Roman Abramovich Thread

[Vesper 28,366]

16 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

No not at all. I know of one. The guy that tried to buy Arsenal. The fact that Newcastle just sold for 300M, from an investment aspect, committing 2B for a team is going to have a very low return on money, unless you hold that investment a very long time. So you really are back to how many Americans that are double digit billionaires would commit that much money? I can only think of one. They might be Americans that could pay 2B, but they would have to be very passionate about being an owner.

you are goalpost moving now

you now are introducing intent or willingness

your statement I replied was simple

Quote

There are very few Americans or investment groups that can pay 2 billion.

they are shedloads who could pay 2 billion

the stadium alone for the LA Rams (who just won the Stupor Bowl) cost 5 billion

[Vesper 28,366]

Roman Abramovich's daughter hits out at Vladimir Putin and Russia's war on Ukraine

Roman Abramovich - who has owned Chelsea for almost two decades - is one of Russia's most well-known oligarchs with his links to president Vladimir Putin under scrutiny

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/roman-abramovich-Chelsea-vladimir-putin-26328859

Sofia Abramovich, the daughter of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, has hit out at the actions of Russian president Vladimir Putin after the nation declared war on Ukraine.

Sofia has posted an image on her Instagram insisting that the Russian people do not support his stance on Ukraine.

It is a notable development as Sofia’s father shares closes tie with the Russian president and comes after Labour MP Chris Bryant called for Abramovich to be banned from owning the Blues following Russia's decision to invade its geographical neighbour.

Abramovich has owned Chelsea since 2003 and overseen the most successful period in the club's history, winning countless trophies - including the Champions League twice - but is rarely seen at Stamford Bridge nowadays.

Sofia posted an image which had the message “Russia wants a war with Ukraine” but with Russia crossed out and replaced instead to read “Putin wants a war with Ukraine”.

Underneath that message read another pointed sentence: “The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin.”

To hammer home the point, there was an image of Putin below the message under a red blocked image to highlight the disapproval.

In the summer of 2018, Abramovich withdrew his application for the renewal of his British visa by the Home Office.

Chelsea subsequently halted plans to build a £500million stadium in south-west London due to the "unfavourable investment climate" and the lack of assurances about Abramovich's immigration status, with the club’s owner having planned to invest hundreds of millions of pounds for the construction of the stadium.

Abramovich has since obtained Israeli citizenship, meaning he now has visa-free entry rights to the United Kingdom for a period of up to six months.

He was in attendance for Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Manchester United earlier this season, his first visit to Stamford Bridge in over three years.

The Chelsea owner was in London earlier that week to host Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, for a campaign against anti-Semitism held in the English capital.

Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed Abramovich "has not been the subject of targeted measures" after mistakenly telling the House of Commons he'd been sanctioned by the government.

On reading this report, Bryant told the Commons on Thursday: "Following some of the reports in The Sun and other newspapers today, I've got hold of a leaked document from 2019 from the Home Office.

"Which says, in relation to Mr Abramovich, as part of HMGs [Her Majesty's Government] Russia strategy, aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interests to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices.

"An example of this is Abramovich admitting in court proceedings that he paid for political influence.

"Therefore HMG is focused on ensuring individuals linked to illicit finance and malign activity are unable to base themselves in the UK and will use the relevant tools at its disposal including immigration powers to prevent this.

"That's nearly three years ago, and yet remarkably little has been done in relation. Surely Mr Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country?

"Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets, including his £152m home? And making sure that other people who've had tier one visas like this are not engaged in malign activity in the UK."

There is no suggestion Roman Abramovich is connected to terrorism or involved in any wrongdoing.

Sofia is extremely passionate about horseback riding and is a professional equestrian, representing Russia in several equestrian events.

She is the daughter of Abramovich’s second wife, the former Russian Aeroflot stewardess, Irina Malandina and is one of five children (along with Ilya, Arina, Arkadiy and Anna) of the Chelsea owner from that marriage.

Abramovich subsequently married Dasha Zhukova, daughter of a prominent Russian oligarch Alexander Zhukov, with whom he had two children - a son, Aaron Alexander, and a daughter, Leah Lou, before the couple divorced in 2018.

Sofia is said to reside with her mother in an estate in West Sussex and divides her time between London and Sussex.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Vesper

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

you are goalpost moving now

you now are introducing intent or willingness

your statement I replied was simple

they are shedloads who could pay 2 billion

the stadium alone for the LA Rams (who just won the Stupor Bowl) cost 5 billion

I do not see it as a goal post moved. If a journalist is writing that an American or American investment group could buy Chelsea, it would stand to reason that person or group would be someone or people interested in buying a club. At 2B, that is a really small list, maybe as small as one.

[Vesper 28,366]

54 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

I do not see it as a goal post moved. If a journalist is writing that an American or American investment group could buy Chelsea, it would stand to reason that person or group would be someone or people interested in buying a club. At 2B, that is a really small list, maybe as small as one.

Quote

I do not see it as a goal post moved.

I suggest you study rhetoric and logic then.

