Worst of all, Chelsea are no longer able to sell a single thing

Chelsea became champions of the world this time last month. If you didn’t know any better, you’d assume everyone has been basking in the glow of this epochal achievement ever since. But you do know better. You know that Kepa ended up looking quite the toolkit in the League Cup final. Again. You know that the team flirted with FA Cup humiliation at the hands of Luton. And you know that, geopolitical events having led to Roman Abramovich putting the club up for sale, an unprecedented era of success is coming to an end. Chelsea are still champions of the world for the next 11 months, of course, and whatever happens now will always have a roll of honour stretching halfway down the Kings Rahd. So, small violins and all that. Still, everything in context.

No, it’s been downhill ever since they lifted that damned Fifa pot, and if all the aforementioned wasn’t bad enough, events this morning threw a cat into a tin full of pigeons, then firmly closed the lid. Abramovich has been hit with sanctions by the UK government and had his assets frozen, plunging Chelsea into chaos. Of course, this pales into insignificance when compared to events in Ukraine, but our old pal context helps us here again – and to be fair, people are allowed to be worried about different stuff of varying importance at the same time. This decision – preposterously trumpeted on social media by the Oligarch Taskforce, the UK government seemingly now being advised by Trey Parker and Matt Stone – means Abramovich’s plans to sell the club have come to an abrupt halt.

Given rumours that he may have sold up to the bloke running the New York Jets, this may be no bad thing for Chelsea in the long run. At least everyone has time to stop and think. But little else about