Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has labelled the Chelsea fans that chanted Roman Abramovich's name before kick-off against Burnley on Saturday as "totally wrong".
The Blues away support was heard singing the Russian's name at Turf Moor during the minutes' applause for victims of the war in Ukraine.
It was a gesture that all Premier League sides took part in before their respective fixtures last weekend, but a minority of Chelsea fans undermined the gesture by singing in honour of their owner.
The chants were swiftly met with fierce booing from the Burnley fans before match official Andre Marriner eventually blew his whistle to mark the end of the applause.
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Raab was pressed for comment on the situation while appearing on BBC’s Sunday Morning and said: "I’m a Chelsea fan and I think it’s totally wrong.
"It would be a minority of fans doing it, and I thought Thomas Tuchel, the manager, was quite right to come out and be clear about his disagreement with that."
As Raab mentioned, the Blues boss was quick to condemn the chanting after the game and insisted it was not the appropriate time for that kind of behaviour.
"It’s not the moment to do this," Tuchel said after Chelsea’s 4-0 win over the Clarets.
"Listen, if we show solidarity we show solidarity and we should do it together.
"We take the knee together and if an important person from our club or another club unfortunately dies, we show a minute of respect. It’s not the moment to give other messages. It’s the moment to show respect."
Tuchel went on to urge the fans to "commit" to the show of solidarity with Ukraine.
"We do this because this is what we are also as a club. We show respect as a club and we need our fans to commit to this minute of applause.
"At this moment, we do it for Ukraine and there is no second opinion about the situation there. They have our thoughts and our support.
"We should stand together as a club. It’s not the moment for other messages."
The response drew praise from other footballing figures, with former Manchester United defender Gary Neville taking to Twitter to write: "He's a good bloke Tuchel."
A Chelsea spokesperson supported Tuchel's post-match comments in a short statement released after the full-time whistle.
"The club's very firm view is that moments of respect or recognition should always be honoured by everyone present," it read.
