Chelsea fan in tears as he says 'I've walked away from the club' after 62 years

Pat, 70, was born around the corner from Stamford Bridge but is no longer a Blue due to the Roman Abramovich ownership crisis - and he has chosen to get behind local League Two club Sutton United instead.

Chelsea fans have been largely split in their reaction to the shocking developments surrounding their Russian owner and his alleged links to president Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.

Despite overseeing a 19-year era of unprecedented success for the London club, some supporters have conceded the time is right for Abramovich to move on after he was officially sanctioned by the UK government.

However, the Russian retains some support among the Blues faithful, who continue to sing the owner's name during matches - with the scenes at recent matches against Burnley and Norwich leading to strong criticism with Simon Jordan branding them 'bloody idiots'.

But one fan has taken it a step further by stepping back from his support of Chelsea altogether, ending more than 60 years of association with a club that he described as his 'life'.

There is hope for the future of the club, with news of Saturday that the Premier League and UK government have taken steps to allow Abramovich to sell.

But Pat was distraught when he called into talkSPORT on Friday night.

Speaking through tears, he said: "I've been a Chelsea fan for 62 years, I started supporting Chelsea in the 50s and I'm absolutely…

"Listen, what some Chelsea fans have been doing is unforgivable. We've got to stand up and be counted but I've now, myself and my twin brother, we've walked away from Chelsea.

"This is true, he went out yesterday and he bought two shirts for Sutton United.

"He phoned me up and said, 'I've got two shirts here', and asked them who they were for and he said 'Sutton United. We can't carry on supporting Chelsea'.

"It's not because we don't love the club, it's in our blood, we were born in Battersea just round the corner…

"It's cut me right up, all this.

"We were born just round the corner and Chelsea has been our life. I've met Ron Harris, we were good mates with Ray Wilkins - we used to meet him down at Sutton for questions and answers - we were good mates with Gary Chivers, John Boyle who played in the 1967 FA Cup final against Spurs, he's a good friend of the family.

"But we feel all that's gone on… we can't take any more.

"We've decided we're going to go to Sutton United and support them. We're going to the cup final [EFL Trophy vs Rotherham at Wembley Stadium], we've got tickets."

Former Chelsea defender Scott Minto joined talkSPORT to react to the latest news, with the UK government and Premier League giving the 'green light' for the club to be sold as soon as possible.

Chelsea have been hit with a number of sanctions and restrictions this week, with the club unable to sell match tickets and merchandise, unable to sign players or agree new contracts, while their budget for hosting games and their away travel has also been limited.

But Minto expects some of those restrictions to be relaxed in the coming days, insisting fans should not be punished for the alleged sins of their owner.

"It's really sad to see what's happened to Chelsea but I think it's completely the right decision with Roman Abramovich and his links to Putin," he told talkSPORT. "He needs to be taken out of English football.

"But fans shouldn't be punished for what's happening to one person

"I think the government has come in and tried to make a really hard statement and I get that, but I will be very surprised if over the weekend certain rules aren't relaxed.

"I really do think over the next couple of days the government will realise, OK we've made the statement, we want to punish one person, we don't want to publish Chelsea Football Club, we don't want to punish the fans, we don't want to punish the people who work for Chelsea who need that money to actually pay their own bills.

"I don't think it will necessarily affect the players right now, but going forward it can do.

"I do think things will change. I really, really hope a few of these rules are relaxed and Chelsea can try and continue doing what they want to do on the pitch."