Also, I completely disagree with your statement in terms of the size of the list.

[robsblubot 3,464]

Politicians in democracies are constrained by time (even if reelected). Dictators, autocrats, communist regimes are not. That gives them a (or perhaps several) distinct advantage(s) whether you like it or not. At a minimum, they can think and plan long term and not worry about reelection. 

Regarding Roman, whether he had Putin's ear or not is simply irrelevant. It was a "contract" in which some russian oligarchs were allowed to exist to maintain peace. I personally think all Russian oligarchy should be shunned out... so that their vast useless wealth can't buy a whole lot.

Not sure any "extreme" hoarding of wealth is actually beneficial to society or humans in general, but that's a very different discussion.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

34 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I suggest you study rhetoric and logic then.

Also, I completely disagree with your statement in terms of the size of the list.

I would like to hear what American other than Daniel Ek has shown interest in paying $2B for a team?

[Vesper 28,366]

26 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

26 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

I would like to hear what American other than Daniel Ek has shown interest in paying $2B for a team?

 

lol

Daniel Ek is SWEDISH

smdh

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

7 minutes ago, Vesper said:

lol

Daniel Ek is SWEDISH

smdh

Ok, then what American do you see spending 2B on an EPL team?

[Vesper 28,366]

27 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Ok, then what American do you see spending 2B on an EPL team?

I am done with this, you are not a mind reader

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

29 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I am done with this, you are not a mind reader

It is actually a decent conversation about sports team ownership in America. There are quite a few NFL owners that have diversified into MLS teams. It is no coincidence that the MLS season starts right after the NFL season ends. These owners are keeping their stadiums in use by owning MLS teams. We are headed to watch Atlanta United Sunday, who are owned by Author Blank who also owns the Atlanta Falcons. The Glazers have done really well with Man Utd and Tampa. They truly run both as a business. Stan Kroenke is a completely different animal. He owns a long list of sports teams, due largely because he married into wealth. His wife Ann Walton inherited half of the WalMart riches. He and Ann have tons of money to play with, he never needed city taxes to build a new stadium for the Rams. 
 

I think if there was an American owner that had the funds it would be a MLB owner. The only problem is £2B is hard to justify when they could buy other EPL teams for a lot less. When that article said an American billionaire or sports group, it just doesn't make financial sense. It would have to be someone that just has to want Chelsea and does not care about profit. Roman has pretty effectively priced Chelsea out of a price that makes financial sense if profit is the motivation for buying. I am sure the FA is probably aware of that also if they wanted to force his hand. Another reason why Roman is such a good owner for fans, he cares more about winning than profit.

 

[Pizy 18,331]

If Roman is forced to sell the club there will be a line a mile long of billionaires begging to take over. Mostly Americans.

Chelsea (the actual area in London) is the most popular place in the city for über wealthy Americans to settle. There’s a deep connection between Americans and that area. There will be numerous American billionaires who would be desperate to break into PL football.

Unlike some of the other big PL clubs who have had ownership changes over the past few years, Chelsea would be ready made and already at the pinnacle of the sport. No staving off relegation, no searching desperately for a manager, no years and years of rebuilding, no overpaying for average players to get to midtable. 

A new owner would come in and already have a winning machine on their hands with millions and of millions of supporters all over the world (and here in the States in particular). As an American, I can tell you that this would be extremely appealing to and American billionaire.

I can imagine one of the NFL team owners would kill to take over Chelsea.

[Mário César 968]

13 minutes ago, Pizy said:

If Roman is forced to sell the club there will be a line a mile long of billionaires begging to take over. Mostly Americans.

Chelsea (the actual area in London) is the most popular place in the city for über wealthy Americans to settle. There’s a deep connection between Americans and that area. There will be numerous American billionaires who would be desperate to break into PL football.

Unlike some of the other big PL clubs who have had ownership changes over the past few years, Chelsea would be ready made and already at the pinnacle of the sport. No staving off relegation, no searching desperately for a manager, no years and years of rebuilding, no overpaying for average players to get to midtable. 

A new owner would come in and already have a winning machine on their hands with millions and of millions of supporters all over the world (and here in the States in particular). As an American, I can tell you that this would be extremely appealing to and American billionaire.

I can imagine one of the NFL team owners would kill to take over Chelsea.

and you think that they can make a better job than RA?

[Pizy 18,331]

25 minutes ago, Mário César said:

and you think that they can make a better job than RA?

No idea. Depends on just how rich they are. Roman is SO ridiculously wealthy that Chelsea isn’t really a money making venture for him, it’s a pure passion project for him. He doesn’t need to bleed the club to line his pockets like the American owners of Man United do.

If some guy who’s worth tens of billions buys the club you could potentially see a PSG situation where he just wants to buy loads of superstars without caring about profiting from the club.

But anyways, I highly doubt it’s going to come to this. They aren’t going to yank away his club when they allow the likes of these murderous Arab regimes take over other clubs.

[Superblue 6,370]

42 minutes ago, Pizy said:

If Roman is forced to sell the club there will be a line a mile long of billionaires begging to take over. Mostly Americans.

