Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech admits he is unsure if the Blues can finish the season and says the club is now being run on a “day by day” basis.
Chelsea’s future was thrown into doubt this week after club owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the British government following Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
The Premier League club was granted a special licence to continue ‘football-related activities’ but is no longer able to sell or sign players, renew contracts or sell tickets and merchandise.
Chelsea must also operate with significantly reduced budgets for both home and away matches, and there are doubts over whether the club can pay its reported monthly wage bill of £28m for the remainder of the season.
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Former Chelsea goalkeeper Cech, who is now technical and performance advisor at Stamford Bridge, admits he is unsure about the long-term future of the club.
“It's a difficult situation,” Cech told Sky Sports, ahead of Sunday's 1-0 win over Newcastle.
“We have a lot of questions but not many answers. We are determined to concentrate on things we can control, which is working with people, supporting each other, come to training, focussing on the games. The teams have the support around to do it.
“We would like to keep integrity of the Premier League too. We want to prepare as much as possible and try to do our best. I have to admit we go day by day.
“We don't have this in our hands. Conversations are going on so that we can operate in a way to finish the season. We are part of Premier League - one of the best competitions in the world.
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“For us to be able to carry on and finish the season it would help everybody else in the league too.”
Chelsea remain in negotiations with the British government over the club’s operating licence and Cech is hopeful a solution can be found to ease the financial restrictions.
“It's something I'm not involved in [the talks with the government],” he added.
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“We have the board talking to the government about the license, how we can operate and what we can do, and try to finish the season.
“These conversations are going over and we try to do our best. We can go day-by-day, and hopefully the situation will be clearer soon.”
Chelsea’s players are reportedly exploring possible escape routes from Stamford Bridge as the financial uncertainty surrounding the club continues.
The Telegraph claim players’ agents have been in contact with lawyers to assess their options if, in a worst-case-scenario, salary payments are late in the coming months.
One legal source has told the newspaper that players may have to go unpaid for two months before having ‘clear just cause’ to tear up their contracts with Chelsea.
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The report claims there has been a ‘sense of unity’ between head coach Thomas Tuchel and his squad but ‘representatives have told lawyers they need to be aware of options if the club descends into financial paralysis’.
When asked if he was confident Tuchel will remain at the club, Cech was more bullish but admitted nothing in certain in the current climate.
“Thomas has a contract till 2024,” added Cech.
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“We have been told that the contracts will be valued and in that way we hope we will have him as a coach. That's another thing. Tomorrow things can change and then my answer will be irrelevant.
“We know in football managers come and leave and sometimes the clubs change the owners. We know that. Now we are in that situation.”
Topics: Chelsea, Premier League, Football, Petr Cech
Rory O'Callaghan