Conte: I hope the best for Chelsea

Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte, who led Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2017 and FA Cup in 2018, has given his reaction to this morning’s news that the UK government had sanctioned Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

“It’s not easy, it’s not easy. Honestly, it’s a pity, because I was coach in this club, in Chelsea, I enjoyed two seasons,” Conte said.

“Also, I won two titles, I worked in this club. It’s a pity to listen to this situation; it’s not simple for the players, it’s not simple for Thomas Tuchel, for the fans, for the whole environment, Chelsea environment.

“Honestly, I hope that in general, that this situation between Russia and Ukraine is going to finish, and to find peace, because it’s too much important. And then, other situations that are coming, from this conflict. I think that it’s not right.

“I hope the best for this club because I worked in this club, I enjoyed the two seasons. For sure, I love the team, the club, that I worked in, in the past. Not every team that worked in the past I love, but I hope for the best for them.”

If things get messy financially, I wonder how it would affect the Chelsea Pitch Owners?

 

48 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

There was a lot of ambiguity to Romans statement, so nobody really knows.

He said "net proceeds", which in normally means the amounts received by a seller after deducting all costs and expenses, such as legal fees, brokerage fees and taxes, from the sale cost of an asset. He also said he would write off the loans. As such, it can be considered that Roman was willing to donate all the money (lets say £2bn), minus legal fees and expenses. But....that is hard to believe, and his statement left a lot of room for interpretation (and no legal basis to enforce it)

Hence my point about which entity was / is up for sale.

 

Simply put net selling CFC would be ( let’s exclude legal lees and expenses ) would be say £2.5 billion with a debt of around £30 million written off . But net after selling Fordsham would result in  say £2.5 billion likewise but would he have been looking to recover the debt of £1.5 billion  before establishing what net is. 

Culture Secretary has promised that they are " committed to protecting the club "

Cultural assets and bedrock of our communities are also mentioned.

We'll be fine.

21 minutes ago, forbzy said:

So with the UK government taking the asset, are we now technically Boris Johnson's Blue Army? Gawd help us.

On the contrary , I am already celebrating the nailed on premier league title this season 

35 minutes ago, ashwin said:

The US have been killing and bombing civilians (and 6 yo children) for years. And have completely destroyed many countries. Let's see some sanctions against them. Or against Israel. 

Russia has many million people to go to reach the levels of murder that USA has been responsible for. 

There is so much more here than a bunch of people doing the right thing. I don't think Boris Johnson or any right wing politician would do the right thing if it hit them in the face.

Exactly. American billionaires own Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal. Who knows what they've funded with their money. There is so much dirty and shady money in Sports, and most of all in football, we can't fully know what these billionaires are doing or have done with their money.

The hypocrisy of football is so blatant. They turn a blind eye to atrocities elsewhere, including in Qatar. But they are willing to go have a world cup out there. It's laughable. Then the government and our own politicans are tied to this shady money too.

Who funds Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, etc? We seriously have no idea as most of it is unknown. Clean money in politics and sport, is there such a thing? 

Surprised this is necessary considering this government's first-hand expertise when it comes to illegal streams of money connected to Putin. 

There's no such thing as a "clean" billionaire.

I imagine the mood tonight and on Sunday against Saudi’s Newcastle will be very hostile. There will be a lot of anger. The fans will be ones that suffer. 

Why did the club statement say West Ham? We don’t play West Ham until 23rd April. Was it a typo?

27 minutes ago, RMH said:

So how does this work? They freeze assets but continue to pay him (and other oligarchs) for the oil and gas, can these oligarchs still receive the money? If they can, why not for the sale of a football club?

The UK government freezes any assets Roman has in the UK, Roman is banned from traveling to the UK,  and it becomes illegal for any UK citizen or company to do business with him.

Roman cannot get money from the sale of the club because it is a UK asset, and therefore has been frozen.

3 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Why did the club statement say West Ham? We don’t play West Ham until 23rd April. Was it a typo?

Chelsea Ladies

The best way to stop RA being " enriched financially " is to leave things as they were.

it has sucked bucket loads of money out of his wallet over they years

No doubt we will disgrace ourselves if we dare to sing his name .

Can see the headlines already. Probably squeeze in a racist  fans comment too if they can

17 minutes ago, Zeta said:

There's no such thing as a "clean" billionaire.

Speak for yourself. I shower every day

Interesting: 

 

37 minutes ago, Mana said:

Social Media around Chelsea is a cesspool at the moment.

"HELP! SAVE THE BRIDGE!" "Back to a tiny club again!" "RIP 1905-2022" "DEAD CLUB" "Have fun fighting for relegation in L2!" "DELETE CLUB" etc.

The UK government is getting love from the rival fans right now. They really want us down under. Feck ANY of those idiots. Don't wish them that the same thing happens to them, but they are making it hard to.

I love this club to bits and to me it's like a close family member is in hospital at the moment.