Chelsea (the actual area in London) is the most popular place in the city for über wealthy Americans to settle. There’s a deep connection between Americans and that area. There will be numerous American billionaires who would be desperate to break into PL football.

Unlike some of the other big PL clubs who have had ownership changes over the past few years, Chelsea would be ready made and already at the pinnacle of the sport. No staving off relegation, no searching desperately for a manager, no years and years of rebuilding, no overpaying for average players to get to midtable. 

A new owner would come in and already have a winning machine on their hands with millions and of millions of supporters all over the world (and here in the States in particular). As an American, I can tell you that this would be extremely appealing to and American billionaire.

I can imagine one of the NFL team owners would kill to take over Chelsea.

The problem is if we end up with an American owner like United, Arsenal and Liverpool have, there is a very real possibility we'll lose all of that edge. 

I don't want to get involved on the political side of things and Roman has always cast a cloud over the club to some degree with who he is, but purely from a football position we have benefited beyond our wildest dreams for pushing 20 years with his investment. The jealousy from rival fans comes from the fact that our owner is in it purely for enjoyment and essentially as a hobby and as a result has never been afraid to back the club with his own money.

I know we're in a completely different situation to the one when Roman bought us and with more recent rules regarding financial fair play, etc the goalposts have changed somewhat but we still rely on his ability to pump money into the club to give us an edge in the transfer market (like what happened a couple of summers ago in the middle of a pandemic).

The American owners run the football clubs more as a business, and few have shown the passion and dedication that Roman has shown over the years to the clubs they're involved in. It's an investment and from the outside looking in, the feeling seems to be it's a lower priority than perhaps American sports teams they also own. It isn't a coincidence there's so much dislike from the fans of these clubs to their owners. 

I don't have concerns over the club as a sellable and attractive entity to be purchased but I do have massive concerns over what we could end up with as owners if such a situation was to arise.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

1 hour ago, Pizy said:

If Roman is forced to sell the club there will be a line a mile long of billionaires begging to take over. Mostly Americans.

Chelsea (the actual area in London) is the most popular place in the city for über wealthy Americans to settle. There’s a deep connection between Americans and that area. There will be numerous American billionaires who would be desperate to break into PL football.

Unlike some of the other big PL clubs who have had ownership changes over the past few years, Chelsea would be ready made and already at the pinnacle of the sport. No staving off relegation, no searching desperately for a manager, no years and years of rebuilding, no overpaying for average players to get to midtable. 

A new owner would come in and already have a winning machine on their hands with millions and of millions of supporters all over the world (and here in the States in particular). As an American, I can tell you that this would be extremely appealing to and American billionaire.

I can imagine one of the NFL team owners would kill to take over Chelsea.

If that were the case I think you would already seen those owners looking to buy other teams. £2B is a huge investment. The Saudis got Newcastle for £300m. Stan Kroenke bought Arsenal for £550M. The Glazers have a total investment of £800M.  FSG bought Liverpool for £300M. 

[Pizy 18,331]

5 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

If that were the case I think you would already seen those owners looking to buy other teams. £2B is a huge investment. The Saudis got Newcastle for £300m. Stan Kroenke bought Arsenal for £550M. The Glazers have a total investment of £800M.  FSG bought Liverpool for £300M. 

Times are much different now. Arse, United, and Liverpool were bought years and years ago. Newcastle was a massively depreciating asset and their standing was in the toilet. These days billionaires and their companies have unprecedented amounts of money laying around that they’re looking to spend before things change. Look at all the colossal acquisitions you’re seeing in the tech industry for example.

Like I said, as a London club that’s “ready made,” Chelsea is uniquely desirable I think. It being up for sale would be a once in a generation chance for an egomaniac billionaire to buy in to probably the most sought after sports league in the world.

[cosmicway 1,299]

16 hours ago, Vesper said:

one of the least informed posts I have seen in weeks

I also notice you completely ignore Trump, who not only was impeached over trying to get Ukraine to cook up false charges on Biden, but also blocked aid to them, and now is supporting and praising PUTIN

 

I did not ignore Trump's peculiar behaviour.
I 'm only stating that the issue dates from 2014.
If the 82nd was in Ukraine Putin would n't even dare.
If can't be done then declare Ukraine is neutral like Sweden and get over it.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,416]

5 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Times are much different now. Arse, United, and Liverpool were bought years and years ago. Newcastle was a massively depreciating asset and their standing was in the toilet. These days billionaires and their companies have unprecedented amounts of money laying around that they’re looking to spend before things change. Look at all the colossal acquisitions you’re seeing in the tech industry for example.

Like I said, as a London club that’s “ready made,” Chelsea is uniquely desirable I think. It being up for sale would be a once in a generation chance for an egomaniac billionaire to buy in to probably the most sought after sports league in the world.

We are just speculating but Shahid Kahn the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars bought Fulham for £77M. I think owning a London team is done for a lot less than £2B. All of these guys are wealthy because of good business. 
 

In any case, I hope we never find out.