'I don’t think that is fair, actually, to be honest'
Newcastle United director Amanda Staveley believes it is 'sad' and 'unfair' that Roman Abramovich has been forced to sell Chelsea.
It comes after Abramovich
announced that he has put Chelsea up for sale, claiming that the decision is 'in the club’s best interest'.
The Russian billionaire's decision to sell the Blues follows intense pressure aimed at the UK Government to freeze the 55-year-old assets as part of its sanctions against Russia.
However, Staveley - who played a vital role in a Saudi Arabian-financed consortium completing the £305 million takeover of Newcastle United last year - has suggested that it is unfair to call on Abramovich to sell the club because of his alleged link with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
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"We should always be held to task and you should always question that," Staveley said at the
Financial Times Business of Football Summit.
"PIF run the club as an autonomous institution that runs the club separately.
"This world is always going to have geo-political issues. This world is never not going to have problems. I know that is really hard.
"I am sad someone (Abramovich) will have a club taken away from them because of a relationship they may have with someone. I don't think that is particularly fair.
"With Saudi, it is an incredibly important country that I love. I love the people there, it is a young vibrant population and I have seen Saudi change so much. I'm not talking now as Newcastle, I am talking as me and these are my thoughts.
"I would rather everybody get excited about football than being involved in war. If we can create great content, the Premier League is a really great league and we have a tough game ahead of us."
The 48-year-old also revealed that Newcastle's new owners had previously explored the possibility of buying Chelsea from Abramovich.
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"One great thing about taking four years to buy Newcastle was we had the great opportunity to look at every club, and that includes Chelsea," she added.
"It is a wonderful club and I love working with all of my Chelsea colleagues on the Premier League board but there was only one club for us, and there will only ever be one club for us."
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