I know this opinion won’t be popular, but I blame Roman for the mess we are now in and in truth have been getting into for a good while.

He spent a lot on many great players and managers and we won a lot of pots, so I can see how criticising him can seem absurd. But despite the success it was largely a circus and in the latter years a very badly run one.

Given the length of time he owned the club and the money he spent, and the success on the field, he definitely failed to build a strong well oiled institution. It feels now like a wasted opportunity. It should have been much harder for Boehly to mess it up.

Remember though, Roman was 'lighter' sanctioned by the UK for a good while before, that must have affected how things were at the club for a few years before the sh*t hit the fan totally.

True, I guess it’s easy to forget that the stadium development appeared to stall when he was refused the visa and relocated to Israel.

Still think we could have been in a better position than we are now if he’d made better decisions.

Edited November 13, 20223 yr by Snedger

You give Todd too little credit. He has managed to mess up so epically it should be practically impossible and yet he has achieved it 

Roman has his madness, also his valid reasons for the madness. When things stalled, he took drastic actions. It's true we were never stable, but we are almost among the top 6 ( and 4 most of the time). The amount of damage Boehly has done in a few months is outstanding, I don't even know what's our standard now, top 8, top half of the table? It's not like he bought a team outside top 6. All the other managers are praising Potter, they want this madness continues. With Roman, we could be sh1t for a reason, then the inevitable bounce back.

Give me back Roman. Todd just trow away money and we are stuck with expensive players when he is out. Look at man u with the big contracts.

10 hours ago, Gcgoal2012 said:

Give me back Roman. Todd just trow away money and we are stuck with expensive players when he is out. Look at man u with the big contracts.

Yeah, that never happened under Abramovich 

Well this could be interesting ... 😎

(From BBC)

Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will discuss the sale of the club in a new book set to be released this summer after giving his first interview in four years.

Abramovich, who remains sanctioned by the UK Government due to alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has conducted a two-part interview about the £2.5 billion sale of Chelsea in 2022 to American consortium Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, a deal which took place after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The interviews took place in Abu Dhabi in January and in Istanbul a year prior and are said to include Abramovich's account of his initial takeover of Chelsea FC in 2004: the sanctions, his efforts in the previous peace process and his suspected poisoning in March 2022.

Before these, Abramovich's most recent interview was to Forbes in March 2021 and, aside from a short statement in January that year about Frank Lampard's sacking and statements about Chelsea's 'Say No to Anti-Semitism' campaign, he had not given an official interview since 2006.

The book named "Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC" is written by Nick Purewall and will also tell other stories from that accelerated 95-day sale - run by Raine Bank under the supervision of the UK government - and will be released by Biteback Publishing this summer.

Well I’m definitely getting that book

On 23/04/2025 at 09:34, Sexyfootball said:

Well this could be interesting ... 😎

(From BBC)

Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will discuss the sale of the club in a new book set to be released this summer after giving his first interview in four years.

Abramovich, who remains sanctioned by the UK Government due to alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has conducted a two-part interview about the £2.5 billion sale of Chelsea in 2022 to American consortium Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, a deal which took place after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The interviews took place in Abu Dhabi in January and in Istanbul a year prior and are said to include Abramovich's account of his initial takeover of Chelsea FC in 2004: the sanctions, his efforts in the previous peace process and his suspected poisoning in March 2022.

Before these, Abramovich's most recent interview was to Forbes in March 2021 and, aside from a short statement in January that year about Frank Lampard's sacking and statements about Chelsea's 'Say No to Anti-Semitism' campaign, he had not given an official interview since 2006.

The book named "Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC" is written by Nick Purewall and will also tell other stories from that accelerated 95-day sale - run by Raine Bank under the supervision of the UK government - and will be released by Biteback Publishing this summer.

I wouldn't be surprised if the book is sanctioned. I'm serious.

Look forward to the book - but can't imagine it will make for happy reading.

I don't know enough about sanctions legislation, but it very much felt like HMG were simply lashing out at whichever rich Russian they could, out of desperation to be seen to be "doing the right thing" and supporting Ukraine. Roman looked to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I might be wrong, and perhaps he was in with vlad, but the book will be an interesting read....assume the UK gov will not come out of it with any credit.

The Government are thinking about using the courts to get access to Roman's frozen bank account. Still disputes about how it should be used.

I'm quite surprised Roman hasn't sued the UK Government and Raine Group yet.

On 25/04/2025 at 22:09, The Rising Sun said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the book is sanctioned. I'm serious.

Me neither, but how do you stop digital versions of it going viral ? Almost impossible in this day and age ...

2 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Me neither, but how do you stop digital versions of it going viral ? Almost impossible in this day and age ...

I still get angry about what was done to our club.

The EU removed the information about Roman's businesses being involved in providing stuff to the Russian military a while back. He's still sanctioned along with all Russian businesses, but they've had to concede that they were wrong about the military stuff. I remember the article about Roman and the picture of him with the headline " Blood on his hands' "

He should sue that newspaper ( can't recall which one) Even on today's news they said the government "allowed" Roman to sell the club, as if they were doing him a big favour..

f**kers.. EDIT..found the newspaper..

Edited June 3, 20251 yr by The Rising Sun
Info

3 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

The Government are thinking about using the courts to get access to Roman's frozen bank account. Still disputes about how it should be used.

The money isn’t in Roman’s bank account is it? I thought it was being held in a separate/governent account?

39 minutes ago, JM7 said:

The money isn’t in Roman’s bank account is it? I thought it was being held in a separate/governent account?

I read in Private Eye magazine a while back that the money is in his frozen "Fordstam" bank account.

"He ( Abramovich) cannot access the £2.5bn sale proceeds under UK sanctions but the money still legally belongs to him.

When he announced his decision to sell the club, he said proceeds from the sale would be donated via a foundation "for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine", which would include those in Russia."

Edited June 3, 20251 yr by The Rising Sun
Info

I'm surprised our club and American owners haven't been sanctioned in retaliation for Trump's " Tariff Wars" ...

2 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

I read in Private Eye magazine a while back that the money is in his frozen "Fordstam" bank account.

"He ( Abramovich) cannot access the £2.5bn sale proceeds under UK sanctions but the money still legally belongs to him.

When he announced his decision to sell the club, he said proceeds from the sale would be donated via a foundation "for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine", which would include those in Russia."

I guarantee he will outwit the useless British government.

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

I guarantee he will outwit the useless British government.

Even @axman2526 could outwit the British government…

18 minutes ago, Munkunku said:

Even @axman2526 could outwit the British government…

Yeah and that is saying something!

Wait a minute didn't I read on here that you voted for this current government and were quite enthused about them Munk?

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Yeah and that is saying something!

Wait a minute didn't I read on here that you voted for this current government and were quite enthused about them Munk?

We all make mistakes, just ask your parents.

1 hour ago, Munkunku said:

We all make mistakes, just ask your parents.

Well I am adopted so long since known I am a whoopsie baby.

12 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

I'm quite surprised Roman hasn't sued the UK Government and Raine Group yet.

Why would he sue the bank he appointed??

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Why would he sue the bank he appointed??

Oh I don't know ... maybe because they were supposed to come up with a suitable custodian to enhance his legacy, and they came up with a bunch of asset strippers who completely dismantled it and loaded it with debt ?

Edited June 4, 20251 yr by Sexyfootball