Chelsea supporters’ trust urges Government to amend sanction to avoid job losses

The Government must urgently amend the terms of the licence imposed on Chelsea in order to avoid innocent people losing their jobs, the club’s supporters’ trust has said.

Blues owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the British Government on Thursday over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine just over two weeks ago.

Abramovich’s assets have been frozen, with Chelsea allowed to continue to operate but under strict conditions designed to prevent them generating new revenue which could benefit the Russian-Israeli billionaire.

This includes the sale of any new tickets for home or away matches, and a ban on the sale of merchandise.

The club issued a statement on Thursday urging the Government to amend the licence terms, and Dan Silver from the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) warned people’s livelihoods were at risk even in the short term if it was not altered.

“We would like the club to have the ability to trade as close to maximum capacity as possible,” he told the PA news agency.

“It’s the casual staff who work on matchdays who aren’t going to get paid. If only half the people are in the stadium, they’re only going to need half as many staff.

“All these people rely on that (money) to put food on the plate. It’s harsh on them, and the punishment falling all the way downhill is harsh.

“We don’t want to have any jobs lost as a result of this, because the bigger picture is to keep everybody in the club protected and looked after.”

If the Government wants to keep a tight, watchful eye on where the money goes, there’s nothing to hide and the club should have no issue with doing that.- Dan Silver, CST

Silver said a compromise solution would be for Chelsea to be allowed to sell tickets