Chelsea have been charged by the FA for breaches of agent regulations from their time under Roman Abramovich’s reign at Stamford Bridge.
Todd Boehly and co have assisted the FA in their investigation over the club for incidents which occurred between 2010 and 2016, six years before the American invested into the Blues.
Boehly has hired top accountants to make sure Chelsea survive the most severe of punishments, however it will now be a nervous wait to see how the FA decides to deal with the matter.
The Blues have already been stung by UEFA this summer after breaking financial rules, meaning they had to sell big in order to register new players for their Champions League squad.
Eden Hazard involved as Chelsea hit with 74 FA charges
Financial expert Adam Williams has told The Chelsea Chronicle that the club were well aware that these kind of charges were coming their way, with Eden Hazard one of the players to allegedly benefit from these deals.
He said: “In terms of what Chelsea are accused of doing, the charges relate to parallel payments to players and agents between 2010 and 2016 that have helped them keep costs off the book and therefore given them more room under Premier League and UEFA financial rules.
“Basically, Club A pays Player B a signing-on fee of, say, £5m which goes towards your PSR calculation, but then you also might make another £5m payment to Player B’s agent through Company C, which is outside the corporate structure of Club A.
“Eden Hazard is among the players to have allegedly been paid in this way, though indirectly through his agent and an offshore mechanism. There is no indication that Hazard, nor the other players involved, have been involved in any wrongdoing themselves.
“Chelsea have known this is coming down the track for some time. In fact, they have already settled with UEFA and they are still under investigation by the Premier League, although I believe the mood music is that the latter process is moving in a direction they are comfortable with.“
Chelsea owners covered by £100m decision
With it being known that this was coming at Stamford Bridge, Boehly and Behdad Eghbali made sure they were covered financially for the potential punishments.
Williams went on to say that £100m was taken off the price they bought Chelsea for to allow them the money for any offences that may have occurred during Abramovich’s time at the club.
He said: “So the FA charges aren’t a surprise – and Chelsea’s owners actually took £100m off the price they initially paid for the takeover because of them. Effectively, the rationale was that they would need that money because of their liability to be punished for the alleged offences of the Roman Abramovich era.
“So the owners are covered financially. The worry is if there is a sporting sanction applied by the FA, which they are entitled to do. That could be a points deduction. A fine and a transfer embargo are also on the table.
“But the owners have fully co-operated, to the extent that the issues probably would not have even come to light if they themselves hadn’t reported them. That will presumably be considered when the FA comes to deciding a punishment if the charges are upheld.“
“Given that Chelsea themselves have self-reported, I’d say there is a very high probability that the charges will indeed be upheld. But my instinct is that the FA won’t do anything too punitive in terms of a points deduction. I suspect it will be a financial penalty instead, which, as I say, they are prepared for. There are experts who say very differently, however, and I’d encourage Chelsea fans to read up on those.“
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