Chelsea punishment ‘lenient’ – ex-Blues exec PurslowImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Christian Purslow spent five years as Aston Villa chief executive officer after his time at ChelseaBySam DruryBBC Sport journalistPublished55 minutes agoFormer Chelsea senior executive Christian Purslow believes the Premier League has been “way too generous” in its punishment of the club for making secret payments relating to transfers.
Chelsea were fined £10m and handed a suspended transfer ban after admitting making £47.5m in undisclosed payments to unregistered agents and third-parties between 2011 and 2018.
The fine is the largest ever imposed by the Premier League but the club avoided any sporting sanctions, such as a points deduction.
“I think this is the most serious thing to break in the Premier League for a long time,” Purslow stated on The Football Boardroom, external podcast.
Purslow, a former managing director of Liverpool and Aston Villa chief executive, added: “I think the vast majority of people in the game… will view this as an extremely lenient and favourable outcome for Chelsea Football Club.
“The level of mitigation that has been applied here is way too generous, and in my opinion very inconsistent with previous regulatory cases and sanctions.”
Purslow was head of commercial activities at Chelsea between 2014 and 2017, but insisted he had “nothing to do with the playing side”.
He added he was “shocked to see the scale of activity”, and had never encountered any evidence of transfer-related payments during his career.
