John Terry defends 'lovely man' Roman Abramovich: 'It's disgusting what has happened to him'

Martin Macdonald

• 17 Oct 2025 11:30 CDT
• 3 min read

News

Chelsea legend John Terry has leapt to the defence of former club owner Roman Abramovich.

The Russian bought Chelsea in 2003 and set about instigating a spending spree the likes of which the sport had never seen before.

His tenure coincided with the club's most successful period its history as the Blues won a flurry of trophies including numerous Premier League titles as well as the holy grail - the Champions League.

In 2022, he was forced to sell Chelsea to Clearlake Capital due to his ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin. He was sanctioned by the UK government who deemed him unsuitable to be a director of a Premier League club.

Since leaving Chelsea, Abramovich has avoided the public eye and is largely in exile.

"I think it's disgusting what's happened to him," Terry said at a live show of The Obi One podcast with former team-mate John Obi Mikel.

"What he did in lockdown and what he did for the NHS was sensational, opening up Stamford Bridge to all the nurses and giving people homes during that difficult time.

"He was just a lovely, lovely man who loved our football club and thankfully turned away from one other football club and made the right decision to come to us."

Terry's last remarks are in reference to Abramovich allegedly opting to buy Chelsea instead of rivals, Tottenham, those decades ago.

Did Abramovich save John Obi Mikel's father?

Mikel was also full of praise for Abramovich and recalled an incident involving his father being kidnapped in Nigeria in which the Russian took action.

"Roman was the guy," Mikel said. "He cared about everyone; players, fans as well. I remember when my dad got kidnapped and I got a phone call from him.

"He just cared and spoke to me: 'Mikel what do you need, do you need anything, do you know how you can get your dad back?'

"I said: 'I don't know I haven't spoken to the kidnappers yet'. He said: 'OK, listen, with your permission, give me 24 hours, I will go and bring your dad back home'.

"And I was thinking 'f***ing hell Roman he's in f***ing Nigeria, you don't know where he is, how the f*** will you get him back', and he was like 'don't worry, I'll get him back.'

"That is the gangster s***.

"It was just that standard of how he loved the players, his players, and the football club.

"Who we are today is because of Roman, we are Chelsea Football Club. We've won so many trophies, we are one of biggest clubs in world now and it's all down to Roman Abramovich."

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