‘This is very serious’ – Chelsea ‘likely’ to land points deduction after charges revealed
Chelsea are “likely” to land a points deduction if they are proven to have gained a sporting advantage after being charged by the FA.
Chelsea have been under investigation since BlueCo, which is spearheaded by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, took over the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022.
The Blues reported themselves to the Premier League, Uefa and the FA after discovering during the takeover process “incomplete financial information” had been submitted to the football authorities between 2012 and 2019.
Chelsea were charged by the FA on 11 September with 74 alleged rule breaches relating to payments to agents between 2009 and 2022, with events between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 seasons the primary focus.
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Chelsea’s potential punishment could be mitigated by their change in ownership, early guilty plea and cooperation.
Chelsea points deduction could be reduced after Nottingham Forest reveal
Chelsea reached an £8.7million settlement with Uefa in July 2023 due to the governing body having a statute of limitations that meant it was able to look back only as far as the 2018-19 season, while a Premier League investigation is still ongoing.
Everton were previously deducted eight points for breaching the profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with Nottingham Forest docked four points for the same offence.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Chelsea’s charges, Borson said: “The nub of it will be whether anybody can establish that the breaches created a sporting advantage.
“If you have a sporting advantage established, then it’s likely that you end up with a sporting penalty. Now, that can be mitigated by considerations like new ownership, early guilty plea, lots of cooperation.
“These are all things that Chelsea are pushing out into the media as being what they’ve done. That is mitigation. There’s no question. The question is what’s the starting point?
“Is the starting point, well, this is very serious, and we think you’ve had a major sporting advantage? The starting point is a number of points, in which case you’re mitigating down percentage wise from that points deduction.
“If you look at something like Nottingham Forest, they had a lot of cooperation commended by the commission. Now, that was a Premier League commission, but the law is basically the same and they’ll cross compare the cases.
“In that case, there was basically an argument where Nottingham Forest said, we should have a 50 per cent reduction on the penalty. The Premier League said, that feels a bit too much 50 per cent, maybe 30 per cent. The commission went in the end for 30 per cent.
“It was going to be six for Nottingham Forest and they got two knocked off for early admission and cooperation.
“You would think that Chelsea would be able to get 30 per cent, maybe even a 40 per cent reduction for their mitigation, adding all the bits and pieces together if everything they’re saying is true about how they cooperated, admitted it, informed.
“So, they get very good mitigation.”
Enzo Maresca‘s side have until 19 September to respond to the FA charges.
Premier League clubs to demand Chelsea points deduction
Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness told Football Insider Premier League clubs will demand Chelsea are deducted points after allegations emerged around Eden Hazard’s move to Stamford Bridge.
The Times reported in April Manchester United missed out on signing Hazard in 2012 after they refused to pay his agent, John Bico, a secret multi-million-pound payment, which would have breached the governing body’s rules.
The newspaper said a Premier League investigation was continuing into allegations an offshore company belonging to Abramovich made a £6m payment in 2013 to Bico via a Dubai firm after Chelsea signed Hazard for £32m from Lille in 2012.
The former Blues winger registered 110 goals and 88 assists in 352 appearances at Stamford Bridge, where he claimed six trophies before joining Real Madrid in a £130m deal in 2019.
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