This week has been perhaps the most dramatic and historically significant moment in the history of the club since the one in which Mr. Abramovich bought the club in 2003. The war between Russia and Ukraine continues to rumble on with some of the most horrific scenes of what modern warfare may begin to look like in the 21st century. Cell phone footage circulating throughout social media is moving hand in hand with messages from either side in more traditional news mediums. For a huge amount of the world, this is the first time that this has happened on such a large scale.
Somehow, Chelsea Football Club has been caught in the middle of it because of its owner, Roman Abramovich. The very status of the club as an entity has been brought into question. Though that seems extreme, the British government’s sanctions are incredibly, and one might even suggest abusively, strict. I am, of course, emotionally compromised. The Blues have helped raise me as much as any other cultural institution. The club of such importance in my life that friends I have not heard from in years texted me when they heard about the sanctions.
Now—before we move forward in the click-bait, guilty until proven innocent, trial by public opinion over court and jury of peers system that internet immediacy has created—a few things need to be made completely clear:
- The war in Ukraine is a tragedy, a true human rights horror and something needs to be done about it.
- Abramovich did make the majority of his fortune during the break-up of the Soviet Union and he has been highly involved in politics. He has been a governor and senator in Russia.
- Chelsea Football Club has been a bastion of the community since 1905, 51 years before Abramovich was even born.
Let’s get into the piece.
1. Sanctions
Where I draw umbrage in this issue is with the concept of sanctions against a private business in a country outside the one in question. Yes, Abramovich owns the Blues, he is Russian and Russia is waging a war against Ukraine, but he is not the only person involved with Chelsea Football Club. Thousands of employees of the organization will have their lives damaged by the sanctions as they are imposed currently. Hundreds of local west London businesses will be impacted by the sanctions. All of this following what we can only hope was the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These sanctions stink of political posturing by politicians who aren’t actually doing anything to help with the crisis at hand and let us all be reminded of what that crisis is. It is not a Russian oligarch stealing from Russia, it is a rogue Russian politician waging war against Ukraine. The United Kingdom’s sudden condemnation of oligarchs is hypocritical at best. It has always allowed wealthy foreign individuals to have freedom within the country.
The UK has long had a shady reputation amongst the less-than-savory and wealthy of the world as a place you could buy your freedom. The famous Investor Visa—more often described as the Golden Visa—was a system created to allow ultimate freedom and British protection to those wealthy individuals who could guarantee through their own personal wealth an injection of cash into the economy of the United Kingdom. This has been used by countless villains to buy their way out of the countries they’re worried about being persecuted by and into British society.
In fact, since the practice was formalized in 2008, some 11,000 “Investor Visas” have been granted by the Home Office, according to the Guardian. The majority going to, you guessed it, Chinese and Russian businessmen. The United Kingdom’s posturing on this issue when its morality has been for sale for a long time is a ridiculous notion. It has been the Swiss with British accents and cold beaches for a long time, and everybody knew it. This rush to claim a moral high ground that was surrendered years ago is pathetic.
Of course, we are in uncharted territory at the moment and Mr. Abramovich’s status does put particular interest on him. All true. His huge stake in Russian businesses that have been tied to the war effort is not something that can be looked over or ignored, but how does destroying thousands of lives of ordinary British taxpaying voters punish him? At the time of writing, Abramovich’s jet had landed in Tel Aviv, Israel four hours ago. I bet there was still champagne and caviar on his plane. Meanwhile, the matchday stewards who have rent to pay and are being let go by the club struggling for money right now might feel differently.
The British government had no issue taking his money to support NHS staff, did it? It had no issue taking his money to fund the Holocaust wing of the Imperial War Museum. There are several conservative party members of the British government with direct links to Abramovich’s funding, as well. The strange pretending that everyone is doing that we didn’t know about Abramovich’s past the whole time is interesting. We always knew the majority of his wealth came from Russian companies after the break-up of the USSR. He displayed an interest in assimilating into British society and with his money, the Russian was able to do a very good job of it while everybody looked the other way.
Why would the British government simply not then ban him from leaving the country, accessing any funds outside it or having any contact with people outside the UK? It already took the money, it’s already in England and in the pockets of thousands of people. Is it going to take his investment out of the country in every respect when that’s literally what it brought him into the country to do? It didn’t care where the money came from, so long as he spent it in Britain at the time.
2. Premier League
That is something that the Premier League should come to terms with, as well. It’s the best division in the world in no small part due to the fact that it has had such loose rules around investment for so long. It’s the money division, not the moral division. The ceiling is higher, the tension higher and more is at stake. More is bet, won and lost in the Premier League than in any other league. That has taken forgetting morality for many in the hunt for trophies; conscientious compromises were made by many. Everton is tied to another oligarch. Newcastle is owned by Saudi Arabia, who has been waging war on Yemen for years now, and executed 81 people in one day on Sunday. Manchester City is owned by high-ranking members of the United Arab Emirates, a country with a long list of human rights violations.
