Chelsea sold to Russians

by Claire Simms

Ken Bates is a well known character in the world of football. The Chairman of Chelsea Football Club was seen by fans as a fixture, but on the evening of July 1st he sold a majority shareholding in the club to a Russian oil billionaire, Roman Abramovich. He will remain as chairman.

Chelsea floated on the stock exchange on 1st April 1996, as this is a legal change in state the time will be midnight. This gives Pluto in early Sagittarius conjunct a late Scorpio ascendant and a Virgo Midheaven. Venus is conjunct the descendant. A quick look round the chart should tell us if we can get any useful information. Fitting with its track record as a big spending and international club we find Jupiter in the second and Saturn conjunct the IC in the fourth house. Property has featured prominently in the Chelsea business plan - Chelsea village is a complex of hotels and retail outlets, which surround the ground in west London. Many questions have been asked about how the books have been balanced given Chelsea's astronomical wage bill; the presence of Neptune and Uranus also in the second fit perfectly.

Venus conjunct the descendant will make any organisation an attractive target for a take over and its opposition to Pluto accentuates this. Venus in Taurus in the sixth also represents the substantial wages, which many of their players have commanded. All UK flotation charts will have fourth house Suns as they will be incorporated at midnight but the presence of Mars, Mercury, Saturn and the south node reinforce the property connections. A ninth house Moon represents the international playing and coaching staff and we can conclude that while this is not the only chart for Chelsea, it does indeed describe the club well.

The news of the take over was given on the 10 o'clock news on 1st July and given as "within the last hour". The Chelsea website shows a timestamp of 21.01 on the announcement. Looking at the chart for 21.00 puts transiting Mercury on the descendant, and at 21:35 the ascendant is 15 Capricorn, which is the degree of the Chelsea Jupiter.

So what marks this day as the day when the inherent potential for a take over - Pluto opposite Venus conj Ascendant/Descendant - became ripe?

Looking at the progressions you can see that the progressed ascendant is now opposite progressed Venus at four degrees of Sagittarius/Gemini. Also focusing in on four/five degrees are transiting Mars opposed the natal Moon which form a tight T Square; transiting Mercury and the transiting descendant are sextile the Moon and square natal Mars complete the faster moving transits which would tie down a specific day. The transiting Moon in Leo will trine the fourth house, Aries planets through the night. Perhaps this represents the fans anger as the news spreads.

Also we have progressed Jupiter trine the natal MC, the transiting node conjunct Venus and the descendant, transiting Uranus is square the natal Pluto and progressed Moon is trine natal Sun; all factors which would increase the attractiveness of any organisation.

Roman Abramovich is 36, which means that he will be having or have just had a Jupiter return. In the statement accompanying the announcement, Ken Bates mentioned the depth of the new owner's pockets.

So how will this work out for the future? Pluto is still implicated as it will square the MC is the new year and solar arc Pluto will trine the fourth house Aries planets, including the natal Sun, over the next few years. Uranus has not yet finished with the late degrees of Aquarius, which means it will make a final square to the ascendant in the Autumn. Jupiter will enter Virgo at the beginning of the Autumn and will conjunct the natal moon and the associated contacts mentioned above. There is still a substantial amount of change to come. The current state of football demands that the unlimited sums of money spent by clubs in the English Premier League have to be curtailed. How Chelsea will fit within this Saturnine atmosphere with these transits remains to be seen.

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