Roman Abramovich’s plans to hand Chelsea control to their charitable foundation starts to take shape

Chelsea have begun the process of building the legal framework attached to Roman Abramovich’s plan to pass over stewardship of the club to their charitable foundation amid concerns from individual trustees over whether to continue their involvement in the process.

On Saturday, major question marks over Abramovich’s future involvement at Stamford Bridge were raised after Chelsea released a statement revealing their oligarch owner had handed over ‘stewardship and care’ of the club to the trustees of its charitable foundation.

The process of putting together the legal structure for the transfer is understood to be underway – but the completion of that process is likely to take a while.

During the interim there will be a period of status quo, which will allow trustees who include: Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, John Devine, a partner at the law firm Muckle LLP, club director of finance Paul Ramos, women’s head coach Emma Hayes, the executive director of anti-discrimination group Fare, Piara Powar, and the chairman of the British Olympic Association, Sir Hugh Robertson, time to consider whether they want to be part of the process.

Owner Roman Abramovich planned to hand control of Chelsea to its charitable foundation 

Control of Chelsea remains unclear following Abramovich’s statement made on Saturday

Indeed, there is concern from a number of the current trustees about whether they will accept the responsibility of becoming stewards of the club.

The background behind the concerns include conflict of interest issues and the fear of being linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine given Abramovich’s alleged relationship with Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Sources also claim that the weight of responsibility of the task given the size of Chelsea is also a consideration for certain trustees.

The club have begun the process of building the legal framework to hand control to trustees 

Chelsea Women’s head coach Emma Hayes is among the seven trustees of club’s Foundation

Importantly, however, Chelsea do not need all trustees to agree in order for the plan to go ahead – though if any individuals decide they want no part in the process the Blues could be forced into altering their plan.

There is a sense of from all trustees of the responsibility of safeguarding the club, particularly given the last amount of people employed by the club and the supporters.

And with growing concerns that Abramovich will eventually be sanctioned by the UK Government, a scenario that could have serious implications for the Champions League holders, trustees want to do right for the people who have an attachment to Chelsea.