Tommy Martin: The great oligarch survivor, Roman Abramovich now part of the fabric of English football

If Alexei Navalny’s intention was to create negative publicity around Abramovich in the UK, then Frank Lampard at least provided a useful decoy runner for his former boss

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has not been to Stamford Bridge since 2018, when he was denied a UK visa in what was believed to be a hardening of British attitudes to Russia.

In the current political climate, perhaps we should avoid describing Roman Abramovich as ‘trigger-happy’. 

The image of the cold-blooded Russian assassin has long been associated with the Chelsea owner, thanks to his fondness for dispatching underperforming managers. But given that there are plenty of actual cold-blooded Russian assassins in the news these days, maybe we should choose our words more carefully.