– Club on the verge of bankruptcy. If nothing happens, we’re talking about them rotting. Right now they are some kind of zombie club roaming in the blind.

New York Times journalist Tariq Panja told Dagbladet. He has worked closely at Europe’s big clubs for a long time, and is one of the sport’s most celebrated digging journalists.

He has never faced a situation similar to that which occurred at football superpower Chelsea during the day.

– Gotta stop spending money

On Thursday, news broke that British authorities had placed Chelsea’s Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, on the country’s sanctions list. The billionaire has frozen his assets, and that has huge consequences for Chelsea.

– What we will see now is they have to stop spending money. There were some things they couldn’t do anymore. This is very serious, Panja said.

Clubs cannot make money, Abramovich cannot make money off club sales and they are in many ways in limbo.

According to the BBC, the club will have around 190 million in the bank, but spend around 330 million a month just on salaries. Abramovich himself had spit money out, but he probably couldn’t anymore.

– They have to pay their bills and then they can’t go on like this. They can’t sell football players. They can’t get a loan. If nothing changes, then it’s over. Like now, they were looking down at the cliff, Panja said.

Can be placed under administration

But the difference between Chelsea and many other Russian-owned companies in England is that a special license allows them to continue to run the club and play matches.

– I think Chelsea are lucky to stay at all. They have owners who have been friends with Putin for 20 years. That has given them the title for 20 years, and this is what hurts, Panja said.

He believes this could end with Chelsea being put under administration. And draw parallels with clubs like Portsmouth, Leeds and Derby. All of them were former greats in English football, who brought down the divisional system due to financial problems.

– It is quite possible. If you are unable to pay your bills, then you are entering into a bad financial spiral.

– Then the club rots

Abramovich has spent a lot of money to get the club to where it is today, and has spent more money on the club year after year.

Without Abramovich, Chelsea would not be a Champions League club. As long as money uncle is there, the club is in the Champions League. Without him, they weren’t even close, Panja said and said Russia had spent more than 1.5 billion pounds at the club.

The solution to the immediate problem was that Russia sold the club without getting a penny. If he didn’t, it would be ugly.

– If he doesn’t sell, then the club will rot. The reality is if the club can’t pay its debts, and they go bankrupt, then this will have to go through the courts. Then the creditors chased after him, Panja said.

– Think someone agrees

Therefore, Chelsea fans should hope that the owners, who have brought a lot of success over the last 20 years, give the club new help.

– If he sells the club, he helps the supporters and makes sure that they don’t suffer. He got absolutely nothing.

When Abramovich announced on March 2 that he wanted to sell the club, it was before sanctions from British authorities. It was later estimated that he asked for 3 billion pounds (35 billion kroner) for the club.

Late Friday night, several media reported, including Telegraph and Athleticsthat the British authorities have given the green light to Abramovich to sell the club.