DANNY MURPHY: Chelsea stars will be financially secure at some other club

I was at Liverpool when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and we realised pretty quickly it was going to be a game-changer.

It’s surreal to be here two decades later commenting on the end of his era but I don’t feel in my gut it’s going to be the end of Chelsea Football Club.

Our Government won’t want to finish off a large cultural and business institution. And there is no upside for Roman Abramovich to be obstructive. Even if he has to write off a huge amount of money, he won’t want the alternative which is to be remembered as the man who killed off Chelsea.

So my feeling is the club will get sold. There is going to be short-term pain for those fans who can’t buy tickets and the other repercussions in terms of merchandise and sponsorship but ultimately it’s in nobody’s interest for Chelsea to cease existing.

On the positive side, it might even be a watershed moment for the Premier League which has welcomed plenty of wealthy owners in the past without caring too much about how they made their money.

As long as Abramovich recognises he can’t profit from a sale, it should be resolved.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be concerns from players, staff and other employees at the club. Of those groups, the first-team squad are probably the least-affected because they are all individual assets and whatever happens to Chelsea, they will be financially secure at some other club.

Chelsea’s top players are the least affected by the crisis as they would thrive at other clubs depending on what happens at the Blues

At the moment, playing football will be a great release for them rather than a burden. Whatever problems I had off the pitch, I found match-day a great escape, I was so engrossed in the competitive nature of the game, other issues were temporarily forgotten.

It wasn’t a surprise to me that Chelsea’s players were able to go out and beat Norwich 3-1 only hours after hearing the seismic news of Abramovich’s assets being frozen.

Others will feel greater stress. I’m thinking about workers in the club shop which has shut down. Or teenagers awaiting their first professional contracts. They may have to make other plans.

The positive is that Chelsea are still an attractive proposition to potential buyers. They are European and world champions. Imagine if they were having these ownership problems without their lofty status.

There will be great stress though at teenagers who are trying to get their first contracts

Fans will feel short-term pain but Chelsea is an attractive proposition to potential buyers

For Chelsea’s rivals, they may sense an opportunity. They can’t sign players or poach Thomas Tuchel in the short-term but I’m sure there have been meetings at all the biggest clubs pondering on what they might be able to do.

Football is a ruthless business and if they can capitalise on Chelsea’s plight, they will.

It’s probably too hopeful but I would like to see Chelsea fans ceasing to chant Roman Abramovich’s name. I understand what he has helped the club achieve and there will be gratitude for that from a footballing point of view, but there is a bigger picture to understand.

If chanting his name is going to cause offence when children and families are dying in Ukraine, don’t do it. To interrupt a message of support for Ukraine as they did at Burnley last weekend is idiotic.

I doubt the players or Tuchel want them singing about Abramovich. During my time in the dressing-room, we didn’t discuss the morality of club owners but footballers are more aware now, which is a good thing.

Danny Murphy is hopeful that Chelsea fans will stop chanting Abramovich’s name at matches

For the fans, their biggest concern post-Abramovich is more to do with the next owner’s capability than finance.

Whoever buys the club will have deep pockets but it doesn’t guarantee making the same clever football decisions Abramovich has achieved.

Manchester United have shown all the money in the world doesn’t guarantee success if you don’t delegate well. Successful ownership about judgement as much as wealth and Abramovich had the knack of putting the right people in place; managers, coaches, assistants, heads of recruitment, technical directors.

Sometimes, his decisions looked strange at the time but proved correct. Roberto Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez won European trophies as interims. It seemed harsh to sack club legend Frank Lampard yet his replacement Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League.

Rival clubs could look to sign Chelsea’s players and take advantage of their current plight

The huge Chelsea story this week has overshadowed Everton but they are also vulnerable because Alisher Usmanov, who had commercial links to the club but has had his assets frozen, raising questions over the new stadium build at Bramley Moore Dock

Unlike Chelsea, Everton are not doing well on the pitch, a 5-0 defeat at Tottenham on Monday night confirming the threat of relegation. I don’t think they’ll go down because they are half-decent at home but their defence is awful and I can’t see the same level of interest in the club as Chelsea if they were eventually put up for sale.

Lampard will be trying to keep his players fully concentrated on the games ahead. There is not a lot of point in either he or Tuchel commenting on what may or may not happen off the pitch because none of them know. For both clubs, being able to play football today will be a welcome distraction.