Chelsea Football Club have been heavily criticised by the government after they complained about not being able to sell tickets to their fans.
The club called for their upcoming FA Cup match at Middlesborough to be played behind closed doors “for matters of sporting integrity” as the fallout from the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich continues.
According to Politico, a senior government source said Chelsea should instead “focus on moving their club into the hands of someone who isn’t linked to a warmonger”.
Chelsea owner Abramovich is among more than 1,000 companies and people with links to Vladimir Putin to have been sanctioned by the government in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It means the club cannot sell any tickets in order to ensure no money from the club’s commercial activities makes its way back to the billionaire oligarch.
The government has awarded the club a special license enabling it to complete its fixtures for the season.
But in a statement regarding the Middlesborough match, the club said: “It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognises that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.”
The government source hit back: “We are working around the clock to enable Chelsea to continue operating as a club in the interests of the fans.
“This statement threatening Middlesborough and the rest of the football league shows they do not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation they are in, being owned by an entity that has been sanctioned because of links to a person responsible for appalling acts in Ukraine.
“We are not opposed to Chelsea having fans at games in the long run, but we will not allow money from ticket sales to flow to a sanctioned entity.
“Chelsea should spend less time worrying about having a few thousand fans at one game, and focus on moving their club into the hands of someone who isn’t linked to a warmonger.”
In a statement of their own, Middlesborough FC rejected Chelsea’s request.
It said: “All concerned are well aware of the reasons Chelsea have been sanctioned and that this has nothing to do with Middlesbrough Football Club.
To suggest as result that MFC and our fans should be penalised is not only grossly unfair but without any foundation.
Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting “integrity” as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme.
We currently await formal notification from the Football Association of the next steps but rest assured MFC will resist Chelsea’s actions in the strongest terms.
Meanwhile, the government today announced it was sanctioning a further 370 Russian individuals and companies, as well as slapping import tariffs on goods such as vodka and banning the export of high-end luxury goods to Russia.