Arsenal fan Piers Morgan has mocked Chelsea with a short word message in the wake of Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the UK government.
Abramovich has been added to the sanctions list on Thursday morning with the likes of Everton owner Alisher Usmanov with both clubs now facing very uncertain futures.
A statement on the club’s website read: “Chelsea Football Club has been advised that its owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK Government.
“By virtue of his 100 per cent ownership of Chelsea FC plc and affiliated entities, Chelsea FC would normally be subject to the same sanctions regime as Mr Abramovich. However, the UK Government has issued a general licence that permits Chelsea FC to continue certain activities.
“We will fulfil our men’s and women’s team fixtures today against Norwich and West Ham, respectively, and intend to engage in discussions with the UK Government regarding the scope of the licence. This will include seeking permission for the licence to be amended in order to allow the Club to operate as normal as possible.
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“We will also be seeking guidance from the UK Government on the impact of these measures on the Chelsea Foundation and its important work in our communities.
“The Club will update further when it is appropriate to do so.”
Chelsea will be allowed to continue functioning with restrictions under a special sporting licence that expires at the end of May but its sale has been placed into doubt and the owner will no longer be permitted to invest.
Among many consequences for the club under the “Russia Regulations” licence, any prize money earned will be frozen and supporters will not be allowed to attend away games.
Players and staff will continue to be receive their salaries and monies owed to clubs will be repaid.
But there are questions over next week’s Champions League trip to Lille because a cap of £20,000 has been placed on travel costs. The club were meant to travel by private plane.
Chelsea was put up for sale last Wednesday as Abramovich sought to sever ties with the UK.
The threat of sanctions had been hovering for more than a fortnight with calls from parliament for the oligarch to be added to the government list.
Abramovich has long denied any association with Russian president Vladimir Putin but the government has now stated explicitly that he has been an associate “for decades”.
The sanction said: “[Abramovich] is associated with a person who is or has been involved in destabilising Ukraine and undermining and threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, namely Vladimir Putin, with whom Abramovich has had a close relationship for decades. This association has included obtaining a financial benefit or other material benefit from Putin and the government.”
With all thrown up in the air ahead of Thursday’s night trip to Norwich City regarding daily running of the club and other issues like player transfers and contractual issues, one man who is loving this turmoil is Arsenal fan Piers Morgan.
The former Good Morning Britain presenter and Sun columnist has been a long-term critique of Abramovich with Piers like many other Arsenal supporters envious of the 19 years of success that the club have achieved under Roman’s watch.
Now that the Oligarch has no control of Chelsea from now on, Piers like many other Arsenal fans will be revealing in this uncertainty that has many Blues supporters feeling nauseous.
His reaction on his Twitter @piersmorgan to these latest developments simply read: Oops. @ChelseaFC
Follow all the latest on the sanctions news in football.london’s live blog here.