Thomas Tuchel Doesn't Want Roman Abramovich Apology

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Chelsea take on Liverpool at Wembley in the Carabao Cup Final at 4:30pm, with the Blues looking to pick up their second piece of silverware of the season. However, the game’s preparation has been overshadowed by alleged links between Chelsea’s owner Mr Abramovich and Putin, the Russian leader who has been widely condemned for ordering the ruthless invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday, Mr Abramovich, who bought the club 19 years ago, passed the stewardship of Chelsea to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation. 

Though he remains owner, he has relinquished the running of Chelsea after a call in Parliament for him to be sanctioned following the Ukraine invasion.

Mr Abramovich has vehemently denied reports alleging he is close to Putin or the Kremlin, and insists he has not done anything to merit sanctions.

However, according to the Times, a Putin biographer once claimed the President’s relationship with Mr Abramovich was like that of a father and a “favourite son”.

In 2012, a high court judge also claimed that Mr Abramovich had “very good relations” and “privileged access” to Putin.

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The Chelsea owner was in court after former business partner Boris Berezovsky accused Mr Abramovich of forcing him to sell his Sibneft shares at a cut price. 

Despite noting Mr Abramovich’s ties with Putin, judge Mrs Justice Gloster stressed that his influence on the Kremlin was “limited”.

The judge said: “There was no evidential basis supporting the contention that Mr Abramovich was in a position to manipulate or otherwise influence President Putin or officers in his administration, to exercise their powers in such a way as to enable Mr Abramovich to achieve his own commercial goals.

“I am prepared to assume that, on occasion, President Putin may have taken his views into account when making decisions, but the suggestion that Mr Abramovich was in a position to pull the presidential strings was simply not borne out by the evidence.”

The judge ruled in Mr Abramovich’s favour, labelling him “courteous” and “frank” while accusing Mr Berezovsky of being an “inherently unreliable” witness.

Mr Abramovich, who has amassed a fortune of £9 billion, met future business partner and Kremlin insider Mr Berezovsky in 1993 and forged alliances with the Yeltsin government including with Putin.

Together Mr Abramovich and Mr Berezovsky bought Siberian oil giant Sibneft for less than £149 million.

Meanwhile, his relationship with the then Prime Minister, Putin, allegedly allowed him and a small number of other influential Russians to take control of the country’s aluminium industry.

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On Thursday during Business Questions at the House of Commons, Labour MP Chris Bryant insisted that Mr Abramovich should be “no longer able to own a football club in this country”. 

Mr Bryant claimed that he obtained documents from 2019 which linked Mr Abramovich to “malign activity”, something which the Chelsea owner has vehemently denied.

Two days earlier Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Mr Abramovich already faced sanctions from the UK Government.

His spokesperson later stressed that the Prime Minister had “misspoke” in the House of Commons.

On Friday Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was incredibly frank when asked about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the possibility of Mr Abramovich being hit with sanctions. 

Tuchel said: “We should not pretend that this isn’t an issue. 

“At the moment I would love to take my right not to comment on it until there is a decision made.

“But we are aware of it and it is distracting and worrying us, and to a certain degree I can understand the critical opinions towards the club and towards us who represent the club.

The Champions League winning manager continued: “I can understand and we cannot fully free ourselves from it. 

“But maybe people also understand that me as a coach and the players do not have insight as to what is really going on. 

“At the moment we don’t actually feel responsible for what’s going on. We feel that it is horrible and there cannot be a doubt about it.”

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