High Court dismisses Chelsea FC’s attempt to freeze funds over Granovskaia costs order
London, UK — 02/11/2026
In a decisive High Court ruling, Chelsea Football Club Limited has had its applications for Final Third Party Debt Orders (TPDOs) dismissed in their entirety.
The application, brought in relation to a costs order originating from Mr. Rubie’s previous High Court dispute with former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia (which was later assigned to the Club), sought to freeze a seven-figure sum connected to a Premier League transfer involving Newcastle United.
Representing himself as a Litigant in Person, football intermediary Saif Rubie successfully dismantled an aggressive legal attack mounted by Northridge Law LLP (led by Partner Jonathan Ellis) and specialist King’s Counsel Victoria Windle KC of Blackstone Chambers.
The Court found that Chelsea’s legal team had fundamentally failed to establish the strict legal requirements of CPR 72.2(1). Despite claiming nearly £30,000 in legal costs for the application, Chelsea’s legal team failed to do basic due diligence on the contracts governing the transfer. They attempted to freeze the funds by assuming a direct debt existed, completely ignoring Clause 40 of the Tripartite Agreement (which bars non-parties from enforcing it) and Clause 39 (which expressly prohibits the assignment of the debt).
The hearing exposed a series of staggering errors from the Claimant’s professional legal team:
The Late Evidence Ambush
Chelsea served a Supplementary Bundle late, breaching CPR 72.8. The Master had not even read the crucial letter from Newcastle United prior to the hearing.
Misstating the Facts
When Windle KC attempted to tell the Court that Newcastle "owed" Mr. Rubie the money, Mr. Rubie was forced to correct the King’s Counsel, pointing out that the actual evidence stated the funds were merely "payable by" Newcastle acting as a paying agent, not owed directly to him.
Inventing a Legal Fiction
In a desperate attempt to save the application, the KC attempted to argue that an administrative FA Form (AF1) constituted an "equitable assignment" of a debt. Mr. Rubie dismantled this, pointing to signed contracts that forbid assignment.
Pre-Assumed Victory
Chelsea’s legal team billed their client for drafting the Final Court Order before the hearing had even taken place.
The Moral High Ground
The contrast in the courtroom could not have been starker. While Northridge Law and a KC struggled with basic contract law and procedural rules, Mr. Rubie—armed with the actual contracts and modern AI legal research tools—calmly guided the Court to the truth.
While Chelsea’s legal team submitted a bill approaching £30,000, Mr. Rubie claimed a purely symbolic £19 for his time. Furthermore, the Court noted the collateral damage of Chelsea’s legal tactics: the freezing orders had improperly restricted funds belonging to an innocent third-party agent, whose business was disrupted by the Claimant’s flawed application.
Statement from Saif Rubie
“I hold no animosity toward Chelsea Football Club as an institution. However, this High Court ruling should serve as a stark warning: you cannot use the financial muscle of a Premier League club and a City law firm to bypass the strict letter of the law.
I sat in that courtroom facing a King’s Counsel. They tried to overwhelm me with hundreds of pages of paperwork, late evidence, and legal jargon relating to a previous era of the club’s management. But they made a fatal mistake: they didn’t read the actual contracts. When the Master looked at Clause 39 and Clause 40, the attempt to freeze a seven-figure sum was exposed as legally baseless.
I have always maintained that I am willing to resolve financial matters in good faith. But I will not be bullied or intimidated by aggressive legal tactics that ignore the truth.
I hope this finally draws a line under the disputes of the previous ownership era. I look forward to moving on and would welcome the opportunity to build positive, constructive relations with Chelsea’s new ownership group led by Behdad Eghbali.”
The High Court’s dismissal of the applications discharges the freezing orders, allowing the Third Party to release the funds in accordance with their contractual obligations. Mr. Rubie will now proceed with reasonable, good-faith negotiations regarding the underlying judgment debts.
About Saif Rubie
Saif Rubie (legally known as Saif Alrubie) is a FIFA-licensed football agent and intermediary with over 26 years of experience operating in the international football transfer market.