The following statement has been released by Chelsea Football Club on behalf of Roman Abramovich and the club with regard to an apology published today by The Sunday Times. The statement says:

The Sunday Times has today (Sunday, June 14) unreservedly apologised on page 2 of their newspaper to Roman Abramovich and Chelsea FC regarding allegations that they published on January 18, 2009.

The Sunday Times had claimed on Page 1 of that days' edition of the newspaper that despite Roman Abramovich and Chelsea's clear public denials to the contrary, and despite having been told of the denials several times before publication, that in fact Mr Abramovich was trying to sell his interest in Chelsea.

Legal proceedings for defamation were immediately commenced against the publishers of The Sunday Times as a result of the publication of the story. The Sunday Times now accepts that its allegations were untrue.

We wish to make it clear that neither the wording nor the positioning of the apology were agreed with either Roman Abramovich or Chelsea before publication today.

The Sunday Times have been told that their actions have only aggravated the position.

An application will now be made in the High Court for a Judge to assess the amount of damages and legal costs to be paid by The Sunday Times to both Roman Abramovich and Chelsea for publishing the defamatory comments and for their subsequent actions.