Gary Neville reacts to shock Roman Abramovich statement amid decision to sell Chelsea
Roman Abramovich has announced that he intends to sell Chelsea after almost 20 years of ownership, with net proceeds from the sale to be donated to “all victims of the war in Ukraine”; Gary Neville also discusses sportswashing and club ownership in the Premier League.
Gary Neville has reacted to Roman Abramovich’s announcement that he intends to sell Chelsea after an almost 20-year ownership of the club.
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Abramovich made the announcement on Wednesday evening amid rising fears of UK sanctions, and said the net proceeds from the sale would be used to found a charitable foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”.
The billionaire had initially intended to hand “stewardship and care” of Chelsea to the club foundation’s trustees, as outlined in a previous statement on Saturday, in a move aimed to protect the Stamford Bridge club following Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
But he has now publicly admitted he is looking to sell up.
Abramovich bought Chelsea in a £140m deal in 2003 and is owed £1.5billion in loans, debt he says he will not ask to be repaid.
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Following the announcement, Sky Sports pundit Neville gave his views on the situation, and on the issues of so-called sportswashing and club ownership in the Premier League.
‘Chelsea have been successful under Abramovich’
“It’s more of a reactive measure than a planned measure because I don’t think he would have put the statement out on Saturday night, handing the club to the trustees if he knew he was going to put the club up for sale a few days later.
“We’ve seen in the news over the last four or five days that wealthy Russians are moving their assets all over the world to more safe havens where they’re not going to have their assets seized, and Abramovich is no different.
“He’s been an important owner in Premier League history over the last 20 years. I do believe he has enhanced the competitiveness of the Premier League.
“It was a model at the beginning that I found bizarre, coming from a stable club at the time in Manchester United – sacking managers quite regularly who had seen success. But over the last 20 years, he has been a very successful owner of a football club that has created a distinctive model in the way they approach things, particularly with their academy players.
“They’re a football club who have been very successful and become admired under his ownership, but eventually those alleged links to Vladimir Putin and the war on Ukraine have brought it to an end.
“I think things have been closing in on him for a few years now and it has come to a head in the last week.
“I’m not thinking that all of a sudden, Abramovich is a philanthropist and he’s an angel walking away from English football – I don’t think anybody should. We’re all aware how Russian wealth was spread around all those years ago after the break up of the Soviet Union… There were alleged links to Putin, no one really knows how close.
“But there were reports the other day that Abramovich was helping with peace talks so he must be very close if they were true.”
