Chelsea: Roman Abramovich releases statement about his status as club owner

Roman Abramovich has released a massive statement as Chelsea owner.

The position of the 55-year-old as the head of the Stamford Bridge club has come under scrutiny in recent days due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And it seems as though Abramovich will be relinquishing some of his responsibilities at the club, having released a major statement on Saturday evening that is curiously light on details.

According to the club’s official website, Abramovich wrote: “During my nearly 20-year ownership of Chelsea FC, I have always viewed my role as a custodian of the Club, whose job it is ensuring that we are as successful as we can be today, as well as build for the future, while also playing a positive role in our communities.

“I have always taken decisions with the Club’s best interest at heart. I remain committed to these values. That is why I am today giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC.

“I believe that currently they are in the best position to look after the interests of the Club, players, staff, and fans.”

What does it actually mean?
The exact ramifications of Abramovich’s decision, which hint strongly that his responsibilities at Chelsea will be peeled back to an unknown degree, are yet to be established in full.

However, the initial confusion sparked by the statement has somewhat been elucidated by various reporters explaining that Abramovich’s role is simply changing as opposed to him selling or leaving the club.

For example, Fabrizio Romano clarified the news on Twitter by explaining: “The club is understood to be ‘not for sale’ as things stand – also, Roman Abramovich is still the owner.

“The decision to step back announced today has been made in order to help and protect the club.”

Meanwhile, the BBC’s Natalie Pirks added: “I understand the club is NOT for sale and he remains owner. This was a decision he took to protect club, staff and fans from pariah status CFC could get through the Russian connection.

“Senior management unchanged, board of trustees won’t be involved with transfers.”

A lingering situation for Chelsea
There can be no denying that the situation comes as an unwelcome distraction for the Blues, who were faced with questions about Abramovich in the run-up to Saturday’s statement.

According to the Guardian, men’s first-team coach Thomas Tuchel said when asked about the situation: “I am aware of all these scenarios and I am aware of all these discussions at the moment.

“I would love to take my right not to comment on this until there is a decision made. But we are aware of it and it’s distracting us, it’s worrying us.

“To a certain degree I can understand the opinions and the critical opinions towards the club, towards us who represent that club. I can understand that and we cannot fully free ourselves from it.

“Maybe people understand that me as a coach or the players, we don’t have the insight what is really going on. At the moment we don’t feel responsible for all this.

“We feel that it is horrible and there can be no doubt about it. War in Europe was unthinkable for me for a long period. The impact is clear and the discussions have an impact. Let’s be a bit more patient and understand what the measurements will be and then we have to maybe deal with it.”

Only time will tell whether or not Chelsea will endeavor to shed more light on Abramovich’s statement themselves.