Chelsea cannot be allowed to operate as “business as usual” after sanctions were imposed on Roman Abramovich, says Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston.
Abramovich had his assets frozen by the UK Government as part of its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sales of home tickets and merchandise have been stopped, but the club is allowed to continue to operate.
“We’ve got to be careful of making sure there isn’t any incremental new revenue generation,” said Huddleston.
On Tuesday, the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) said it believed more changes to the sanctions needed to be made “as not to punish supporters”.
“We have had constant dialogue with Chelsea fans because the whole strategy throughout is to be very, very clear that Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned and that has clearly had implications,” Huddleston said on Wednesday.
“I was very honest and open with the Chelsea fans saying ‘this will have an impact because he has been sanctioned and he is the owner of the club’.
“We have tried to make reasonable modifications to the licence to enable fans to engage with the club and continue as much as reasonably possible.
“I continue to work with the fans, but I was very clear from day one and it’s still the case – this is not business as usual.
“This is a different world because the club’s owner has been sanctioned.”
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