3 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

And how about Litvinenko? Do we think that was the UK too? Let's be serious, the Russian government have been murdering dissidents both in Russia and abroad for many years now.

I do agree that we shouldn't just blindly trust the UK government by the way, but let's not fall into the trap of thinking the two are equivilent.

As for Roman, I've never seen anything that suggests he's done anything wrong in the UK, but considering the financial dealings Russia have in London, its just probably wise to sit back and see what happens. Obviously I want him to be completely exonerated, he's done incredible things for my club and I'm grateful for them.

Again though, I don't think even that was proven as Russia. Sure, it could have been. It could have been our own government along with US? Who knows. I don't believe they even found a culprit for Litvinenko. Russia has always been the point of blame for the west. The thing is, without proof from the UK/US governments, we are all going round in circles. 

Roman did nothing wrong. You don't get banned from a country that you have lived in over 10 years just because someone you knew in the past is not seen as a "good guy".
This is the reason why he wasn't at Wembley during the FA Cup final, really sad.

You generally don't get to amass that fortune without some shady stuff at some point.

8 minutes ago, enigma said:

Again though, I don't think even that was proven as Russia. Sure, it could have been. It could have been our own government along with US? Who knows. I don't believe they even found a culprit for Litvinenko. Russia has always been the point of blame for the west. The thing is, without proof from the UK/US governments, we are all going round in circles. 

They proved it with Litvinenko. The NSA caught conversations between Russia and Russian agents in the UK instructing the killing.

4 minutes ago, Zola said:

You generally don't get to amass that fortune without some shady stuff at some point.

Indeed, I don't think anyone can honestly try and claim Roman wasn't shady as hell in the past. It's something we've always kind of pretended not to notice, because of how much good he's done for us as a club. I feel bad about that sometimes, but I definitely draw the line at anything that negatively impacts my country.

Edited May 21, 20188 yr by Kentonio

2 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

They proved it with Litvinenko. The NSA caught conversations between Russia and Russian agents in the UK instructing the killing.

Indeed, I don't think anyone can honestly try and claim Roman wasn't shady as hell in the past. It's something we've always kind of pretended not to notice, because of how much good he's done for us as a club. I feel bad about that sometimes, but I definitely draw the line at anything that negatively impacts my country.

How did Roman negatively impact your country exactly? Rubbish.

9 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

How did Roman negatively impact your country exactly? Rubbish.

Are you having problems with reading comprehension? As I've said several times now, I've seen no evidence that Roman has done anything wrong in the UK, and I very much hope there is no evidence. Given that Russia are currently being accused in parliament of channeling vast sums of dirty money through London however (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia/russian-dirty-money-flowing-through-london-damages-britain-uk-lawmakers-idUSKCN1IL0WO) and at the same time they appear to be holding back on giving Roman a new visa, I'm just not willing to jump to his defence until I hear more about what has actually been happening. 

17 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

They proved it with Litvinenko. The NSA caught conversations between Russia and Russian agents in the UK instructing the killing.

Not sure why people get so outraged by this. Of course it shouldn't happen in an ideal world, but if the same were to happen to a British double agent in Russia I'm not sure many would be too sympathetic.

Edited May 21, 20188 yr by the special one

1 minute ago, the special one said:

Not sure why people get so outraged by this. Of course it shouldn't happen in an ideal world, but if the same were to happen to a British double agent in Russia I'm not sure many would be too sympathetic.

I think the main reason for the outrage, was how they did it. They used radioactive material that put other people's lives at risk, also it was a truly horrible death. If they'd just shot him or done the old poisoned umbrella trick, I'm not sure people would have made quite as huge a fuss.

1 minute ago, Kentonio said:

Are you having problems with reading comprehension? As I've said several times now, I've seen no evidence that Roman has done anything wrong in the UK, and I very much hope there is no evidence. Given that Russia are currently being accused in parliament of channeling vast sums of dirty money through London however (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia/russian-dirty-money-flowing-through-london-damages-britain-uk-lawmakers-idUSKCN1IL0WO) and at the same time they appear to be holding back on giving Roman a new visa, I'm just not willing to jump to his defence until I hear more about what has actually been happening. 

So why are you assuming then if you have no facts to back it up and stating that he impacted negatively the whole country, even after all that he has done for Chelsea? You are implying that he did something wrong but at the same time saying how you have no facts, over and over again.
If you know nothing and are still very easy to see him as if he already did something wrong it really doesn't matter that you keep saying that you are hoping that there is no evidence since it looks like it doesn't take any evidence for you to automatically believe that he is the wrong one by default.

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

So why are you assuming then if you have no facts to back it up and stating that he impacted negatively the whole country, even after all that he has done for Chelsea? You are implying that he did something wrong but at the same time saying how you have no facts, over and over again.
If you know nothing and are still very easy to see him as if he already did something wrong it really doesn't matter that you keep saying that you are hoping that there is no evidence since it looks like it doesn't take any evidence for you to automatically believe that he is the wrong one by default.

No, I'm not assuming or implying anything. What I'm saying is that leaping in like you did with the whole 'It's a huge conspiracy, the guy is totally innocent!!! It's a total scandal and discrimination!!!' is wildly premature (not to mention overly melodramatic). Despite all the good he's done for our club he's still a Russian oligarch who also happens to be BFFs with Putin. So let's wait and see.

Just now, Kentonio said:

No, I'm not assuming or implying anything. What I'm saying is that leaping in like you did with the whole 'It's a huge conspiracy, the guy is totally innocent!!! It's a total scandal and discrimination!!!' is wildly premature (not to mention overly melodramatic). Despite all the good he's done for our club he's still a Russian oligarch who also happens to be BFFs with Putin. So let's wait and see.

