Fair Game: Chelsea Crisis Outcome Due to Culture Ignoring Financial Sustainability

The crisis at Chelsea is the result of a culture that “ignores financial sustainability”, the Fair Game reform group has said.

The European champion faces an uncertain future after his boss Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Abramovich has earned more than £1.5 billion since buying Chelsea in 2003 and the club have announced a need to amend their license to allow them to operate but prevent them from generating new revenue.

Fair Game director Niall Couper told the PA news agency: “The situation at Chelsea is another example of why football needs a radical rethink.

“The question marks over the club’s future are the result of a culture that disregards financial sustainability.

“There are too many clubs that are being bankrolled. And the question that must be asked is what happens when (those benefactors) disappear? ”

Couper added: “We need to get rid of a culture that relies heavily on owner benefactors.

“In 2020, 52% of clubs were technically insolvent and that was before the pandemic. Those numbers need to change.

“We need real-time financial reporting, the power to step in when problems arise and, importantly, the Sustainability Index.

“An index that uses huge sums of TV revenue to reward clubs that perform well, are financially sustainable and can survive without a benevolent employer.”