Simon Jordan namechecked Newcastle United and their new owners as he delivered a brutal assessment of Roman Abramovich's impact on the Premier League. The Chelsea owner was described by the talkSPORT presenter as 'one of the worst things to happen to English football'.
Abramovich looks set to sell the Champions League holders in the wake of Russia's invasion of neighbours Ukraine, prompting a humanitarian crisis and a war in eastern Europe. The Russian oligarch has ushered in the most successful era in Chelsea's history, winning 21 trophies including five Premier League and two Champions League titles.
Abramovich bought the Blues for £140m in 2003, and is reportedly looking to sell the club almost two decades later for a fee in excess of £3bn. Chelsea fans chanted the owner's name during Saturday's victory at Burnley, but former Crystal Palace owner Jordan believe owners such as Abramovich and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund only acquire clubs to act as a life insurance policy.
He told talkSPORT: "People last week were attributing the evolution of the Premier League to people like Roman Abramovich. With due respect with the exception of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich was one of the worst things that could have happened to English football.
"We were on a direction of travel that was already upwards. Our Premier League was already flying, we already had broadcasters throwing money at us hand over fist.
"What you did was created hyper-inflation. You might have broken up the duopoly, you might have stopped the powerhouses that were [Manchester] United and Arsenal for a period of time.
"But that was going to happen anyway because ownership models were changing. What you did was change the landscape by making football so financially unviable for your own reasons.
"People look at these people buying football clubs like Manchester City, like Newcastle, like Chelsea. These people aren't buying these football clubs because they love the football clubs.
"They are buying them because they want to get a life insurance policy against political leanings, they want to sportswash or legitimise regimes like Newcastle. They want to have a situation where they own our English football clubs, and we sit there and go that's great.
"The main beneficiaries of it are agents and players, and what have we got now? A generation of players that have no character, no backbone, no substance who get paid far too much money.
"The immorality of football comes up for question, and I think it's a tragedy. I think it's a reality, and the lack of governance behind the game gives people like this the facilities to be able to do this.
"Abramovich's legacy is what? For Chelsea, fabulous. For football in this country, I think it's awful."
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