Roman Abramovich plans to sell Chelsea | SOLD for £4.25BN

duffer

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Oh absolutely. Abramovich has become to be seen as a benign figure through his ownership of Chelsea and the money he throws at Jewish causes.
You're kidding, right?

The absolute best I've ever heard anyone describe him as was a ruthless and opportunistic businessman. Not even his kids think he is a "benign figure".
 

TMDaines

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You're kidding, right?

The absolute best I've ever heard anyone describe him as was a ruthless and opportunistic businessman. Not even his kids think he is a "benign figure".
If you say so. Until Russia invaded Ukraine, there was zero controversy over Abramovich’s ownership of the club in recent years. It had become accepted that he was just one of the Londongrad Lads. That’s what they do those oligarchs, bring their money to London, invest it, have the most incredibly litigious and aggressive lawyers they can afford, and slowly blend into the background. Lawyers will deal with the media, fans will thank you for your money.

If anything, he was seen as the archetypal sugar daddy owner: as long as he was doing a good job with the club, people stopped caring about the source of his funds.

It’s the same with City. It will be the same with Newcastle.
 

Rajiztar

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Oh absolutely. Abramovich has become to be seen as a benign figure through his ownership of Chelsea and the money he throws at Jewish causes.

Abramovich would have nobody crying about his sanctions or persona non grata status in the UK were he not a football club owner. As it is, he has thousands, if not millions, of fans and high profile figures associated with football willing to engage in whataboutism and putting a positive spin on his name. Just by owning Chelsea, or by the Saudis owning Newcastle and doing a reasonable job, you have a significant amount of people who are willing to give you a free pass.
Nobody here crying about his sanctions because he didn't get one. We will welcome if he get sanctioned because government has proof about his wrong doings.

One MP said bad things about Roman under parliament privilege otherwise Roman would have sued him. If that MP have evidence then just say it in open that he is indeed close to Putin. Why he is reluctant in saying obvious.
 

Jim Beam

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There's raging argument on twitter about this sort of thing. It's not as black and white as that. The chanting his name during the moment of solidarity was met with pretty robust criticism from other Chelsea fans online.
And from your own manager.
 

duffer

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If you say so. Until Russia invaded Ukraine, there was zero controversy over Abramovich’s ownership of the club in recent years. It had become accepted that he was just one of the Londongrad Lads. That’s what they do those oligarchs, bring their money to London, invest it, have the most incredibly litigious and aggressive lawyers they can afford, and slowly blend into the background. Lawyers will deal with the media, fans will thank you for your money.

If anything, he was seen as the archetypal sugar daddy owner: as long as he was doing a good job with the club, people stopped caring about the source of his funds.

It’s the same with City. It will be the same with Newcastle.
That's not my experience as a Chelsea fan, at all. Roman's dodgyness is (fairly) mentioned all the time and has been since day one.

Same with Man City, their owners are always mentioned. It'll be the same with Newcastle.

Obviously the war has changed things completely in terms of the coverage Roman is getting but he never got good press (not saying he deserved any) other than the NHS stuff in the last couple of years.
 

RedSky

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Chelsea fans doing Chelsea things. They really are utterly shameful shites. Feel sorry for the decent fans that get tarnished by the actions of those utter bellends.
 

do.ob

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That's not my experience as a Chelsea fan, at all. Roman's dodgyness is (fairly) mentioned all the time and has been since day one.
You're kidding, right?

The absolute best I've ever heard anyone describe him as was a ruthless and opportunistic businessman. Not even his kids think he is a "benign figure".
So how come people interrupt a silence for Ukraine with shouts for that "ruthless, dodgy, opportunistic" billionaire businessman? In this very thread one of your fellow Chelsea fans matches every post of yours with an example for sports washing.
 

TheReligion

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There's raging argument on twitter about this sort of thing. It's not as black and white as that. The chanting his name during the moment of solidarity was met with pretty robust criticism from other Chelsea fans online.
That’s great to hear. Thought it would be
 

duffer

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So how come people interrupt a silence for Ukraine with shouts for that "ruthless, dodgy, opportunistic" billionaire businessman? In this very thread one of your fellow Chelsea fans matches every post of yours with an example for sports washing.
Dumb tribalism and blind loyalty to the person responsible for nearly two decades of success. If that's sports washing, ok.

