Collymore asserted that Chelseas’ success was fraudulent and that the 21 trophies won under Abramovich should be withdrawn retrospectively by the FA
By Kehinde Okeowo
Liverpool legend, Stan Collymore, has suggested that the English FA should strip West London club Chelsea of every cup they won during Roman Abramovich’s reign.
The former striker made the statement via his Twitter handle, where he argued that the money the 55-year-old Russian used in achieving success is questionable.
Collymore went on to say the UK Government’s decision to freeze his assets over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin called into question all the laurels Chelsea won during his two decades at the club.
According to him, the sanction means Chelsea’s success was built on access to “dodgy” money, which ought to nullify the 21 trophies won under Abramovich.
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He backed up his suggestion by citing that Serie A giants, Juventus had titles stripped for match-fixing and that athletes caught for doping are stripped of their medals several years after. thereby recommending the action could be taken retrospectively.
Collymore said: “So the question now needs to be, asked if Chelsea’s loans, access to ‘dodgy’ money and sanctions against its primary source of funds for 20 years is now rubber-stamped. How can titles won in this period stand?
“The British Government only knew Abramovich was a Putin acolyte today? Not the other 20 years? Who’s leading the security services? Inspector Clouseau?
“When RA bought the club the love of a team had strings attached. An oligarch. You can’t detach team from oligarch because team success came directly from him.
“Medals are stripped for doping, so will trophies?
“If someone doped in an Olympics 30 yrs ago they would still be stripped of the medal now.
“Therefore retro punishment is a logical question to ask. Juventus had titles stripped for match-fixing. Juventus.”
