The Premier League have concluded their own investigation of Chelsea’s self-reported “incomplete financial reporting” from the Abramovich Era, and have levied a fine of £10.75m on the club, along with a suspended first-team transfer ban for two years as well as a nine-month ban on signing any Academy players from any other English club’s academy.
The fine is a bit heavier than what Chelsea were expecting (£8m) but inflation’s everywhere these days. More importantly, the punishment is only a fine (i.e.
no actual transfer ban, points deductions, or worse). The fine is also in line with the settlement that Chelsea had agreed with UEFA a couple years ago over these same financial irregularities from the previous decade (€10m).
This might not be the last time we have to pay a fine over this stuff, as according to The Times, The FA are now looking for their cut as well. Presumably, they’ll take their £10m as well here shortly.
These irregularities were discovered when BlueCo took ownership of the club, setting aside £100m at the time to cover “unforeseen liabilities”. The club then reported what was found to the relevant footballing authorities. The fact that we self-reported on all this has played a major role in avoiding any serious punishment.
The one new bit of information now is that some of these “incomplete” financial details have been reported more specifically. Here’s a list of “secret payments” that were made between 2011 and 2018. Some of these were already pretty much open secrets (like the double deal for Willian and Samuel Eto’o with bankrupt Anzhi Makhachkala, or how Eden Hazard ended up choosing us after a six-month transfer saga back in 2012).
- £23million to seven unregistered agents in connection with the transfer of seven players: Hazard, Ramires, David Luiz, Schurrle and Matic plus two others whose names have been redacted — possibly because they were under 18.
- £1.37million to Arnesen, De Visser and one unnamed individual.
- £19.3million to two entities in connection with the transfer of Willian and Eto’o.
source: The Times
And I’m sure this is just scratching the surface (at Chelsea, and all other clubs as well).
Once The FA announces their fine as well, hopefully we can be done with this story for good.
