Chelsea back in the black for the first time in decade

by

Chelsea had not been financially in the black since 2003 when Roman Abramovich bought the team, but when the season figures were released in November the club reported it had made £1.4m in the year to the end of June 2012. They claimed the profit was the result of a very successful season plus some better commercial deals and a substantial profit on transfers.

At the time Chelsea’s chief executive, Ron Gourlay, noted that the change from the previous season’s loss of £67.7m showed that the club was ‘on track’ to meet the financial fair play rules set out by Uefa. However, not all the figures were forthcoming at the time, and further accounting filed at Companies House revealed a slightly different prospect.

Part of that profit came from the cancellation of £15m in non-equity preference shares previously owned by BSkyB in a joint venture, and about £3.4m in dividends. Another £28.8m came from the sale of several players, including Yuri Zhirkov to the Russian club Anzhi, Nicolas Anelka to the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua and Alex Anelka to Paris St-Germain.

Another figure that was added to the profit side of accounts was about £4.7m that had been earmarked for compensation of former managers; it was retained as profit when the intended recipients found other employment. If all these figures weren’t added in, the club’s £1.4m profit would have been changed to a loss of £19.9m.

Chelsea has made some great moves since Abramovich took over, winning the Premier League three times and for the first time taking the trophy for top club in Europe. However, the UEFA financial fair play rules are designed to force clubs to handle their financial affairs responsibly, and club secretary Alan Shaw said that still poses a challenge.

The fact that Chelsea didn’t make it into the final stages of the Champions League is likely to pose a major challenge anyway. It means that they will be playing in the much less lucrative Europa League in the spring, with an inevitable reduction in the amount of earnings.

Paddy Power rueing early pay out on Chelsea winning title

by

Having paid out on Chelsea as winners of the Premier League on Friday top bookie Paddy Power are this morning facing the prospect of a £500,000 cock-up after Paul Scholes’ last minute winning goal in the Manchester Derby and Spurs unexpected 2-1 win over League leaders Chelsea has thrown the title race open again.

Reacting to yesterday’s results Paddy Power were forced to slash the odds on Manchester United winning the title from 6/1 to 11/8 and pushed Chelsea’s odds from 1/7 to 8/13.

Paddy Power said “I’m guessing it’s far too late to say our early payout on Chelsea was a belated April Fools joke? It looks like the football Gods are conspiring to teach us a very expensive lesson”

Paddy Power has long had a reputation for calling the title first for their punters each season. In the 2005/06 season the bookie correctly crowned Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea the champs as early as September after the London club raced into an unassailable lead. But the bookie hasn’t always got it right.

In 2003 Paddy Power paid out early on Arsenal (with a 12-point lead) as Premiership winners at the start of March. The Gunners surrendered their title with a 3-2 home defeat against Leeds United in the penultimate game of the season effectively handing the title to Manchester United and costing the Bookie a very expensive double payout on the Premiership that season!


LATEST TITLE ODDS

8/13 Chelsea (from 1/7)
11/8 Man Utd (from 6/1)
12/1 Arsenal (from 25/1)

Elen Rivers still pines for Frank Lampard

by

Despite the fact that footballer Frank Lampard is now heavily involved in a relationship with Christine Bleakley, his old girlfriend and the mother of his daughters, Elen Rivers, has stated that she is still in love with him.

Elen Rivers, a former model, was out of the county when news broke that Lampard was now involved with Bleakley, but Rivers took the time to mention in an interview that she was hoping the rumours would turn out to be false since she is not ‘over him’ yet.

Rivers went on to say that after seven years together and two children who remind her of him, it is impossible to get over him because she is reminded of his impact on her life every day.

Rivers currently lives with her and Lampard’s two daughters aged four and two in a large house overlooking Chelsea Harbour that was purchased for her by Lampard for a reported £2.85m.

She also admitted in the interview that she is struggling as a single mother and that her break up with him was devastating. The couple was engaged just eight months ago when they split and Rivers stated that since then she has been hoping that reconciliation might in their future.

Rivers put a halt on their wedding after Lampard was seen with two other women.

According to Rivers, when she found out about the other women she cried for days heartbroken over the fact and that the thought of beginning another relationship was the farthest thing from her mind.