Roman Abramovich slammed by Micah Richards after Chelsea statement

Roman Abramovich’s statement announcing he is stepping away from Chelsea has been criticised by Micah Richards and Piers Morgan.

On Saturday evening, a statement from Abramovich confirmed he is “giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care” of the club.

 The Russian’s decision comes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I have always taken decisions with the club’s best interest at heart,” he said in the statement.

“I remain committed to these values. That is why I am today giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC.

“I believe that currently they are in the best position to look after the interests of the club, players, staff, and fans.”

However, former Manchester City defender Richards was unimpressed by Abramovich’s statement, saying it was “almost written in code”.

“We need more than that, don’t we?,” he said on Sky Sports. “After all the devastation we’ve seen in Ukraine over the last couple of days, to just come out with a statement that says you’re handing it over to a charity, I think’s is poor.

“They could do a lot more than that. There’s so many questions that need to be asked.

“To come out with a statement just like that. What does that statement even mean? It’s almost written in code, to say like ‘we don’t exactly want to tell you what’s happening but here you go, read this, and you pick the bones out of it and see exactly what it means.’”