First, Xabi Alonso was hired as the new manager. Now, the final punishment for historical financial irregularities has been settled. It truly is a fresh start for Chelsea both on and off the pitch this summer.

There will be many outside of Stamford Bridge who will be upset over the Football Association following UEFA’s and the Premier League’s lead by effectively simply handing the club a fine of £10million. The punishment is not quite that simple. There is also a suspended transfer ban — the Premier League issued one as part of their findings four months ago too — in place. A suspended six-point deduction was overturned on appeal.

But given there were 74 FA charges for breaching agent regulations regarding the signing of players between 2011 and 2018 under previous owner Roman Abramovich, many non-Chelsea-related people in the game will think they got off lightly. Unsurprisingly, it is not a view shared by those in charge of Chelsea.

This case has been hanging over Chelsea’s head from the moment the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium did their due diligence when buying the club in May 2022. After spotting irregularities while going through the books, it was their decision to report the findings. It was not the case that the governing bodies spotted something awry and had opened up an official investigation into Chelsea on the back of their own work.

Chelsea were also very compliant when it came to providing the respective governing bodies all the paperwork they required whenever they requested it. Rather than fighting the process from day one, Chelsea did their utmost to assist it.

As far as they were concerned, this should have always been taken into account and provided a mitigation for whenever punishments were being handed out. What message would it send to other clubs if, by being open and honest with what is going on, rather than denying everything and getting lawyers to fight your corner, they still ended up with a significant points deduction and/or a transfer ban? It would surely convince club owners they would be better off taking the more obstinate second option in future.

While Chelsea as an institution were obviously the ones to benefit from Abramovich’s misdemeanours, the current ownership were not there at the time. They always maintained they should not be held to account for something that was not their responsibility.

Internally, there has always been a lot of confidence this would be the conclusion. But it is still a significant development that a transfer ban and/or points deduction has been avoided. No one would blame them had some concerns over ‘what if?’ scenarios, even if just for a few minutes, entered their minds at times, especially as it continued to drag on.

The club’s current owners flagged the issue when doing due diligence (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

It is three years this month (July) since UEFA were the first ones to act, issuing a €10m fine for “incomplete financial reporting” under Abramovich. The Premier League issued the biggest fine in their history, since being formed in 1992, when they ordered Chelsea to pay them £10.75m in March this year.

Chelsea can well and truly move on now. Any uncertainty over the situation they were facing is over. If anyone, whether it be on the playing or commercial side, had reservations about becoming part of the club over this, they can now rest assured.

This issue is resolved for good, and Chelsea must simply make sure they comply with the rulebook from now on, no excuses.

With Alonso working his new players hard to improve Chelsea’s results next season and this ugly mess from Abramovich’s stewardship finally being put in the past, the club really can go into 2026-27 with renewed optimism that things will get better from now on.

Chelsea have been fined £10m and given a suspended two-window registration ban by the Football Association for breaching rules relating to payments to agents between 2009 and 2022.

Owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital self-reported 74 breaches of FA rules when they purchased the club in 2022.

An independent regulatory commission initially imposed a six-point deduction, which was to be suspended until 30 June 2027, but that has been “set aside” on appeal.

The £10m Chelsea have been fined will be invested into grassroots football.

More to follow.

Chelsea have been fined £10million ($13.4m) and given a suspended transfer ban following an investigation into 74 alleged breaches of the English Football Association’s regulations.

The west London side were also initially hit with a suspended six-point deduction by an independent regulatory commission, which handed out the punishments, before this was overturned on appeal.

The FA charged Chelsea in September for breaches related to its agent regulations, regulations on working with intermediaries, and third-party investment in players regulations.

The breaches relate to a period of time between 2009 and 2022 and “primarily events that occurred between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 playing seasons” — when Roman Abramovich was still owner of Chelsea — the FA said.

“Chelsea FC admitted to the 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 prior to a hearing and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed a six-point deduction, which was to be suspended until 30 June 2027, and a £10 million fine,” a statement from the FA said on Friday.

“The club appealed against the suspended points deduction and an independent Appeal Board allowed the appeal and set aside this sanction following a further hearing. In its place, the Appeal Board imposed a registration ban for two complete and consecutive transfer windows which is suspended until 30 June 2027.”

The FA added that it “is continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case”.

Chelsea’s breaches relate to Roman Abramovich’s time as owner (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)

“Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that a final decision has been reached by The FA’s judicial bodies in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club,” Chelsea said in a statement on Friday.

“In 2022, the club self-reported potential historical rule breaches to all applicable regulators. Following that report, it has worked openly and transparently with all regulators, including voluntarily and proactively disclosing many thousands of documents.

“As previously announced, settlement agreements have been entered into with UEFA and the Premier League concerning the same self-reported regulatory matters and topics that have been addressed before. The club is pleased to confirm that, now The FA process has concluded, this brings all regulatory proceedings against the club to a close.”

The latest decision brings the amount of money Chelsea have been fined to more than £18m, after UEFA imposed a €10million (£8.6m, $11m at the time) sanction in July 2023 concerning the same offences.

Abramovich was disqualified by the Premier League in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the previous month,  after the UK government froze his assets due to his “close ties with the Kremlin”.

Chelsea said last year their current owners —  the investor consortium BlueCo, led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital — self-reported the issue when a “due diligence” process revealed ” potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules”. The club called their cooperation “unprecedented transparency”.

In a separate case, Chelsea were also handed a suspended one-year ban from signing first-team players and given a £10million ($13.7m; €11.6m) fine from the Premier League in March relating to breaches of financial rules during Abramovich’s time as owner.

This related to incomplete financial reporting and missed payments. The sanction agreement between Chelsea and the FA outlined that between 2011 and 2018, Chelsea paid more than £23m to seven unregistered agents “or entities associated with them” in connection with the transfer and registration of seven players, including Eden Hazard, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.