Everyone apart from Chelsea fans think he's a dodgy criminal. I don't think he's been "washed" by the sport at all.
 

charlie C

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Today the fans of my club let themselves down. At a time when sensitivity was required, some decided to follow their tribal instincts and a rightly condemned. What is it about football that attracts fans who can’t follow a simple morale code? Instead of having a minutes silence remembering the dead we feel the need to applaud, scared that the idiotic few will spoil the tribute. Fans can regularly be heard singing about tragedies like Hillsborough or Munich, boos can be heard when celebrating a nations anthem. We call fans of other teams scum and cnuts. Maybe we should all reflect on the standards of behaviour and those fan bases without sin, cast the first stone.
 
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UnrelatedPsuedo

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I guess we have differing views on what Sportswashing is.

Owning Chelsea has put a spotlight on Roman in my opinion, not washed his sins in the eyes any meaningful % of people who know who he is.
That’s being naive to a fault.
 

Spoony

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I think some posters are being a bit out of order in their anger towards him. As far as I am aware, he has never been known as a bad person. Yes how he accumulated his wealth is suspicious but it’s not his fault he’s born in a corrupt country. He has been living in England for years now and clearly loves our culture and people seem to only have good things to say about him.

He has probably risked his own life just to call for peace and offer donations to victims of the war.

:lol:
 

Dancfc

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Are Chelsea fans incapable of constructing sentences? Everything they chant is like a toddler just learning to talk. "Chelsea, Chelsea..."
Maybe one day we'll learn something as original as "United, United, United"
 

do.ob

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Dumb tribalism and blind loyalty to the person responsible for nearly two decades of success. If that's sports washing, ok.

Everyone apart from Chelsea fans think he's a dodgy criminal. I don't think he's been "washed" by the sport at all.
As far as I know the assumed primary reason for Abramovich buying Chelsea, in terms of sports washing, has been that he wanted to protect himself against a falling out back home, by becoming a public a public figure of British life. Which also means that in the British public eye he's (also) that guy who "loves" Chelsea, whose face everyone knows, instead of some unnamed faceless oligarch, no one would think twice about sanctioning. And of course he bought himself an army of "bots", who come to his defense and harass journalists, when people write something negative about him.

I mean look at your own posts, you're here telling me that he's not sports washing, so I guess he must genuinely love the club and invest for passion!? Which I think most people would see as a positive characterization.
 

Dancfc

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fecking hell Chelsea fans are something else.
Never known a club where people tar the entire club/fanbase due to the actions of a minority like they do with us.

Imagine if someone tarred your whole club based on Greenwood's recording or the minority that chanted about Hillsbrough?
 

TheMagicFoolBus

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Unfortunately I think he'll have to quit because of it.
If that happens we are truly fecked. That said, I don't think this is especially likely given some of his recent comments - he's said that he is keen to continue as he feels Chelsea are a good fit for him. Think Marina's future is far more up in the air than Tuchel's - I'd be surprised if he didn't see out the rest of his contract.
 

duffer

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I mean look at your own posts, you're here telling me that he's not sports washing, so I guess he must genuinely love the club and invest for passion!? Which I think most people would see as a positive characterization.
Up until he wasn't allowed into the country, he attended hundreds of games over two decades with his kids. There's hours of footage of him celebrating wins and goals, I just don't believe that was all just an act, if you do that's fair enough.

It's entirely possible for him the be a complete scumbag and also have some affection for a football club.

You can try to simplify it down to "he was sports washing or loved the club" because that's a nice and convenient way to make a point but things are never that straightforward in reality.

I just don't think "sports washing" as a concept really fits with Roman and Chelsea. Nobody had heard of him before he took over and after all these years, the vast majority of football fans all think he's a crook. There was no public opinion of him to rehabilitate or "wash".
 

padr81

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Never known a club where people tar the entire club/fanbase due to the actions of a minority like they do with us.

Imagine if someone tarred your whole club based on Greenwood's recording or the minority that chanted about Hillsbrough?
Nah Liverpool get it too albeit not from the media. Any team that has a high percentage of dicks in comparison to the 1% at other clubs. Much and all as I hate to give them anything after the bus attack or City, 3-4 % of their fanbase really tarnish it for the rest. With you guys its kinda the same.
 