The Premier League gave up morality ages ago. There are no morals left and that’s the game now. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter anymore, nothing in it that has to do with right and wrong. It is about winning, pure and unfiltered competition. For people to claim anything other than that now shows a minimal understanding of the division in the first place. The division is so ruthlessly competitive because of the people it has allowed to push it forward. They cast aside the moral high ground for financial dominance ages ago. Acting as if Abramovich and the Blues are somehow the outliers here is ridiculous and that’s the problem.
The division sold its soul ages ago—that’s why it’s so good. That’s why it’s so ruthless in ingesting the talent of other divisions from all over the world. The 12th highest-paid team in the Premier League would be the second highest-paid team in France! Aston Villa would come directly behind Paris Saint-Germain and be followed by Monaco, the Clarets would be 7th in Serie A.
The issue is trying to reclaim that moral high ground and soul somehow by hurting those innocent people who aren’t involved at the highest level makes little-to-no sense. Chelsea has over 2,000 employees, none of whom are Abramovich, and yet all of them are going to feel the attempts to punish him more than he. In fact, I would argue that’s the only way to somehow make this whole situation more of a morally decrepit mire of horrors. Pretending you’re doing something only to hurt innocent people? Yeah, that’s bad too. Sanctions are dumb. They don’t work. They’re just political posturing and nothing more by people who don’t actually want to do anything, but want to appear that they are. Steve Hanke, a professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, says as much, “the record of those actions is that they fail.”
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In fact, sanctions usually have the opposite effect. They allow dictators to consolidate power. Once the people of the country have no economic means to help themselves, they become entirely reliant on the state. Fidel Castro operated for over 50 years while sanctioned, Kim Jung-Il and Gaddafi were also sanctioned and maintained power. Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela has only grown more powerful while sanctioned. The United States sanctioned Iran for years and nothing happened there either, except a radicalization of the state. Vladimir Putin was still sanctioned when Russia blew up that maternity hospital last week. It’s disgusting.
Oddly, we finally saw the first benefit of cryptocurrencies. When banks closed down because they were so shocked by Russia’s actions in the Ukraine, ordinary people were forced to do something themselves and they were able to send aid outside the financial system. People help people, politicians rarely ever do. Sanctions are nothing more than a tool for public manipulation that politicians use to suggest they are doing something in order to placate their voters while they actually do nothing.
Abramovich is fine right now. He’s in his home in Israel comfortable and warm. Chelsea is not. Isn’t Abramovich the person the government is trying to hurt? Why is it the historic British institution that ties millions around the world to the nation is the one being hurt? Is that justice? No.
Something needs to be done, but punishing the people of Britain—west London in particular—for the crimes of a mad politician thousands of miles away doesn’t seem like it’s par for the course. The pathetic attempt to grab headlines, political clout, virtue signal and jockey for positions in whatever the next hierarchy is in the sport after Abramovich leaves is sickening. I don’t blame people who don’t know better but what bothers me is how many of them always have and were too weak to do anything.
3. Chelsea’s future
Now is the time to come together, now is the time for the community. It’s time to pull in the same direction as one. Go to the stadium and go to the pubs in the area. If you’re not allowed in go and spend the day in west London having the time of your life, have the heavy lunch with the cream sauce and the extra pint. Make sure to leave an unnecessary tip to say thanks.
Here is a list of businesses you should visit and support:
- The Chelsea Pensioner
- The Cock
- The Imperial Arms
- The Sporting Arms
- Frantoio (I like it in particular, but it is a restaurant, not a pub)
Follow that up with donations to any of the Ukraine charities listed here.
Go have fun and be merry. Sing the songs together and dance in the streets. Let everyone know that our community is not going to fall apart because it’s more than just high-salaried players, who don’t care about us anyway, in a fancy league that lies to itself about what it really is. Make sure you can be heard in and around Stamford Bridge while you sing and that everybody knows that no matter what, Chelsea Football Club has been a bastion of the London community since 1905—it will be in 2905 too.
Punishing the people of London does not help the people of Ukraine who are in serious need of aid, friendship, loyalty and support. There’s nothing in the world that compares to what they are going through, but coming apart at the seams and allowing ourselves to be ripped apart by politicians who care more for themselves than helping anyone isn’t a good start. Being part Ukrainian and having a family member who works in a Ukrainian charity trying to get people out of the country, I could not feel more strongly about what it is Russia is doing. Do not mistake my defending one community for taking sides against another. That would be mighty stupid.
Ukraine and Chelsea did nothing wrong and deserve no pain, shame or heartbreak. How it is that neither is receiving any help while people clammer to consolidate political favor is the real shame here.
Until an issue has been made that I can make my peace with in this regard, this will be the last “Tactics and Transfers.” All my best to all of you, my dearest readers. It has been a pleasure and I have appreciated the journey with you immensely. Keep the Blue Flag Flying High. -Barrett