Jamie Carragher criticises Roman Abramovich statement: Chelsea have ’embarrassed themselves’

Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea have ’embarrassed themselves’ with their statement on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and says Roman Abramovich’s decision to not reference the conflict in his message is ‘really poor’.

On Saturday, Abramovich announced that he is passing his ‘stewardship’ of the club to the trustees of the Chelsea’s charitable foundation.

The decision by the Russian billionaire, who denies any link with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, is not expected to have an impact on the day-to-day running of the club as Marina Granovskaia will remain in control of football operations, while Petr Cech continues to be the link between the team and the board.

Chelsea followed that up with a brief statement on Sunday morning, describing the ‘situation’ in Ukraine as ‘horrific and devastating’. However, their 23-word message included no reference of Russia’s aggression.

For the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our live blog: Russia-Ukraine live

And Carragher believes Chelsea should have been ‘a lot stronger’ in their message.

‘I don’t think they’ve handled it really well,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.

‘I think in the couple of statements they’ve put out, I think it’s been really poor, they’ve let themselves down badly.

‘The club came out today and put a statement out but I think that was almost trying to rectify what Roman Abramovich had put out the night before.

‘I don’t think they did they well either really, so it’s not worked out well for them at all, I think they’ve embarrassed themselves.

‘They should be a lot stronger in what they said, really. The thing of Roman Abramovich passing on [his stewardship] to Chelsea trustees, that’s not him relinquishing the club, stewardship is not ownership, it’s completely