Chelsea Players Don't Have Relegation Clauses in Their Contracts.Can Chelsea Relegate ???

Chelsea could find themselves in a terrible financial mess should the unthinkable happen and they suffer the pain and humiliation of relegation to the Championship, with the club not having the protection of wage cut clauses.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, the reigning Premier League champions declined to arm themselves with such relegation clauses in player contracts, probably because they never thought they'd be in a position where it was even close to possible.

Chelsea still find themselves just three points above the relegation zone at the half way stage of the season. Actually dropping down a division remains highly unlikely, but it's perhaps worth mentioning the financial implications that could befall them all the same.

If Chelsea were to get relegated they would have an enormous wage bill in the Championship and would have no way to support themselves under financial fair play rules without the Premier League's lucrative television deals and other money-making contracts.

Most teams who know they might end up in relegation trouble at some point would usually insert special clauses into player contracts that makes pay cuts mandatory. That was obviously not something anyone expected would ever become an issue at Chelsea, though.

The Blues have dished out a number of new long-term contracts in recent months - Eden Hazard, who is now the club's top earner, being one of them.

In the event of relegation there would have to be a fire sale at Stamford Bridge, meaning the likes of Hazard would be sold off to the highest bidder.

Even if stars wanted to stay, as happened with Alessandro del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved and others after Juventus' forced relegation from Serie A in 2006, Chelsea would still have to sell because the high wages would dictate they couldn't afford to keep anyone earning huge money.

The only thing left for Chelsea fans at this point is to hope and pray that interim manager Guus Hiddink can mastermind at least something of a turnaround that will make this whole thing a non-issue like it should have been all along.