On March 10, the UK government officially announced sanctions against Abu, including a travel traffic ban and a ban on him from trading any personal and business transactions in the UK. At the same time, Abu's assets in the UK were frozen.
Despite the previous move of "transferring all the net income of the club to the charity fund", the Russian boss Of the Premier League Chelsea's Abramovich has not escaped the stick. On March 10, the UK government officially announced sanctions against Abu, including a travel traffic ban and a ban on him from trading any personal and business transactions in the UK. At the same time, Abu's assets in the UK were frozen. In other words, Chelsea, which has been publicly listed before, is now in a "frozen state", and there are more mysteries about its current situation and future.
First of all, "freezing" does not mean closing the goal, chelsea still have the ball to play. In light of the UK government's announcement, in view of the significant impact the sanctions will have on the Premier League Blues and the potential knock-on effects, they have issued a special licence to the club authorizing Chelsea to continue with some football-related activities. In addition, British Culture Minister Nadine Doris also said through social media: "I know that this (sanctions) will bring some uncertainty, but the government will work with the Premier League and clubs to ensure that while the sanctions reach the desired goal, the football game can continue." Football clubs are cultural assets, the cornerstones of our community, and we are committed to protecting them. ”
Prior to this, this newspaper has done an analysis: since Chelsea Club is not a dead thing, unlike mansions and yachts, it can be put to eat ashes after seizure, and it is more in line with the interests of the British side to continue to operate. In this regard, Doris also publicly stated that the government will do its best to "ensure that club and national team matches are not unnecessarily harmed by these important sanctions". After such a boss is sanctioned, can Chelsea continue to play music and dance? Yes and no. According to the British government, they will prevent the Russian plutocrats from continuing to benefit in their home countries, so the special permission that the club receives is also very restrictive.
One of the most important basic principles of this sanction and special license is the prohibition of "new transactions", but the "old contracts" that already exist will be recognized and can continue. Specific to the management level of the club, it is that the broadcaster can still broadcast chelsea-related games. At the same time, the Blues can still pay their staff (including players, coaches and staff, etc.), but they cannot buy and sell players and cannot offer new contracts to players. At the same time, club shops must close and ticket retailing will cease, leaving only the original season ticket owners available to watch the game. There are also minor restrictions, including a single cost of hosting a home match (including security, catering and management, etc.) of not more than £500,000, and travel expenses for away matches not exceeding £20,000.
These restrictions will first affect attendance at Blues matches, with Chelsea having 28,000 season ticket owners in 2020, compared to around 67% of Stamford Bridge's total capacity of 41,800, according to the Birmingham Post. It should be noted here that although the licensed content is simple and clear at first glance, there are still many doubts in the implementation details, such as Brentford, who will face the Blues away on April 2, has publicly shouted the Premier League: Half of the tickets have been sold, we have stopped, what should we do next? In addition, the standard of 20,000 away travel expenses is really too low, if the Champions League away to France Lille, is it to let the manager Tuchel advance funds or the players themselves pay for it? Of course, there is also a saying that this standard is limited to the Premier League, and there will be another quota for European away games, but according to BBC reporter Simon Stone's calculations, only 20,000 pounds of budget FA Cup away to Middlesbrough is not enough.
The closure of club shops (including the suspension of the Stamford Bridge hotel) would then lead to a reduction in the team's revenue, for which the BBC commented: "The club will lose a lot of money in its day-to-day operations." It is worth mentioning that after the british government's sanctions order was issued, Chelsea's chest advertising sponsor "3" has said that it is seriously reviewing their contract with the Blues, implying that there is a possibility of lifting the sponsorship. According to the Times, other sponsors are likely to follow suit. This means that Chelsea may lose more business income.
As for the problem of "not being able to sign a new contract", it may have a big impact on the stability and hard power of the team. Leaving aside the signings, the blues' four defenders Rudiger, Thiago Silva, Christensen and Azpilicueta all expire this summer. Recent rumors that Christensen has reached an intention to sign a contract with La Liga Barca, Azpilicueta will also go with him, and now that the ban is out, The next family is still uncertain, Rudiger and Thiago Silva, who was supposed to stay, are also hanging.
However, the renewal of the player's contract is not the most important, to know that the sale of the club is also to sign a contract, so the transfer of Chelsea has also entered a "suspension" state after the sanctions were promulgated. According to the BBC, there were originally talks with potential buyers on March 10, and the deadline for submitting the letter of intent was March 15, but these plans have been put on hold for the time being. However, the BBC also said that the British government has not completely closed the door to the transfer of Chelsea, and they will consider issuing another license in the future, as long as it can ensure that all the proceeds do not flow to Abu. This statement has also been confirmed by a number of other British media, and the Telegraph said that the premise of allowing the transfer is that Abu will hand over the transfer to the British government.
Is it reliable to be operated by someone else, rather than Abu, who has paid a lot for the Blues? Without saying too much, Manchester United was bought by the "American vampire" but it made Red Devils fans angry until now. In response, chelsea fan group CST issued a statement shortly after the sanctions were issued, imploring the government to act quickly to minimize uncertainty about the future of the Blues, and to sell the club while giving fans access to "gold shares", that is, shares with special effects. It can be seen from this that although many people are obsessed with Abu, British local fans still feel that the "farewell" between the Blues and the Russians is inevitable, and even if they have made a break earlier, they are still happy.
Finally, Abu is not the only Russian billionaire sanctioned by the British government. After being heavily questioned by the Labour leader and promising to give a "full list of sanctions" as soon as possible, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson blacklisted seven Russian tycoons on March 10. In addition to Abu, there are also The President of Rosneft SheiChin, Jerepaska, who specializes in energy and aluminum, etc., involving assets of up to 15 billion pounds. Abu was banned, mainly because he held a large stake in the mining and steel group Yefraz. According to the British government announcement, Yefraz has provided various help to the Putin government, including providing steel to the Russian military to build tanks.
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