Roman Abramovich's tenure as Chelsea owner means the Premier League might have to implement tougher testing for potential owners, according to the competition's chief executive Richard Masters.
Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and oversaw a transformative period for the club, who have since won five Premier League titles and triumphed five times in the FA Cup, three times in the EFL Cup and the Champions League twice.
However, Abramovich was forced to put the Blues up for sale earlier this year when, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK government sanctioned the Russian oligarch.
Todd Boehly, who also co-owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, led a consortium that eventually bought the club in May, bringing an end to Abramovich's spell at the helm after 19 years.
"It's difficult to say now, with hindsight, that it's all been good, given what has transpired over the last six and a half months," Masters said when asked for his thoughts on Abramovich's time as a club owner.
"I think if you ask Chelsea fans, they would give you a different answer."
Masters suggested that English football, and in particular the top flight, must now improve on the controls and safeguards they have in place when granting would-be owners permission to purchase clubs.
"I think the situation we ended with has given the sport some challenges we've got to meet," he added.
"Ultimately, there wasn't an owners' and directors' test when Abramovich took ownership of Chelsea, so I suppose the answer to the question is, had there been that in place what would have happened and what safeguards we need to build in for the future?
"[There is] a rolling test, yes. Prevention is better than cure, isn't it? There wasn't then, there is now, it's going to change and part of that actually is probably going to be the strengthening of the annual test."
Boehly's purchase of Chelsea went through just before the UK government's deadline of May 31, and Masters explained there was genuine concern over the club's status.
"You're in unique circumstances, nothing like this has happened before," he said.
"There was obviously a genuine concern the sale wouldn't take place in the timeframe that was available.
"That didn't happen thankfully. A lot of people worked extremely hard on it at the club's end, the government's end and [the] Premier League's end to make sure things were running as smoothly as possible. We're very pleased that it happened, obviously."
Masters' comments come on the eve of the new Premier League season, with Chelsea in action against Everton on Saturday.
'We need tactics, but also luck' – Tuchel says Bayern up against Madrid 'aura'
Thomas Tuchel has warned his Bayern Munich team they will not only be facing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, but also going up against Los Blancos' European "aura".
While Tuchel will leave the Allianz Arena having suffered the ignominy of overseeing Bayern's first failure to win the Bundesliga title since 2012, he could yet bring Europe's top prize to Bavaria.
Bayern reached the last four with a 3-2 aggregate triumph over Arsenal, but they face a daunting task against the team that eliminated holders Manchester City in the last round.
Bayern are winless in their last seven games against Madrid, losing six and drawing one, and Los Blancos have won on their last three trips to the Allianz Arena – the longest winning streak ever recorded by a visiting team at Bayern in European Cup/Champions League history.
Coming up against Madrid in a competition they regard as their own, Tuchel believes, presents an additional challenge.
"When you're playing against Real Madrid, you're also up against the aura and the legend that surrounds them," Tuchel said at Monday's pre-match press conference.
"Obviously we need tactics, but also some luck. You can achieve a lot with tactics. The approach is the car, and the players drive it.
"We need to find a good balance and moments where we have solutions. The players also need freedom to bring it to life.
"But obviously we also need some luck in the game. We need to coax out that luck a bit as well."
Bayern versus Madrid is already the most played fixture in European Cup/Champions League history, taking place 26 times with 24 of those coming in the knockout stages.
Tuchel believes the tie would have been a fitting final, adding: "The semi-final already feels a bit like the final. My approach is to line up like a final.
"We won't approach it with the background that there's still a game to play. We want to play the game in isolation. We have the freedom, we'll put everything in tomorrow and then we'll see."
Al-Khaleej 0-1 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo misfires on return as Laporte nets winner
Cristiano Ronaldo returned from suspension but failed to find the net as Al-Nassr secured a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej on Saturday, with Aymeric Laporte coming up with the decisive goal.
Ronaldo was in action for the first time since being sent off for an elbow in a 2-1 Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Hilal earlier this month, with his initial two-match ban being reduced to one on appeal.
He missed three good chances as Al-Nassr threatened to fall further behind runaway Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, but former Manchester City defender Laporte spared his blushes by nodding Marcelo Brozovic's deep free-kick into the bottom-left corner with 68 minutes gone.
Al-Nassr remain nine points adrift of Al-Hilal at the summit in spite of their win, with Jorge Jesus' team unbeaten through 28 games this season as they close in on a record-extending 18th title.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo misfires on return
Ronaldo was presented with the Saudi Pro League's Player of the Month award for March ahead of kick-off, having scored four goals in three league appearances last month.
However, his sights were off on Saturday as he failed to net despite three of the visitors' four big chances, as defined by Opta, falling his way. He led all players on the pitch for expected goals (1.27 xG), shots (five), shots on target (three) and touches in the area (nine) without reward.
Huddersfield all but relegated from Championship while League Two play-off spots decided
Huddersfield Town saw their relegation from the Championship all but confirmed after a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Birmingham City on Saturday.
The Terriers avoided a defeat that would have seen them relegated on Saturday, but even a win on the final day over promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town will not be enough unless they overcome a huge goal difference of 15 goals with Plymouth Argyle.
Birmingham remain in the other relegation place and now must beat Norwich City to stand a chance of staying up with Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn Rovers also still in danger.
At the other end of the table, the Canaries dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City, leaving the door open for Hull City, who face Ipswich Town later today.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
