Chelsea fans do make me laugh saying its not fair to punish the club…but fail to see that without Romans dirty money Chelsea would be on the same level as Villa.
Everybody who works and plays for Chelsea cannot moan as they knew where the money came from when they signed. One way or another it would all end one day…and that day was yesterday.
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My favourite take so far is their fans complaining that this means people working at the club will be out of a job. Hard working and probably low paid club shop staff, match day staff, caterers, etc. And that is true and is an unfortunate part of the fallout from this should Chelsea lay them off.
But their fans aren’t shy giving it a rendition of ‘Sign On’ when we play them. All fun and games singing about unemployment to opposition fans but when your owner is sanctioned for his associations and behaviours we should all think of the “little people” who’ll be out of a job now.
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I certainly agree with you but I fear fans, people will just follow the current world order of reading Twitter, finding a view they agree on and dig in.
Meanwhile, PL, Uefa and FIFA do nothing.
I don’t think the sanctions hurt Roman to be honest but I was hoping of some kind of awakening among the fan base that could spread to City, PSG, Newcastle etc. I remain unconvinced sadly.
I know Chelsea are getting their well deserved comeuppance, but I would rather turn the clock back a month, before all this madness started and there was no war.
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Of course but this is where we are, the past is a prison we live with it’s decisions.*
*I’ve paraphrased eithier a philosopher or a song writer.
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I did not know that. I’m pretty uncomfortable with that to be honest. Not happy.
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Actually I’ve been misled by Nate Silver.
Sorry John, maybe it’s something more Boston Red Sox related.
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Of course, but you say this like it’s a bad thing. War is awful. We should have a high bar for directly involving ourselves. And like it or not, morality has pretty much zero effect on that decision, even if it might be sold as a post-facto reason once the decision has been made.
I was not arguing about different lives having different value, merely that conflicts affect countries differently depending on where they are, who they are between, and possibly most importantly why it is happening. The latter has potential implications on changing geopolitical dynamics, and that is the primary reason countries go to war. In that respect, the reasons for the conflict and the consequences of standing by and watching it happen are about as different as two conflicts could be.
It’s Michael Egan
Henry didn’t involve himself it seems but his paper did declare its support for Biden.
I thought it was odd at the time as I know he was a strong backer of Clinton.
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That’s a bit of a relief to be honest.
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Yeah I found it odd at the time but I just couldn’t find anything else, I know in normal elections they often donate both sides some of the Billionaires but yeah I’d found it odd with Boston as it is.
I assume Egan was classed as FSG and it was an article on sports owners in America hence. I think the point about ownership should always carry a healthy skepticism however it could be worse.
I certainly would never go to Anfield and chant Henry’s name, though truth be told he wouldn’t be interested in that.
Saying that it comes with a lot less embarrassment than some other supporters. I sadly I don’t have communications with any true Chelsea fans and ones who I respect anymore.
As for Newcastle and Man City fans and especially their managers I will revisit a Clem Attlee quote “a period of silence on your part would be most appreciated”. Ambrovich was connected to the state, these are officially the state, the PL needed to hold firm with Newcastle and bolt the door, by accepting it they lost all control of it and will belatedly see the issue in that this past week or so.
I hope it stops any future financial investment from other dubious state actors such as the Chinese Government but I don’t hold my breath.
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The vague, verging on the tenuous, links between Abramovich and Putin cited by the government are almost laughable when you consider Newcastle United.
They’d struggle to show any pictures of Abramovich even in the company of Putin. In contrast, the ownership of Newcastle United is in every single photo of the Saudi regime.
If I gave my eldest a picture of the Newcastle United ownership and one of the Saudi regime and asked her to find two “spot the differences” otherwise there’d be no dinner, I’d get locked up for child cruelty.
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It’s a very bad thing.
Really? You think it is a bad thing that the US does not start wars with everyone who does something seen as immoral?
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I’d rather turn the clock back 5 million years and ensure mankind never came about.
But that’s just me.
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This whole situation is like an argument on who the top serial killer in the world is. They are all guilty of killing people, some are just worse than others (torture, victim selection, etc). The current one is not necessarily the worst, they just getting all the news because of the recently uncovered graves.
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A couple of notable Youtube comments from CFC fans after the Sky Sports discussions on Chelsea:
Gavin Morgan
I couldn’t give a monkey’s If we had to start again from scratch. As a fan of the Club since 1977 (5 years old at the time) I can remember the excitement of the late 70’s and 80’s where times were pretty rough but enjoyable nonetheless. With the current age of mercenaries coming and going this might be an opportunity to get the heart back in the club and look to traditional methods of creating a team etc. True Chelsea fans will support them whatever happens.Vinnie B
Couldn’t agree more, I think getting the plastics out of the club will bring us back to the proper Chelsea days. All we get these is stick for buying it all and having fake fans.
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One “defence” of Abramovic I’ve seen is that he gives a lot of money to UK based charities. What this seems to be ignoring, possible intentionally, is that this kind of spending is part of sports washing
And, even more relevant, is the golden rule when talking about billionaires… If a billionaire gives to charity it is not because they are nice it is because they are avoiding tax!
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Not strictly true. Warren Buffett wote last year about his own situation.
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Sure, it’s not always taxes. It is often a modern day indulgence…an attempt to clean their own conscience and allow for moral licensing (sure, I’ve caused the death of a million people, but I also paid for the construction of this art gallery, so it’s all swings and roundabouts)
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