I think you have a big problem to understand this topic. It doesn't really matter that he is a Russian oligarch, if it does matter then it's a matter of discrimination like I said, also it doesn't matter even if he is a friend of Putin. Those things are not crimes, he was already living in the richest part of London/UK for years now and it wasn't a problem. Just because he's russian, rich and had or has a relationship with Putin it doesn't make him guilty of anything, is that clear?

12 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I think you have a big problem to understand this topic. It doesn't really matter that he is a Russian oligarch, if it does matter then it's a matter of discrimination like I said, also it doesn't matter even if he is a friend of Putin. Those things are not crimes, he was already living in the richest part of London/UK for years now and it wasn't a problem. Just because he's russian, rich and had or has a relationship with Putin it doesn't make him guilty of anything, is that clear?

You have absolutely zero idea what information or evidence the UK authories have. Neither do I. That is the situation, so just wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed all that will happen is they give him a new visa.

If it is the end, what an era it’s been. Look at what we’ve won:

PL: 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2017

CL: 2012

EL: 2013

FA: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018

LC: 2005, 2007, 2015

CS: 2005, 2009

(I haven’t missed anything have I?)

Whats scary still is we could have won even more, we reached other finals, super cups and even the final of the club world club.

What does this mean financially if he sells? We're in £900m+ debt to him. If he pulls the rug on us the club will disappear into administration. Anybody with financial experience know the nature of the debt and the options for the club/Abramovich?

Yeah - we need Roman. 

From what I read in the news, his visa expired 3 weeks ago. No excuse for that.

 

48 minutes ago, Total-Football said:

What does this mean financially if he sells? We're in £900m+ debt to him. If he pulls the rug on us the club will disappear into administration. Anybody with financial experience know the nature of the debt and the options for the club/Abramovich?

Lots of clubs carry forms of long term debt. Chelsea FC is still an extremely attractive asset, Forbes have our worth at something like $1.8b. Even if Roman put up the For Sale sign tomorrow, I believe there's virtually no chance we wouldn't just get bought up by someone else.

Man sometimes I wish I was Bill Gates

I'd buy Chelsea and make PSG&City look cheap

16 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

Lots of clubs carry forms of long term debt. Chelsea FC is still an extremely attractive asset, Forbes have our worth at something like $1.8b. Even if Roman put up the For Sale sign tomorrow, I believe there's virtually no chance we wouldn't just get bought up by someone else.

And that very much is the point.

Chelsea football Club is debt free.The company that owns 100% of the shares in the club owes RA the close to £1 billion.

If the shares in the F.C. were sold the RA has the right to call in the debt within a set number of days.

I have no idea of the legal implications but if RA had written off the debt then I guess if he did eventually sell the shares there would be some sort of tax liability on the profit whereas as long as the debt remains in place should he sell the shares/ club the proceeds would first have to settle in effect what is a loan

 

2 minutes ago, terraloon said:

And that very much is the point.

Chelsea football Club is debt free.The company that owns 100% of the shares in the club owes RA the close to £1 billion.

If the shares in the F.C. were sold the RA has the right to call in the debt within a set number of days.

I have no idea of the legal implications but if RA had written off the debt then I guess if he did eventually sell the shares there would be some sort of tax liability on the profit whereas as long as the debt remains in place should he sell the shares/ club the proceeds would first have to settle in effect what is a loan

Yeah, I certainly don't think its anything to worry about. We're worth more than we owe, and we have outstanding potential for signing hugely lucrative sponsorships and branding deals these days. It's not like the bad old days with Ken, when we were about 5 minutes away from the receivers coming in and chaining the gates.

Just in the recent months the plans for the new stadium got approved. To have to switch from that to changing the clubs owner would be a big downgrade specially since it's all just based on bullying Russia from some speculations that are not related to Chelsea in any way.

20 hours ago, enigma said:

 

•  

1) There is nothing to suggest that he has been kicked out of the country. All reports indicate that he returned to Russia voluntarily after his previous investor visa expired.

2) There is also nothing to suggest that his isa application has been refused. In fact, Romans "people" have explicitly stated it has not been denied/refused.

3) Processing times for UK visas vary considerably. UKVI (the Home Office department who process visa applications) publish their processing times online, so it is all transparent.

4) Even if, in the very worst case scenario, his "investor" visa application was refused, it would have no automatic bearing on him visiting the UK. Roman would still be able to apply for a visit visa, which would likely be granted (unless his entry to the UK was deemed non-conducive to the public good)

 

 

Edit - I tried to remove enigma quote - the quote was unintended! Had meant to quote "abramovich" who posted - 

"Well, why would you want to own a club in a country you cannot even visit? I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen, but if it does, I cannot see him sticking around."

•  

 

 

Edited May 21, 20188 yr by nonotnowjim

Am I missing something here, does he need a visa to visit the country?  I’m not too well versed on travel regulations but can you not visit a country for, say, 90 days or something, then leave and come back and do it again?

11 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Am I missing something here, does he need a visa to visit the country?  I’m not too well versed on travel regulations but can you not visit a country for, say, 90 days or something, then leave and come back and do it again?

I think that rule only applied to some countries. I from Quebec and I know that Canadians, for example, are allowed to spend 90 days in the UK without a Visa. I looked up Russia on the web and it seems the rule doesn't apply to them.

It has been said that it may be due to him renewing outside of the UK, which can possibly make the process longer. Or it could be a more serious issue.