Chelsea women’s boss Emma Hayes admitted that the sanctions against owner Roman Abramovich had made Thursday a “difficult day” to navigate.
The UK government has decided to freeze Abramovich’s asset s as part of the efforts to limit the flow of Russian money following the invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich cannot now sell the club, while Chelsea have been placed under special financial measures which mean that they cannot sell tickets or merchandise, buy or sell players, or offer new contracts.
Chelsea said in a statement that they would seek further discussions with the government to clarify the situation, while they vowed to “operate as normal as possible” in the meantime.
The dramatic decision came on a day in which both Chelsea’s men’s and women’s sides had fixtures to fulfil, with Thomas Tuchel’s team facing Norwich in the Premier League and Hayes’ playing West Ham in the Women’s Super League.
Ahead of kick-off, Hayes was asked how the news surrounding Abramovich would affect her team.
“There’s no denying, it’s a difficult day, but I think it’s important that we give it time,” she told Sky Sports.
“The club has put a statement out. I understand the club are working with the government to dissect the interpretation of that.
“So I think, for all the questions everybody has – the players, fans, staff – we have to give the club time to work through that.
“I know you hear this from football managers, because ultimately, this is the only thing I can control: the next 90 minutes.
“I think it’s only right for the players to be able to switch off for 90 minutes in what has been a difficult day.
“I know from my end that I’m a leader of this team and we’re going to have to navigate a difficult period and one where I don’t have all the answers for it.
“But I certainly have an amazing dressing room, amazing fans and amazing employees at the club that deserve the very best from us this evening.”
Chelsea women certainly followed Hayes’ instructions, picking up a commanding 4-1 win over West Ham to close the gap to Arsenal at the top of the WSL to five points, with two games in hand.
Pernille Harder scored twice, with Niamh Charles and Sam Kerr both also getting on the score sheet for the away side.
Meanwhile, Chelsea men picked up a 3-1 win against Norwich at Carrow Road, despite Tuchel admitting that the news off the pitch had affected his players.
"All the time of course. It is big news. It is huge and has a huge impact of course so it is the subject of the talks,” he said post-match.
"We cannot influence it so we allowed ourselves to enjoy it. We have the privilege to play and sometimes it's good to sweat it out.
“We tried to work hard to get the focus out. I would love to talk about sport but of course I understand you have a lot of questions.
“We are also an entertainment so that's why it is like this."
