Chelsea (Ownership Change)

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/feb/26/abramovich-hands-stewardship-and-care-of-chelsea-to-charitable-foundation

[Jezza]

Not surprised to be honest.

Abramovich was always going to come under heavy scrutiny and face possible sanctions.

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/02/chelsea-swiss-billionaire-hansjorg-wyss-says-offered-chance-buy-club-roman-abramovich

[Jezza]

An end of an era.

We have been blessed for the last 19 years to have an owner with the passion and love for the club to succeed at all costs.

Roman’s contribution to the club will never be forgotten.

[Jezza]

Roman Abramovich era (2003-2022)

Trophies:
- League Cup (2005)
- Premier League (2005)
- Community Shield (2005)
- Premier League (2006)
- League Cup (2007)
- FA Cup (2007)
- FA Cup (2009)
- Community Shield (2009)
- Premier League (2010)
- FA Cup (2010)
- FA Cup (2012)
- Champions League (2012)
- Europa League (2013)
- League Cup (2015)
- Premier League (2015)
- Premier League (2017)
- FA Cup (2018)
- Europa League (2019)
- Champions League (2021)
- Super Cup (2021)
- Club World Cup (2021)

Breakdown:
- Champions League = (2012, 2021)
- Premier League = (2005, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2017)
- Europa League = (2013, 2019)
- FA Cup = (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018)
- League Cup = (2005, 2007, 2015)
- Super Cup = (2021)
- Club World Cup = (2021)
- Community Shield = (2005, 2009)

[Jezza]

Abramovich has been sanctioned. All UK assets, including Chelsea Football Club are frozen.

[Pies4shaw]

More detail on the outworking of the freeze: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/10/roman-abramovich-unable-to-sell-chelsea-after-uk-freezes-assets

[Jezza]

It's been a terrible week for the club.

At least the players and coach have gotten on with it and are still performing well in spite of everything else.

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/12/roman-abramovich-disqualified-as-chelsea-director-premier-league

[Jezza]

List of potential buyers, with others being mentioned in the past week or two.

[*] Boehly-Wyss-Goldstein consortium

[*] Saudi Media Group

[*] Nick Candy

[*] Woody Johnson

[*] Ricketts family

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/14/potential-chelsea-owners-in-rush-to-finalise-offers-after-friday-deadline-set

[K]

Ben Jacobs:

"I can confirm Saudi Media Group have made a £2.7bn ($3.5bn) offer to buy Chelsea. Mohamed Alkhereiji is a Chelsea fan and leading a private consortium. No direct government links."


Dunno who Ben Jacobs is... Football journo??

[K]

Jacobs works for CBS Sports.

He also wrote this on social media:

"Ricketts family & Ken Griffin bid (officially tabled Friday) for #CFC sounds impressive. Told offer is "well in excess" of $3bn. Rickets family did due diligence in 2018 which would somewhat speed up a sale. Sources speak of a desire to "maintain" on-field & "modernise" off it.

One long-term priority will be to explore a new stadium. Stamford Bridge is tough to renovate. The group are full of football fans and experienced brand builders and have a strong working relationship with Raine Group.

Saudi Media Group's bid is $3.5bn. Think this will be the highest offer given the circumstances but there won't be much between the handful of serious bidders. Don't see Nick Candy as being one of those now despite exhaustive (& still ongoing) efforts to see what's possible."



Jezza, who d'ya reckon will be the buyer?
Just realized there may be a betting market on this!

[Jezza]

At the beginning of the week, I thought the Boehly-Wyss-Goldstein consortium was most likely to take over, but now it's anyone's guess.

There's a lot of bidders out there, so it will be interesting to see who ends up being successful.

[K]

I did look for a market... But didn't see one.

[Jezza]

Some of the bidders have now been shortlisted:

[*] Boehly-Wyss-Goldstein consortium

[*] Ricketts family

[*] Broughton and Coe.

Candy and Saudi Media Group have been ruled out.