I've been saying this for years: football has always had the ability to ignore the stench of money…just so long as they see the colour of it.
How many times have questions been raised about owners of clubs, only for concerns to be waived away, and agreements waved through, because of the money involved?
It’s not just Chelsea. Boris Johnson apparently intervened to help ease through the sale of Newcastle to Saudi Arabian interests. Russian money, Chinese money, money from states with dubious human rights records, it’s all washed through football in recent years.
And washing is the right word, because we all know about sportswashing nowadays. People are prepared to hold their noses and ignore the smell, just so long as it suits their club.
I’m not blaming Chelsea for what has happened to their club. The players, the manager, the staff, all the people who could potentially lose their jobs, the fans, they can’t take responsibility for something Vladimir Putin has done. And this whole obscene war is down to one man’s madness.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Robbie right about football fans ignoring the source of money from their owners? Let us know in the comments section.
Yet we knew for years the alleged connection between Roman Abramovich and Putin. That is why he has been sanctioned, and why they say he can’t profit from the sale of Chelsea.
It’s an inconvenient truth, and the club’s supporters have long known it, but it has suited them to ignore it, just as Newcastle fans, Manchester City fans, Paris Saint-Germain fans, and fans the world over ignore the fact their clubs are owned by Oligarchs, states with human rights questions, or vulture capitalists.
Now would be a good time to pick heads out of the sand though…if only to take a long hard look around at what is happening in Ukraine.
It breaks your heart to turn on the TV, and see the devastation, the humanitarian crisis, the shocking loss of life. And surely that should be a starting point now for some serious questions on the ownership of football clubs.
We can’t have money trails that lead back to people like Putin any more, we can’t have sportswashing which channels government money into football and changes the economics of football completely. Surely we can’t?
Of course the big question is, how to change it? I know it won’t be easy, you can’t simply turn around and say fans own clubs from now on.
But sanctioning Abramovich and ensuring the sale of Chelsea is regulated by the government offers a chance to change the narrative on club ownership.
The very least they can do is ensure any sale is genuine, and doesn’t merely provide a way to get around the sanctions.
Then the Premier League can do a GENUINE fit and proper person check on the buyer.
For me, I’d want to see it go further, with the opportunity to impose a serious element of fan ownership on the deal. Why not move football towards a German model, where fans get the chance to be part of the club, and have a meaningful say in the direction of travel.
I don’t know where the sanctions leave Chelsea at the moment. The cynical part of me would say I’m not so sure it will make any material difference.
Abramovich was clearly given time by the government - and we know the alleged links between Russian money and our government - to get his financial ducks in a row before these sanctions. He is apparently still being allowed to sell the club.
So you could argue a sale will go through, and the manager and players won’t be affected, not will the club, in essence.
But the longer it goes on, the more players will wonder what it means for their contracts. If we get to the summer and it’s still the same situation, then that could spell real trouble.
The conversations will be going on already between players and agents. Where does this leave me contractually? Will I be able to leave, will I be able to rip up the contract?
No one will know. I was in a slightly similar situation at Leeds when the finances collapsed and they wanted players to take wage cuts.
For me it was simple. It was out of my control and there was no use wasting energy on something beyond my influence. I had to sit it out and see what happened. I think I’ve always had the mental capacity in a football sense to understand you can’t worry about what you can’t influence.
Others don’t though. Players will be rightly fearful now. Some who haven’t been playing and are feeling hard done by, will be looking to get out asap.
That leads to the potential for collapse, on the field and off it. It’s a helluva mess, but let's not lose sight of who is behind this. It is one man who is responsible for atrocities. And Chelsea can not ignore the links between him and their current owner.
