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Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder has stressed he has no sympathy for Chelsea amid the Premier League side's predicament.

The Blues have been plunged into uncertainty since the decision from the UK government to add owner Roman Abramovich to the list of sanctioned individuals. The London club were not permitted to sell any more away tickets to stadiums, meaning fewer than 1,000 Blues fans made the trip to the Riverside Stadium for an FA Cup meeting with Boro, with Chelsea continuing to function under a special licence while the future of the club is resolved.

Wilder described the request as "baffling", echoing comments made by his club's chairman Steve Gibson in the light of Chelsea's query. And the manager, who has spent much of his career outside the Premier League, invoked troubles faced by other English clubs when playing down the seriousness of the top-flight club's woes.

"The club is not in jeopardy, is it?" Wilder said ahead of kickoff. "It's not a situation like a Macclesfield or a Bury in the football pyramid.

Bury were expelled from the EFL in 2019 amid financial issues. Macclesfield Town, meanwhile, found themselves subject to a winding-up order in 2020 after financial problems of their own.

"[Chelsea] will go up for sale and it will be bought by a billionaire, who will possibly invest more money into it, so