Chris Bryant also called for Abramovich to be sanctioned
Former Chelsea captain John Terry has been slammed for his “appalling” tribute tweet to Roman Abramovich after the Russian billionaire confirmed he was selling the club.
The 55-year-old initially announced that he was handing over the ‘stewardship’ of Chelsea to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation, before later revealing that he would be putting the club up for sale after 19 years of ownership.
It follows intense pressure from MPs, who called for the Chelsea owner to be sanctioned amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Abramovich was, and still is, facing backlash over his alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the Russian has denied.
Following the news that the Russian oligarch would be selling the Blues – which he confirmed would not be ‘fast-tracked’ and will ‘follow due process’ – Terry, who played the majority of his Chelsea career under Abramovich’s reign, posted a photo of the owner and himself with the Premier League trophy.
The Best 💙💙💙 @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/L7PGR4Y46U
— John Terry (@JohnTerry26) March 3, 2022
Terry, who is employed as a coaching consultant at the Chelsea Academy, captioned the tweet: “The best.”
Labour MP Chris Bryant criticised the former Blues centre-back for his post, and urged him to remove the ‘appalling’ tweet from the platform “ASAP”.
He said: “I think @JohnTerry26 you should take this down ASAP. The people of Ukraine are being bombed, shelled and murdered while you celebrate Abramovich”.
This is appalling https://t.co/x1CKvFFhjU
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 3, 2022
I think @JohnTerry26 you should take this down ASAP. The people of Ukraine are being bombed, shelled and murdered while you celebrate Abramovich https://t.co/x1CKvFFhjU
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 3, 2022
The 60-year-old Labour MP, who has previously called for Abramovich to be stripped of the Chelsea ownership and represents Rhondda, urged the Russian billionaire to be sanctioned.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Bryant claimed he has been “engaged in illicit activity.”
“Some of us are anxious about why we’re not going further on the sanctioning of individuals,” he explained.
“It’s a mystery to me why Roman Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned. The government itself knows he’s been engaged in illicit activity and he’s a person of concern to the government, which is why they’ve not been encouraging him to come to the UK.
“I don’t know why Alisher Usmanov has not yet been sanctioned. He’s been sanctioned by the EU but not by us. He owns Sutton Place, I don’t know why we don’t seize that asset.
“I don’t know why the UK has not yet seized a single yacht, or a flat, or a property of any kind, whilst other countries in Europe are able to do that.
Former Chelsea captain John Terry's Twitter tribute to Roman Abramovich is criticised by Labour's Chris Bryant
On football, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries says: "We have tolerated the investment of Russian kleptocrats for far too long" https://t.co/nI66LUpQ4e pic.twitter.com/h0Q88zCX31
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) March 3, 2022
“Finally, I wonder whether she [Conservative MP Nadine Dorries] would condemn John Terry today. I don’t know whether she’s seen this, but he has posted today a photo of himself with Roman Abramovich, who is one of Putin’s cronies, what will the people of Ukraine think of the former England football captain?”
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