Chelsea’s FA punishment means they now have a fresh start on and off the pitch

First, Xabi Alonso was hired as the new manager. Now, the final punishment for historical financial irregularities has been settled. It truly is a fresh start for Chelsea both on and off the pitch this summer.

There will be many outside of Stamford Bridge who will be upset over the Football Association following UEFA’s and the Premier League’s lead by effectively simply handing the club a fine of £10million. The punishment is not quite that simple. There is also a suspended transfer ban — the Premier League issued one as part of their findings four months ago too — in place. A suspended six-point deduction was overturned on appeal.

But given there were 74 FA charges for breaching agent regulations regarding the signing of players between 2011 and 2018 under previous owner Roman Abramovich, many non-Chelsea-related people in the game will think they got off lightly. Unsurprisingly, it is not a view shared by those in charge of Chelsea.

This case has been hanging over Chelsea’s head from the moment the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium did their due diligence when buying the club in May 2022. After spotting irregularities while going through the books, it was their decision to report the findings. It was not the case that the governing bodies spotted something awry and had opened up an official investigation into Chelsea on the back of their own work.

Chelsea were also very compliant when it came to providing the respective governing bodies all the paperwork they required whenever they requested it. Rather than fighting the process from day one, Chelsea did their utmost to assist it.

As far as they were concerned, this should have always been taken into account and provided a mitigation for whenever punishments were being handed out. What message would it send to other clubs if, by being open and honest with what is going on, rather than denying everything and getting lawyers to fight your corner, they still ended up with a significant points deduction and/or a transfer ban? It would surely convince club owners they would be better off taking the more obstinate second option in future.

While Chelsea as an institution were obviously the ones to benefit from Abramovich’s misdemeanours, the current ownership were not there at the time. They always maintained they should not be held to account for something that was not their responsibility.

Internally, there has always been a lot of confidence this would be the conclusion. But it is still a significant development that a transfer ban and/or points deduction has been avoided. No one would blame them had some concerns over ‘what if?’ scenarios, even if just for a few minutes, entered their minds at times, especially as it continued to drag on.

The club’s current owners flagged the issue when doing due diligence (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

It is three years this month (July) since UEFA were the first ones to act, issuing a €10m fine for “incomplete financial reporting” under Abramovich. The Premier League issued the biggest fine in their history, since being formed in 1992, when they ordered Chelsea to pay them £10.75m in March this year.

Chelsea can well and truly move on now. Any uncertainty over the situation they were facing is over. If anyone, whether it be on the playing or commercial side, had reservations about becoming part of the club over this, they can now rest assured.

This issue is resolved for good, and Chelsea must simply make sure they comply with the rulebook from now on, no excuses.

With Alonso working his new players hard to improve Chelsea’s results next season and this ugly mess from Abramovich’s stewardship finally being put in the past, the club really can go into 2026-27 with renewed optimism that things will get better from now on.