Staveley: It’s ‘unfair’ Abramovich forced to sell Chelsea
Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley says it’s not “particularly fair” that Roman Abramovich had Chelsea “taken away” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Roman Abramovich announced that he has put the club up for sale on Wednesday, with the Russian oligarch said to have set a £3billion asking price while also writing off the £1.5billion debt the club owe him.
READ MORE: Ten questions as Roman Abramovich puts Chelsea up for sale
Staveley, speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, faced questions about Newcastle’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, following the takeover of the club by a Saudi-backed consortium, and admitted to feeling sorry for Abramovich.
She said: “We’re always going to have geopolitical issues.
“I’m really sad that someone is going to have a football club taken away because of a relationship he may have with someone.
“I don’t think that’s particularly fair to be honest. But we do have to hold all of our relationships to account.”
Staveley reiterated that the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns 80% of Newcastle, is “separate” from the Saudi state.
“We should always be held to task,” she added. “One thing we showed when doing the Premier League [ownership] test was that there was that separation. We and the PIF run the club with autonomy.”
Staveley also revealed that she had looked at buying Chelsea in the four years it took to get the Newcastle deal over the line.
“One great thing about taking four years to buy Newcastle is we had a great opportunity to look at every club, including Chelsea,” she said. “Chelsea is a wonderful club, but there was only one club for us and will only ever be one club for us.
“We like the challenge of buying a club at 20th position [in the league] and getting it to the top.”
Meanwhile, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters welcomed Abramovich’s decision to put Chelsea up for sale.
Speaking at the summit, Masters said: “I think the situation has escalated incredibly quickly over the last seven days and he’s come to the right conclusion.
“It’s unsustainable in the current environment. It’s a welcome decision and obviously, for the sake of everybody, including the fans, as soon as the sale process concludes everyone has certainty.”
