Jordan tells FA, Government to ‘grow up’ over Chelsea tickets
Simon Jordan has told the Football Association and Government to “grow up” and allow Chelsea fans to buy tickets to their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.
Roman Abramovich put the Premier League club up for sale on March 2 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian-Israeli billionaire was sanctioned by the UK Government ten days ago, with Downing Street claiming to have proven his links to Vladimir Putin.
The financial insanity must stop; football needs recalibration
Abramovich’s UK assets are all frozen barring Chelsea, with the Blues operating under strict Government licence.
Raine Group’s deadline for bids to buy Chelsea passed on Friday night, with a host of serious parties lodging their candidacy.
LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly, Sir Martin Broughton and Lord Sebastian Coe, Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts family and British property tycoon Nick Candy all submitted their bids in time.
Saudi Media Group also met the deadline, with more bids besides understood to have been lodged.
Chelsea have been unable to sell away tickets since Abramovich was sanctioned and Blues fans could now struggle to get their hands on tickets for their FA Cup semi-final.
Thomas Tuchel’s side beat Middlesbrough on Saturday to set up a clash against Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace outfit at Wembley in mid-April.
And former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan has urged the FA to allow Chelsea fans to purchase tickets to the match.
“There’s not going to be a shortage of people that can pick up the tickets,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
“You give allocations to the clubs, you give allocations to dignitaries.
“What we don’t want is a stadium full of people that are sort of the liggers of football that hang around it and get the corporate tickets and all the FA badges and FA ties.
“We don’t want those guys in there. We want people that support the clubs.
“So, in an ideal world, the FA and the government have got to grow up and say, ‘Our job is to make sure that the transfer of this ownership isn’t, in any shape or form, benefiting a Russian owner’.
“That’s the key component – but that doesn’t mean you stop them from taking revenue.
“And the laughable thing is, the money got from that game against Middlesbrough, 45% of it went to Chelsea anyway because the gate receipts are split!
“The Newcastle fans that were paying £20 a ticket, £9 of that money was going to Chelsea! How have you stopped Chelsea from getting money out of a game?
“Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?”
