Chelsea private jets red-carded
CHELSEA’S players have been told they can no longer travel to away games by private jet – and may need to use budget airlines.
Overnight stays in five-star hotels are also set to be ditched after club officials were given a £20,000 per-match limit on the squad’s away travel as part of UK government sanctions on club owner Roman Abramovich.
A source told the Sunday People: “With the numbers of staff the club take away and the hotels they stay in, that figure will be nowhere near enough to keep up the standards players are used to.
“Staff at the club are joking, but only half joking, that they’re going to have to start using Easyjet to away games.”
Abramovich, who ministers claim has close ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, was yesterday disqualified as a director of the Champions League holders by the Premier League’s board.
The Government sanctioned Abramovich, 55, after claiming to have proved his direct links to Putin’s regime, although he denies any association.
He had his UK assets frozen on Friday, which included Chelsea’s credit cards. It is understood the club have a £28million-a-month wage bill and are haemorrhaging cash after being banned from selling tickets and merchandise as part of the sanctions.
They were also further hit when sponsor Three pulled out of its £40million-a-year deal, amid pressure on Abramovich to give the club away for free.
The Russian-israeli oligarch has just over two weeks to find a buyer or the 117-year-old club will go into administration and risk a points deduction.
New York merchant bank the Raine Group has stepped in to handle the sale, expected to be worth over £2billion.
The Government said it would only approve a sale if Abramovich did not benefit.
He originally put Chelsea up for sale on March 2, pledging to write off the Blues’ £1.5billion debt and divert all proceeds to a new foundation to benefit victims of the war in Ukraine.
He is also facing asset seizures, including his superyachts Eclipse and Solaris.
Solaris left a Barcelona shipyard on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest sailing yacht belonging to Russian industrialist Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko was yesterday seized by Italian police in Trieste.