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Not to say I told you so… but I told you so. This is the kind of predictable thing that happens when you stop simply supporting Ukraine or opposing Russia and it’s invasion and attacking people on a personal level.
One of the most famous opera singers in the world was forced to leave the Met Opera for essentially being Russian.
You. Will. Play. Into. Putins. Hands. With. This. Strategy. In the case of the Newcastle owners, the human atrocities were committed by the actual person buying the club.
In the case of a lot of these Russians …, they are JUST Russian.
We are trying to distract from the fact the the UK and the US signed a treatise in the Budapest memorandums GUARANTEEING the sovereignty and independent borders of Ukraine in 2014. We are failing in our obligations, because we are scared. And we ignore Zelensky’s every other word. He’s gonna be like: “Have you cut off your oil purchases, and made efforts to keep our skies clear of bombers?”
And we’re gonna be like: “No… we took a Rich guys football team and wore, like, a ton of Ribbons though”
 

cyberman

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Not to say I told you so… but I told you so. This is the kind of predictable thing that happens when you stop simply supporting Ukraine or opposing Russia and it’s invasion and attacking people on a personal level.
One of the most famous opera singers in the world was forced to leave the Met Opera for essentially being Russian.
You. Will. Play. Into. Putins. Hands. With. This. Strategy. In the case of the Newcastle owners, the human atrocities were committed by the actual person buying the club.
In the case of a lot of these Russians …, they are JUST Russian.
We are trying to distract from the fact the the UK and the US signed a treatise in the Budapest memorandums GUARANTEEING the sovereignty and independent borders of Ukraine in 2014. We are failing in our obligations, because we are scared. And we ignore Zelensky’s every other word. He’s gonna be like: “Have you cut off your oil purchases, and made efforts to keep our skies clear of bombers?”
And we’re gonna be like: “No… we took a Rich guys football team and wore, like, a ton of Ribbons though”
Russian Oligarch > Opera singer to be fair
 

Donaldo

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Never known a club where people tar the entire club/fanbase due to the actions of a minority like they do with us.

Imagine if someone tarred your whole club based on Greenwood's recording or the minority that chanted about Hillsbrough?
Most here are old enough to remember the last 19 years of chants and support for Abramovich from your "minority" :lol:
 

Donaldo

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Can someone edit the thread title? This 'club' he wants to get rid of has a name.
 

Fully Fledged

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If you say so. Until Russia invaded Ukraine, there was zero controversy over Abramovich’s ownership of the club in recent years. It had become accepted that he was just one of the Londongrad Lads. That’s what they do those oligarchs, bring their money to London, invest it, have the most incredibly litigious and aggressive lawyers they can afford, and slowly blend into the background. Lawyers will deal with the media, fans will thank you for your money.

If anything, he was seen as the archetypal sugar daddy owner: as long as he was doing a good job with the club, people stopped caring about the source of his funds.

It’s the same with City. It will be the same with Newcastle.
Abramovich's oil wealth has been under scrutiny for years, and in 2018, he withdrew his application for a UK investor visa amid mounting criticism. He's been using an Israeli passport to get into the country, and even lived a nomadic existence on his fleet of yachts for a while when he was denied entry to the UK.
If you say so.
 

vanrooney

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if the pl or the uk had a bit of decency they would take this whole shit as a possibility to kick out the likes of dubai etc from football as a whole. anyone who thinks the saudis or dubai are any better than russia is naiv.
 

Fully Fledged

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Not to say I told you so… but I told you so. This is the kind of predictable thing that happens when you stop simply supporting Ukraine or opposing Russia and it’s invasion and attacking people on a personal level.
One of the most famous opera singers in the world was forced to leave the Met Opera for essentially being Russian.
You. Will. Play. Into. Putins. Hands. With. This. Strategy. In the case of the Newcastle owners, the human atrocities were committed by the actual person buying the club.
In the case of a lot of these Russians …, they are JUST Russian.
We are trying to distract from the fact the the UK and the US signed a treatise in the Budapest memorandums GUARANTEEING the sovereignty and independent borders of Ukraine in 2014. We are failing in our obligations, because we are scared. And we ignore Zelensky’s every other word. He’s gonna be like: “Have you cut off your oil purchases, and made efforts to keep our skies clear of bombers?”
And we’re gonna be like: “No… we took a Rich guys football team and wore, like, a ton of Ribbons though”
How did Roman Abramovich get his hands on a nationally owned oil company? If he has no ties to the Russian government why did they let him just take over the company? Why do they still let him have control of so much of Russia's oil?