Simon Jordan, a former Crystal Palace chairman, has slammed Roman Abramovich, labelling the Russian Billionaire as “one of the worst things to happen to English football” after his decision to sell Chelsea.
This is coming after Abramovich is demandingthat Chelsea’s new owners continue to invest in the Blues squad and pledge to redevelop Stamford Bridge
Abramovich had announced that he had put Chelsea up for sale, insisting that the decision is in Chelsea’s ‘best interest’.
The 55-year-old has decided to sell Chelsea after the threat of sanctions from the UK Government over Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, triggering a bloody war in Eastern Europe.
It’s understood that Abramovich, who bought Chelsea for £140 million back in 2003, has set a £3 billion asking price.
But Jordan believes Abramovich should not be praised for his influence on the English game.
“People were attributing last week the evolution of the Premier League to people like Roman Abramovich,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
“With due respect – with the exception of Chelsea – Roman Abramovich was one of the worst things that could have happened to English football.
“We were on a direction of travel that was already upwards. Our Premier League was already flying, we already had the broadcasters throwing money at us – hand over fist.
“What you did was you created hyperinflation. You might have broken up the duopoly, you might have stopped the powerhouses that were United and Arsenal for a period of time.
“But that was going to happen anyway because ownership models were changing anyway.
“What you did was you changed the landscape by making football so financially unviable for your own reasons.”
“These people are not buying these football clubs because they love the football clubs, they are buying them because they want to get a life insurance policy against political leanings,” Jordan added.
“They want to sportswash, they want to legitimize regimes like Newcastle, they want to have a situation where they own our English football clubs.
“And we sit there and we go, ‘That is great.’ And the main beneficiaries of it are agents and players.
“What have we got now? A generation of players that have no character, no backbone, no substance, get paid far too much money. The immorality of football comes up for question.
“And I think it is a tragedy… Abramovich’s legacy is what? For Chelsea, fabulous. For football in this country, I think it is awful… good riddance, bye bye, next,” he said.
