Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck in charge while Abramovich handover finalized — report

While the details of Roman Abramovich’s (temporary?) handover of the running — and just the running, not the ownership — of Chelsea Football Club to the Chelsea Foundation are being finalized by the people who are paid to figure out the details of such restructurings, i.e. the lawyers, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck is apparently the man in charge, at least in the interim.

Buck is of course also one of the six trustees of the Chelsea Foundation, who were empowered by the club owner to take over the operations side of the business while he was busy brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, or some such.

As reported by the Telegraph, and others in the last 24-48 hours, Abramovich’s plan is not without potential flaws, including the part where a charitable foundation may not be properly set up to handle the responsibilities he’s thus thrust upon them. That might lead to either a shift in the plan itself (which would not be unexpected as evidently no details had been worked out prior to Saturday’s announcement) or some changes among the Foundation’s trustees or their charter (which wouldn’t be great or a good look).

We don’t really know what pertinent details need to be worked out, and how they might eventually get worked out, but it sounds like some sort of clarity is expected this week.

Until then, Buck’s the man.