Confirmation that FIFA are on my Friends of Putin list Pathetic nonsense from the World Football Governing Body... as usual. What are FIFA going to do now - punish Poland for refusing to play "The Football Union of Russia"? (no flags please!) Spineless. Corrupt. How many Rubles are in that brown envelope?
The rumour is that Abramovich cannot just 'step aside' from Chelsea, and still put money in. Chelsea are very much his, and dhould be trested as such. The statement put out by Chelsea about tgis mentioned the 'situation' in Ukraine, and no mention of Russia. Putin, nor any word of reproach for an invasion. I don't know how much appetite there would be to castigate Chelsea, but their owner is Putin's bitch. Time to settle up.
If I were on that Charity committee at Chelsea I would be talking to the Sports Minister about some kind of emergency plan to give CFC temporary life support, should Abramovich suddenly be unable to own it / fund it anymore. This would of course mean the end of Chelsea as a force in the Premier League. But it would at least save the Club from extinction. I'm no Chelsea fan, and I hate what that Club has done to football since Roman bought it. But it is a Club with well over a century of heritage. It should not become a collateral casualty of Putin's madness.
Yesterday's penalty shootout had the inevitable end. Chelsea brought on a specialist goalie,who not only failed to save 10 penalties, but then blazed his own penalty into orbit. You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.
BREAKING NEWS FIFA & UEFA grow a pair a last Russia & All Russian teams BANNED from World Football UEFA ends all sponsorship deals with Gazprom as well.
Is Tony Keohane still there? Far too cosy with Katrien's regime. Wouldn't mind seeing the back of him.
Russia is going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to try to get its FIFA & UEFA bans lifted. Fat chance. That case should last all of ten minutes. Any Ukrainian Judges at the CAS? A job for one of them I should think https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60607645
Pure class from Chelsea fans - chanting Roman Abramovich's name during the minute's "respect" for Ukraine before the match today And Burnley fans booing them for it Chelski supporters certainly picked their moment Would serve them right if Roman had his assets seized before he could sell them. I thought he had only bought their football Club, not their souls Still, I'm not too bothered really. I can understand this need of the Prem & the EFL to show some kind of expression of solidarity with Ukraine. But in essence it isn't that much different from taking the knee. Political gestures don't sit well with football. In my opinion our game is better off without them.
OK, this is possibly the strangest post I'm ever going to make on this thread. I just watched a post-match interview with a couple of Arsenal players on SSN. The pattern on the away kit they wore today at Watford looks exactly like the design on the seat cover fabric on Central Line tube trains. At least, the seat covers from a few years ago. I haven't travelled on the tube since the pandemic.
Really very happy about this. RA cannot now sell the club, grab the assets and buy a mansion somewhere sunny with the procedes. Always a huge critic of this government, but if the sanctions are actually in place now, and not subject to a 30 day trial, they seem to have done the right thing here.
Would have done this 2 weeks ago if the Tories hadn't had their snouts in the trough of dirty Russian money for many many years Lord Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia, made a Lord by Boris despite advice not to by his security advisors, appointed a former Chancellor editor of his newspaper, despite his having no previous experience of journalism, a very public example.