Financial crises among football clubs are far from unusual. But the spectacular fall from grace of world and European champions Chelsea, following the imposition of swingeing sanctions on owner Roman Abramovich, can rarely have been so swift.
In the days before Boris Johnson's government threw the kitchen sink at the Chelsea proprietor he was confidently seeking to sell the franchise for a record setting £3bn. Now the club, like NatWest owner Royal Bank of Scotland after the financial crisis of 2008, is under government control. It effectively has been nationalised.
Restrictions have been drawn so tightly that supporters are unable to buy tickets in case the cash falls into the hands of Abramovich and his cronies.