There are ways to run a football club, and there are inevitably ways to not run one and whilst fans in the wider world of football continue to await the David vs Goliath final battle judgment between Manchester City and the Premier League over the 115 Profit and Sustainability Rule charges they have faced since, I think I am correct in saying, about the year of our Lord 1569, neutrals up and down the country who have been innocently questioning the bizarre spending that has gone on at Stamford Bridge will now have a new preoccupation.
Manchester City's owners might well enjoy the competition in the battle for alleged PSR breaches as Chelsea, under Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital Group, appear to have spent in the space of five minutes more than the United States spend on Defence each and every year and whilst hotels and women's teams ring in the ears of most fans, the Londoners have this week self reported to the Football Association that upon taking over the club from innocent oil magnate Roman Abramovich, they have found multiple rule breaches that took place between 2009 to 2022 that related to payments to agents.
Maybe this is a powerplay by Chelsea, and for those fans who flutter with Boylesports premier league odds these would not have been the charges they were looking for (to quote Obi Wan Kenobi), City have PSR locked up, so they wanted 74 alleged rule breaches of their own to their name that avoided Premier League involvement? Fans will speculate. In any event, the self reported charges are mostly focused on transfers between the 2010/11 and 2015/16 seasons and that brings deals involving Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o and Willian into question - although it should be very quickly stated that there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those players.
The alleged rule breaches focus on, and concern, agents, intermediaries and third party investments in players only.
Having self reported these irregularities, Chelsea now have until September 19 to respond to the Football Association's contact. However, for those fans questioning their current spending they should not be expecting fireworks even if Chelsea are found responsible for the actions overseen by their former owner. Much like we have seen on PSR self reported breaches, the FA are likely to take a softer approach here if guilt is eventually established after investigations and self reporting and co-operating is highly rewarded, and although potential punishments are wide ranging, they are only going to be a fine, potential transfer embargo and whilst it is on the cards, it is highly unlikely that a points deduction would be employed on owners who were not in charge at the time of the breach.
Reports state that sources close to Chelsea are expecting a fine ultimately and not a stricter sporting sanction, but should it be a fine it will not have any impact on their future PSR compliance as upon noticing these issues, they have pre factored them into their financial calculations.
The PL have confirmed that their investigation continues, but it is over to the FA here it seems and we await what kind of cross over between the authorities their might be. Cynical fans will be expecting a far quicker resolution to this one, because it will not potentially effect anything.
