Abramovich and five owners who left their clubs in disgrace

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 4 Mar 2022 10:55 CST
• 5 min read

Roman Abramovich announced this week his intention to sell Chelsea, having been in ownership of the Premier League side since 2003.

Due to his links to the Russian state and Vladimir Putin, Abramovich has been threatened with sanctions and asset seizure by the United Kingdom government.

''I would like to address the speculation in media over the past few days in relation to my ownership of Chelsea FC," Abramovich said in a released statement.

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"As I have stated before, I have always taken decisions with the Club’s best interest at heart. In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the Club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club’s sponsors and partners."

Chelsea won 21 trophies during his 19 years at the club, including two Champions League titles and five Premier Leagues.

Although this may not be the view of many Chelsea fans who still adore Abramovich, he has undoubtedly left Stamford Bridge under a cloud.

Here are five other football club owners who left in disgrace.

Mike Ashley - Newcastle

Never in the history of the Premier League has an owner been as universally despised by a club's supporters than Mike Ashley at Newcastle.

Ashley was initially popular at the club as he helped pay off debts upon his purchase, while he was seen by some as an 'everyman' due to his tendencies to drink with the fans and even attend games wearing a Newcastle jersey.

Behind the scenes, though, his influence and his appointments became unpopular. Things really started to go downhill after fan favourite Kevin Keegan left due to the interference in team matters from director of football Dennis Wise.

He would eventually put the club up for sale, but after Newcastle suffered relegation he failed to find a buyer.

Ashley would eventually sell to a Saudi-Arabian led consortium.

Sergio Cragnotti - Lazio

Sergio Cragnotti acted as owner of Lazio during the club's most successful period of the modern era, bankrolling them to such prizes as the European Cup Winners' Cup, the Super Cup, Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

Before Champions League success could be gained, however, cracks started to show behind the scenes, with star players such as Pavel Nedved, Juan Sebastian Veron and Alessandro Nesta having wages go unpaid.

Cragnotti earned his millions through his company, Cirio, and it would be his stewardship in this company that would get him in legal trouble.

He left the club in disgrace and went to prison on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy at Cirio. Lazio were also left in a mess financially and had to embark on a fire-sale of their star players, including Nesta to Milan and Nedved to Juventus.

Bernard Tapie - Marseille

Bernard Tapie was a figure who was adored at Marseille for leading the club to the inaugural Champions League title in 1993 as well as five successive Ligue 1 titles.

He was, however, a controversial character. Prior to OM’s 1-0 Champions League final victory over Milan, he was found to have bribed Valenciennes players to take it easy on his team in a crucial league match a matter of days earlier.

Marseille were relegated and ultimately bankrupted by the affair, yet Tapie remained beloved on the club’s supporter until his death in October 2021.

Flavio Briatore - Queens Park Rangers

In September of 2007 it was confirmed that Formula 1 supremo Flavio Briatore, along with Bernie Ecclestone and businessman Lakshmi Mittal, had bought English side Queens Park Rangers.

The problem was, around this time he was being investigated and subsequently charged for race fixing by the FIA, the governing body of F1.

After being banned from the sport, the Football League requested details of the investigation to determine if Briatore could be deemed a "fit and proper person" for club ownership.

He eventually resigned as chairman, and said: "I will never invest in a Football Club again, it's only ever a good idea if you're very rich and looking for ways to waste your money. In two years you'll be very poor and won't have that problem anymore"

Ken Richardson - Doncaster

In 1995, Ken Richardson became furious when his plans for a new Doncaster home ground were rejected by the local public authority.

He then decided to take matters into his own hands.

A fire in the main stand in June of 1995 caused expensive damage at Belle Vue, and nine months later, Richardson was arrested.

It turned out that the Doncaster owner had hired an ex-SAS soldier as well as a private investigator to instigate a fire at the ground, in the hope that he could claim insurance money and sell the area to developers.

He would be jailed for four years, and in his tenure he actually hired the manager of the team shop as manager to save costs.

After Doncaster were relegated from the Football League, he withdrew all financial backing.