Abramovich sanctions: Chelsea fans have acted as PR bots for Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Putin

For years, I have watched in a state of amazement at how seemingly rational human beings, with social media profiles saying such things as “loving husband”, have sportswashed the reputation of a man whose QC admitted in open court had amassed his wealth and taken control of the mineral inheritance of the Russian people by paying out billions in protection fees in cahoots with a corrupt political class. They have attacked anyone who dared to question his motives or point to the source of his riches.

Worse, their actions have consistently distracted from how Abramovich’s success in recycling his money sent an unmistakeable signal to Putin and his gang that they could continue to plunder riches from the Russian people, safe in the knowledge that it could be recycled in London.

Nothing did more to cement the complex web of lucrative quid pro quos that sustained Putin in power or added momentum to the horrific journey that led first to Georgia, then Crimea and now the deaths and injuries on the streets and in the maternity hospitals of Ukraine.

Yet even as the scales started to fall from the eyes of most British people, and the political pressure for sanctions ratcheted up, Chelsea fans continued to engage in their fantasy, seemingly unaware of how they were being laughed at by the Kremlin.

When Chelsea played away to Burnley last week, and there was a minute’s silence for the victims in Ukraine, a critical mass of their fans chanted the name of their owner — an occasion when useful idiocy shaded into shameful imbecility.

I know some people will say that we should give leeway to any group of fans backing their owner. It’s football after all. But while I heartily agree that sport is a blessed distraction from real life, I would also suggest that we should never allow ourselves to be treated as fools.

It is an act of blatant self-harm to allow tyrants to use the cultural cachet of sport to reset the world in their interests and against ours. This is the truth that Chelsea fans have overlooked for so long as participants in a mass exercise of cognitive dissonance.

And it is not just Chelsea fans. When it comes to the willingness to genuflect before autocrats, we should also acknowledge the role of the Premier League, Fifa, Uefa, the IOC and the British government, which welcomed Russian money, not least into the coffers of the Tory party. The likes of David Cameron thought that the UK would benefit from its role in waiving in the cash even as this shameful episode was weakening our norms, values and strategic alliances.

But let us return to Chelsea, for it isn’t just their fans who are covered in shame; it is also the sportswriters who acted as de facto mouthpieces for the club, the TV commentators who presented Abramovich as a benign benefactor, the Match of the Day pundits who never adequately placed into context what was unfolding.

I should say that some Chelsea fans were against Abramovich’s ownership from the start and they were joined by courageous others as time went on. This tiny group can reflect on how their love for Chelsea didn’t blind them to how the club was being pimped out, nor how the trophies and triumphs were irredeemably tainted.

The Chelsea bots, even now, proclaim that Abramovich brought them glory. The truth is that he only ever brought them — and English football — shame.

-The Times