‘Approach with ‘common sense, fans shouldn’t suffer for this’ – DCMS chair vows to fight for Blues fans following Chelsea’s sanctions
Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government, and his assets frozen. This means, Chelsea will no longer be able to sell tickets to fans after Roman Abramovich’s assets were frozen by the UK government.
However, The club’s economic activities have been limited or rather suspended after the sanctions placed on the Chelsea owner.
Meanwhile, DCMS chair Julian Knight has called for common sense to be applied, insisting that football fans shouldn’t be punished for the scenes going on in Ukraine.
“I personally will be calling on the sports minister to take a much more ‘common sense’ approach with this. He told talkSPORT.
“If we can, in some way, ensure season ticket holders can renew and away fans can still go to Stamford Bridge – I’d like to see that happen.
“These rules are designed for assets which aren’t really football clubs, they’re something far more solid and less tangible.
“This is still a work in progress. I will ask the minister if there can be some dispensation and nuance to ensure that football fans and staff and players have more certainty and don’t live in this limboland or parallel universe.
“We need some understanding here.”
He added: “We need to make sure that fans can watch their beloved football team, that away supporters can go and watch their team, that’s very important.
“In my memory, this has never happened before, football being frozen in this way.”
He continued: “The situation to me looks completely untenable.
“We have to move forward and ensure that Chelsea football club survives, a new owner is found, and that we ensure there is no benefit to Russia whatsoever.”