the trustees are, Emma Hayes the Chelsea women’s manager, Piara Powar who set-up Kick It Out, John Devine, it’s quite clear they’re not going to be running Chelsea Football Club.
“One of the smartest things I think that Roman Abramovich has done over the last 20 years is not speak, not make statements because the statement that he made last night left more questions than answers.
“In fact, if anything, it was cowardly approach to throw a hospital pass to good people on the foundation board when it’s quite clear he runs the football club with Marina [Granovskaia] and Petr Cech.”
Neville added that owners from the top-six clubs have become “insulated from reality”. He insisted that trying to “put a smart PR team” around them “unfortunately” does not work.
“There’s no way that the charitable foundation of Chelsea are running the club, and I’m not quite sure why Roman Abramovich made that statement,” Neville said.
“If he wanted to make a statement of any note it would’ve been whether he supports the war in Ukraine or he doesn’t support the war in Ukraine.”
On the pitch, meanwhile, Chelsea have to pick themselves up following defeat in the Carabao Cup final.
The Blues lost on penalties to Liverpool at Wembley after a 0-0 draw.
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