ROMAN IN EXILE
Chelsea supremo misses Wembley win in visa row
ChelseA owner Roman Abramovich was unable to attend the FA Cup triumph over Manchester United at Wembley because of problems with his UK visa.
Abramovich’s visa expired several weeks ago and there have been unexplained delays in the renewal process.
It is not unusual for the Russian billionaire to be absent from matches, but these revelations come when diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia are strained.
Following the nerve-agent attack in March on former spy sergei skripal and his daughter Yulia in salisbury, the then home secretary Amber Rudd ordered reviews into the Tier 1 visas awarded to more than 700 wealthy Russians in recent years. It is unclear whether these include Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in 2003.
There has been no comment from the club or from the owner’s Moscow-based spokesman John Mann.
Abramovich is in the process of renewing his visa, which is a standard procedure but has taken longer than usual.
There have been no indications from the home Office that the visa will be refused
SINCE Roman Abramovich appeared at Chelsea and launched the club into another world there have been concerns about an empire built on the wealth of one man.
What happened if he got bored with his toy? Or suddenly dropped dead, as Russian oligarchs have been known to do?
Or what if his residential status was compromised by small but important changes to the bureaucratic process in the aftermath of a diplomatic crisis? Then what?
Chelsea have won more major trophies than any other team in England since Abramovich bought the club from Ken Bates for an initial £60million, in the summer of 2003.
The 51-year- old Russian is now ranked as the joint 13th richest person in Britain with an estimated fortune of £9.3billion, according to the 2018 Sunday Times Rich List.
He has become a popular owner, proving to be a force for continuity in English football and many of the initial fears have faded. He has invested millions to assemble some of the world’s best players on lucrative contracts, built a sparkling training facility in Surrey and hatched plans for an ambitious new stadium at Stamford Bridge.
Aggregate losses over 15 years add up to more than £750million, although the bulk of this can be found in the early part of his ownership.
His team-building largesse was initially unchecked by UEFA’s financial fair play regulations, which were introduced as a reaction to Chelsea’s threat to the traditional elite of European football.
More recently, the onus has been firmly placed on running the club as a going concern with an increase in commercial revenues and offsetting recruitment in the transfer market with sales and loan fees.
Boosted by a good year of player trading and the rise in revenue from broadcasting rights, Chelsea’s accounts, for the year ending June 2017, returned a £15m profit and a record figure for turnover. The club have been in profit for three of the last six seasons.
Abramovich has now become one of England’s steadiest owners. This has always been the aim, to minimise the risk of the doomsday scenario and ensure Chelsea are healthy when Abramovich moves on, whenever this may be.
Yet his presence is vital for a stadium project which could be the first in the country to cost more than £1bn. And to dig into his pocket and pick up the shortfall in those years when the team require extra investment in recruitment.
Or there comes time for a costly managerial change. Millions have been spent on severance pay for coaching staff and Chelsea are back in this territory with Antonio Conte.
To sack the Italian, with one year left on his £9m-a-year contract, and his eight staff and replace them will be a costly exercise.
There is nothing to stop Abramovich owning Chelsea without a residency visa. English football is awash with owners who do not live on these shores and some can barely muster the interest to visit and watch a game.
But this visa hitch is a timely reminder of the dangers of a one-man empire at Stamford Bridge.