The Chelsea case proves that cheats prosper and exposes the Premier League’s biggest problem | OneFootball

When you stand back, the scale of the Chelsea case is actually staggering. Over a minimum of seven years, there were at least 36 undisclosed payments, forming part of seven known major transfer deals. Such evidence - and it is only what is known - illustrates a pattern of behaviour that amounts to industrialised cheating.

Out of that, Chelsea won two Premier League titles and a Champions League, tangibly changing the historical record of English and European football.

And the consequences for that?

In the Premier League, a fine that would be covered by the sale of an academy graduate, but not even having to be paid by the club.

Does this really fit what has happened?

The Premier League’s very reason for existence - the fair running of sporting competition - was completely undermined and this has barely been addressed.

What is the message here? What does this say about regulation? What does it say about the Premier League’s approach? What does that do for faith in the sport, especially at a time when it is beset by countless greater off-pitch? And the Roman Abramovich takeover, it should be remembered, was the start of this “geopolitical era”. It set off something, and now it’s setting something else.

Does it say you can engage in systemic cheating, but then if enough time goes by, it won’t matter?

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Chelsea have avoided a transfer ban for their first team (PA Wire)

What is the point of trying to run football fairly if a Russian oligarch sanctioned for links to Vladimir Putin can manipulate the system through his wealth, and the most direct consequences of this are not actually dealt with?

That is actually a question of the utmost seriousness, that cuts to the very idea of what football is supposed to be about and how geopolitical influences attempt to use it, that is not really being wrestled with in any way.

What could other actors with their own non-football motivations think?

Two Premier League titles have been won after financial chicanery at the behest of a Russian oligarch, and it is essentially waved away.

There should be significant mitigation for a new ownership self-reporting - even if they were obliged as reporting increased - but only from a position where the actual reality of this was recognised and addressed.

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Willian was another player included in the case

That doesn’t appear to have happened. This is one of the biggest problems with the Premier League’s outcome.

There is an overt focus on how the undisclosed payments would not have breached Profit and Sustainability Rules, but no visible discussion of what the undisclosed payments actually signified.

We await more details, but right now, it very much looks as if the full implications of this were not sufficiently interrogated.

This isn’t even necessarily to demand that Chelsea should be stripped of the titles or that there should be asterisks, but there should at least be some indication that the implications of all are being thought about.

This isn’t just about how a new Chelsea ownership navigates a complex situation, after all. It’s about how the old ownership changed football history.

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The signing of Eden Hazard helped Chelsea to multiple trophies (Getty Images)

People have actually lost out. If Chelsea hadn’t been able to complete some of these deals, maybe the seven-point gap to Tottenham Hotspur in 2016-17 wouldn’t have been so great. Maybe Spurs could actually have won the title, a prospect that obviously has considerable relevance right now.

The recent history of the club being changed could have drastically affected the present.

It is why “plea deals” for self-reporting are arguably unfair to fans of other clubs, who the game is also supposed to be about. This isn’t just about the fans of the team being punished.

There is even a fair question over whether other clubs should be considering legal action against Chelsea, in the same way that has been raised about Manchester City.

On that, the very importance of robust and agile regulation is only emphasised when you consider what might have happened if you apply this to Chelsea’s other title over this period, in 2014-15.

The next team down were City. Except, their own 2014-15 season is one of the campaigns that is covered by the “big one”, the “115 case”.

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Roman Abramovich’s wealth shifted the trajectory of English football (PA Archive)

It illustrates the regulatory maelstrom the Premier League finds itself in, which has admittedly been shaped by the laxness of the previous leadership. As has repeatedly been said over the past few days, had there been more focus on the Abramovich era early on, and had these details come out, Chelsea would likely have faced the kind of points deduction to relegate them.

Why should that change now, outside the fair mitigation for self-reporting? There is no statute of limitations in the Premier League, and this has affected the present.

The very fact that 2014-15 involves City also points to how crucial it is that the Premier League starts to get this kind of thing right.

The competition has long opened itself up to a world where it is subject to far greater forces than it can control, from private equity and other capitalist funds to the most powerful states on the planet. It so often feels like the Premier League is just about managing to hold all this together - especially amid current power dynamics and votes - and this outcome arguably sustains. It holds a certain balance, even if some clubs are furious.

But the only way you can really withstand this, to ensure the competition remains somehow what it’s supposed to be about - and not just at the whim of oligarchs - is the most robust regulation possible, backed by proper legislation.

This outcome has probably only amped up the pressure about the City case, as if that needed more.

As it is, a Russian oligarch has been allowed to use his much-criticised wealth to manipulate football, with that remaining a celebrated part of the game’s modern history.