‘Chelsea’s sale will be helpful to Ukraine’, and other mails…

The debate over Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea continues, while we also have mails on Everton, Man Utd, and Benfica.

Get your views into theeditor@football365.com…

Russian money in the Prem
It occurred to me while thinking on some of this over the last few days that there is a very selective approach to what is and what’s not accepted on this issue.
Well Duh! you might say…

There are two perhaps reasons that RA has not come out directly to condemn the war in Ukraine.
He’s not either bothered about or he supports it OR he’s afraid to do so given the potential backlash from the powers that be in Russia.

So first question is would Chelsea fans be ok with it if he outright condemned the war in a public statement
The backdrop to that is how he originally gathered his wealth in the first place through a smash and grab regime of oppression and shadow democracy.

If as a Chelsea fan you would be ok with it then it doesn’t bother you how he acquired his wealth, even in reality while it’s not as bad as waging war on a neighbouring country it did affect ( and still does no doubt) the lives of many Russian people.

I’m just using Chelsea as an example by the way. As an Arsenal fan I would have jumped at the chance to have Usmanov be in a similar position, especially if it pushed stick Stan out. Where he had gotten his wealth was not even in question. But thinking on it now I’m glad it’s not the case.

We can probably put Newcastle and Man City in a similar boat and indeed are any of the really rich owners that different. For sure many are not running dictatorship countries, suppressing human rights or using the premier league as a money laundering service but all big businesses have hard and fast operations, they wouldn’t be profitable otherwise. Some hide their secrets in the sweat shops of Asia and others greenwash their practices with sleight of hand “look what we are doing over here” tactics.

I’m of the belief that FIFA and UEFA only banned Russia because there were afraid of other countries taking Poland’s lead and saying they wouldn’t play them. There is no cash in a tournament of 1.

We do as a population have incredible power I believe, but only in acting in Unison, if we really do believe there is an issue then it is the only way to sort it out.

Regards
Liam

Ten questions as Roman Abramovich puts Chelsea up for sale

Roman’s net proceeds
During the commotion we’ve seen from the announcement, the question is now being asked about how the sale will pay for “the victims of the Ukraine operation” as per The Guardian and no doubt eagle-eyed pundits and analysts. It’s important to note that, prior to the announcement, it was circulating around social media and mainstream publications that Russian family members were only to receive £80 compensation from the deaths of any Russian soldiers. From the news so far, we know these are mostly young men first-wave fodder. I don’t think many would agree the cost of a life just beginning is worth a 2-digit sum. Granted, as of last night, Putin passed legislation guaranteeing the same amount as the Ukrainians have offered for soldiers to surrender, however, the conversation around the football world in regards to what this sale means is already very complicated due to the emotions involved surrounding the war. It may be nice to weaponise a political situation in order to dunk on a rival in your mentions, but any net proceeds to people affected by this conflict who didn’t ask for it isn’t something to lose your minds over. Football is full of dirty money, yet, as pointed out in yesterday’s mailbox, Chelsea were one of the few teams to not apply for furlough, to lead by example in supporting their local communities and fans, all at Abramovich’s expense on top of his deep investment history (if you think you’re actually capable of visualising £1.5bn of debt, 9 out of 10 of you are lying to yourselves). He won’t have wanted to sell, otherwise he would have years ago when they began denying him entry into the UK. There is a chance he won’t have to do it and no one will bite, and this is another piece of political theater designed to protect the club from any sanctions, but in the event Chelsea is sold, those net proceeds will be helpful to people who have lost far more than most of the talking heads who bandy this about for easy likes.
Anon
P.S yes I’m aware that the $4bn asking price includes all his debt so he technically hasn’t “lost” anything, that’s as irrelevant to my point as saying “it’s Ukraine’s fault for looking invasion worthy”. Stop weaponising big numbers with blood attached and use the small numbers like “goals scored” instead.

…I find it a bit frustrating that people like Tim Colyer can’t actually read. Abramovich is donating the NET proceeds to war victims. Net of what you say?

From an accounting perspective it makes perfect sense to write off the money he’s pumped into the club. It is much more appealing to the new owner to buy a club that isn’t carrying a big chunky debt on its shoulders, even if it is interest free. Then if Roman sells for £2bn, for arguments sake, he can deduct the £150m he used to buy the club and the £1.5bn in loans and he can charge some interest on all that debt and hey presto, the net proceeds are £50m.

For all those Chelsea fans thinking that he just loves the club I would ask you to give your heads a wobble. There’s a decent chunk of people who have argued for some time that he bought the club under the guidance of Putin. This is also a man who was refused residency in Switzerland because they believed he was involved in money laundering and other illicit activities which would bring Switzerland into disrepute. A man who the home office refused to grant a visa to for similar reasons.

You might think Roman is warm and fuzzy and did one of two naughty things once upon a time but his empire was built by screwing workers out of their shares for virtually nothing and it looks like as he got richer he made more and more shady acquaintances and did more and more sketchy things to the extent that two countries have refused him residency. When you think that the Tories are so heavily funded by Russians how f**king awful must what they know about Abramovich be that they won’t even let him live here?

Still on the plus side Roman is proof that sportswashing works – because look at all the idiot Chelsea fans lamenting his departure and eulogising about ordinary Roman.

You’re all so stupid and he’s laughing at you. Him and his mate Putin.
Minty, LFC

…I’m no financial expert, for example I once somehow bought a DFS sofa that wasn’t on sale, but are we certain that FFP rules allow an owner to loan £1.5 billion to a club and then just say “nah call it quits so long as you all pretend I’m not a bloodsoaked beneficiary of a regime that has always been disgusting”?

Because I feel like Manchester City and PSG would raise an intrigued eyebrow at that.

Football isn’t and has never been important here. The whole concept of sportswashing is to generate the exact goodwill toward violent criminals both individual and national that it currently is.

Abramovich is not a nice person because he poured bloodmoney into the Premier League.

Chelsea are not a sustainable club because that bloodmoney was poured into investments for them to benefit from in the medium term rather than straight onto players.

F*ck Putin poodle Abramovich, f*ck Chelsea, f*ck their fans who are fine with it and once again f*ck the cringing pathetic toothless media and government in this country.
Tim Sutton

Everton and United’s problem
Having watched the Everton game last night, I am glad to see it’s not just Utd struggling – both teams seem to understand that goals can be scored, they have even done it themselves fairly recently, they just have no idea about how to go about doing it…
Andrew, Banbury

Benfica’s curse
So I was late to the party and Bayer Neverkusen have already been correctly mentioned so I’ll go for Benfica and the curse of Bella Guttman.

After beating Real Madrid in the 1962 European Cup final the Benfica coach, Guttman, decided to ask for a modest raise which was rejected by the Benfica board. He was so angry he cursed the club and told them they wouldn’t win another European trophy for another 100 years.

They’ve since lost 8 European finals on the bounce and the curse lives on.
Edward Canhands (Lumping on Benfica for Champions league 2063)

Love letter to thayden
I love thayden. Always have, since back when F365 had that weird blue background. Love that i can recognise a thayden email from the first line and know it’ll be good. And the angrier thayden gets the better the mail.

Just a shame that these days thayden has to be angry about real life, oligarchs, war in Europe and the terrifying prospect of nuclear warfare.

I look forward to a future where thayden can be angry at Spurs and trivial mailbox matters again.
Martin, Peckham