Lovely comments. We can tell those people really have the Ukrainian cause first and foremost in their minds  

the fans of Man Utd, Arsenal & Tottenham are so happy because deep down they know that they would never be able to reach our level without intervention from the government taking us down

"How can we help those Ukrainians who are facing death , starvation and displacement  ?"

"I know how,  there's a football club in West London ..........."

 

Germany has enriched Putin a lot by being dependent on their gas, should we ban all Bundesliga clubs?

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Hard to get my head around all of this. I have never felt so uncertain about our future since I started seriously following the club. We have been turned upside down overnight.

Also, and I don't mean to sound horrible, but I am getting sick of people telling me to think about what is happening in Ukraine. I know what is happening in Ukraine is horrible, I'm not an idiot, but I can be concerned about more than one thing. You can't just tell me not to care about something I have dedicated a lot of my life to. Chelsea football club have been part of some of the best and worst moments of my life, I can't just switch off any feelings I have for the club because of the horrible things happening to the Ukrainian people right now. I'm not having any of the "it's just a football club" rubbish, it's not just a football club to us, it's a big part of what has shaped our lives.

Unfortunately 

 

54 minutes ago, CFC Minty said:

Just feel completely drained and depressed by this. It doesn't feel right that something that is so important to all of us can be put in such jeopardy because of political actions completely beyond the fans control.

Might sound naive of me, too, but I wasn't expecting the sheer level of vitriol expressed not just by rival fans but seemingly by the entire footballing media over this. They really want not just Abramovich but Chelsea fans in particular to suffer for this. Seen far too many comments holding us personally responsible as a fanbase for whatever ills they accuse Roman of.

I perhaps stupidly assumed that, if it came down to a point where the very club's existence seemed threatened, most football fans regardless of allegiance would take a step back and realise that Chelsea fans at least deserve a team to cheer for. But nope, the majority seem to be genuinely hoping for our liquidation as an entity. Seems like all the talk last year after the ESL about how football clubs are "vital parts of local heritage" and that they shouldn't be harmed by controversies of their ownership, has gone completely out the window. Maybe I'm alone in this but I had always thought that if Spurs or Arsenal were ever under such serious threat as we are now I would NEVER wish for them to go under. I have footballing rivalries with these teams and on some level "hate" them in a sporting sense, but at the end of the day they're fans just as us and I want to be in competition with them. In times like this you realise that feeling isn't returned when Chelsea is involved.

Been particularly astonished to even see Man City fans gloating in this, as if they are in denial of the fact that this sort of step being taken against Abramovich opens the door to future seizures of any football club which is under "dodgy" ownership. The American-owned elite clubs (Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool) will be fine no matter what, but Man City and Newcastle fans in particular have to realise now that they have a target on their backs, say if at any point in the next 10 years this government or the next one takes a harder line against Middle Eastern regimes and their wealthy residents.

A cynical part of me wonders if the government actually is aware of how badly this might screw the club over and deliberately sought the most damaging possible option, because they've banked on the idea that rival fans and even people without an interest in football will celebrate our collapse. I would have understood, to some extent, going down the path of seizing the club if Abramovich had been refusing to sell, but considering a sale was already well in motion and likely would have been concluded in a matter of weeks, this feels deliberately calculated to cause damage to Chelsea long-term as an entity.

Unfortunately envy and jealousy can have this affect on rival fans. I know they’re gonna be hurt by this accusation but that’s the truth. The reality is they’re not only jealous of Chelsea’s success but the relationship Abramovich has with the club and supporters. Roman was not just an owner, he was fan of the club who attended every game before his ban from the country. Even after his ban he still supported the team and attended CL and EL when it was possible. Compare it to United, Arsenal, and Liverpool owners who attend games when it’s convenient and look at the profits side things more than the success and progress of the club. Regarding City they’re gloating because they’re bitter that we crushed them in the CL final. Spurs were sh*t to begin so it’s no surprise that they are reveling at the moment. Don’t be convinced by there self righteous behavior. Some of them care about Ukraine crisis. The others don’t care and only want to see Chelsea go under and use the Crisis as avenue to attack Chelsea. 

1 minute ago, azpi28 said:

Germany has enriched Putin a lot by being dependent on their gas, should we ban all Bundesliga clubs?

 and a lot of lawyers and financiers in this country have gotten rich by hiding and protecting the Kremlin's dirty money.

E xpect to see their assets being grabbed by the Government any time now

Even if it makes us an average team for a while, I still love the idea of 50+1 ownership, like Bayern.

8 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

 and a lot of lawyers and financiers in this country have gotten rich by hiding and protecting the Kremlin's dirty money.

E xpect to see their assets being grabbed by the Government any time now

They won't do anything unless the press spotlights them. The press have been on Roman's case for weeks, putting pressure on the govt to take action.

Seemed a few of you are a little surprised at least at the reaction of rival fans? Why? I shared a while back a taste of some of the things they were saying. 

The majority of them legitimately hate us, they want to see us burn. 

Hatred and wanting to see other human being suffer and in pain is not consigned only to the Kremlin, did the media make you think otherwise?