Manchester United icon Gary Neville and Liverpool hero Jamie Carragher have given their thoughts on Roman Abramovich's Chelsea statement.
Abramovich revealed via a statement made on Saturday evening that he would "give stewardship of the club" to the Blues' charitable foundation.
The statement was released following speculation that the owner of the west London club could be hit with sanctions because of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in the midst of a highly-criticised invasion of Ukraine.
According to The Telegraph, Chelsea have made no formal approach to the Premier League to change ownership status, meaning that as far as they are concerned, Abramovich remains in charge of the club.
Now, the aforementioned Neville has given his thoughts on the situation, telling Sky Sports: "I think when the news came through part way through the Manchester City-Everton game last night, maybe myself and most others that saw that statement thought this sounds like a noble gesture, the right thing to do.
"But, when you then look at who the charity trustees are, Emma Hayes the women’s manager, Piara Power who set up kick it out, John Devine, it’s quite clear that they’re not going to be running Chelsea Football Club.
"One of the smartest things that I think Roman Abramovich has done the last 20 years is not speak, not make statements because the statement he made last night left questions then answers.
"In fact, if anything I thought it was to be fair a cowardly approach to sort of throw a hospital pass to good people on the charitable and foundation board when it’s quite clear he runs the club with Marina (Granovskaia) and Petr Cech on the football side.
"Thomas Tuchel’s just made it clear. These owners of the top six clubs are insulated from reality.
"They think they can put a smart PR team around them and con us with fancy words but unfortunately it doesn’t work and, no, there’s no way the charitable foundation at Chelsea are running the club and I’m not quite sure why Roman Abramovich made that statement.
"If he wanted to make a statement of any note it would of been whether he supports the war at Ukraine or he actually doesn’t support the war at Ukraine."
Carragher also weighed in on Abramovich, claiming that his statement has forced Chelsea into action.
The Reds legend said: "Chelsea, with a Russian owner and the situation they’re in, I think that statement from Roman Abramovich that we’ve just seen, I think it almost forced Chelsea to put something out this morning because whether it was the trust people on the board, whether it was Thomas Tuchel and the players, they must’ve been embarrassed, I would feel by that Abramovich statement, the fact there was no mention at all of what was going on right now.
"The whole world can see what’s going on and I think it was a really poor statement to come out with. Chelsea came out this morning, maybe could’ve been a little bit stronger themselves in that statement but, as I said, I don’t think it’s been a great 24 hours for Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel and his players I’m sure will want to rectify that."
