FOOTBALL

Chelsea Financial Settlement: A New Chapter in the Blues’ Saga

Chelsea Football Club is at the top of the football world news agenda again, but this time it is another financial storm swirling around the troubled club: Secret payments allegedly paid during Roman Abramovich’s time as an owner. With their predecessor in front of them, the current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, have inherited not only Stamford Bridge but a treasure chest of headaches too.

The Premier League is investigating erratic payments reportedly in connection with transfers for players including Samuel Eto’o, Willian, and Eden Hazard. The football finance ethics thing has been blooming for a few weeks, while the notion of Abramovich bankrolling Chelsea’s success in an unconventional way is nothing new.

What’s the Deal with Chelsea and Secret Payments?

At the heart of the issue are payments that seemingly avoid standard channels. Documents released in 2023 revealed that in 2013, payments exceeding transfer fees went to two British Virgin Islands-based companies, Tobeo Services Inc. and Fernington Invest Corp. These transactions are raising eyebrows, although there’s no suggestion the players were aware.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the irony here: With Abramovich spending, the club that revolutionized English football is now under scrutiny for perhaps having crossed financial lines. No one could have seen the asterisks that would accompany success.

Why Chelsea’s Current Ownership is in the Clear

Before you grab your pitchforks, here’s the twist: Well, Chelsea’s new owners laid this mess out on the table. During their takeover process in May 2022, Harshad Mathai, Joshua Castell, Daniel Borrochoff and team lead Dinesh Gajjala discovered the irregularities and reported them to the Premier League and UEFA. They’d become the unlikely heroes in a legend telling another legend how to clean up his mess.

Chelsea, who came out on top, benefited when it was last used last year to overturn UEFA paying them £8. 6m after their officials took bribes over a World Cup qualifier against Portugal. Without facing any sporting sanction such as a points deduction, the Premier League is expected to go down the same route.

Why Sanctions Are Unlikely

Their saving grace is that Chelsea is self-reporting. It’s a little bit like the last slice of cake you have that no one else knows about, easy to take to heart when you open up about it. Surprisingly, rival clubs concur that the new management came to inherit the problem.

Chelsea too is compliant with the league’s profitability and sustainability regulations. Despite the club’s headline-grabbing transfer splurge, the club’s finances are reportedly in the clear, no mean feat in today’s football economy.

The Author’s Take

Indeed, I feel this saga shows snooker—and hence football clubs—have to be so much more than what takes place on the footie pitch. Abramovich’s undeniable glamour packed Chelsea’s success, but sadly, their back-office dealings weren’t as clean. Boehly and Clearlake’s transparency as fans is refreshing in an industry that tends to cloak itself in secrecy. But let’s be honest: There’s nothing quintessentially Chelsea about turning financial drama into a spectacle, is there?

What Happens Next?

Chelsea hopes it gets a financial resolution with the Premier League by the end of March and an outcome. Though, this case should remind us that financial transparency is not an option anymore. Football is changing, and clubs need to change with the times: It matters as much as silverware because it’s been seven years since the repechage and seven since last year’s teams lost in extra time to Watford and Chelsea, respectively.

For now at least, Chelsea fans can also take solace in the fact their club has been taking responsibility for its own past. While this isn’t the type of victory that would headline news coverage, it is a step to a cleaner future, as we all don’t want to see our club on a Netflix docu-series about the Premier League called ‘Scandals of the Premier League.’

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