Nick
Candy has improved his British-led bid to buy Chelsea Football Club
following the addition of another large international backer to his Blue
Football Consortium.
Candy submitted a bid of over £2billion to The Raine Group last Friday but
is now known to have increased this significantly after another large Korean
financial institution joined his consortium over the weekend.
Proof of the additional funds has been sent to The Raine Group and is a huge
boost to Candy's bid, which is highly tipped to be one of the few preferred
bids to make the shortlist.
Candy also revealed on Monday that he has held initial discussions with tech
platform PrimaryBid, with a view to potentially considering a community
enfranchisement model for Chelsea as he doubles down on his commitment to
involve fans in the future of the club.
The PrimaryBid platform would enable all stakeholders of Chelsea - including
employees and fans - to have access to buy a stake in the club.
Candy commented: "This remains a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give
football back to the fans and put them at the heart of the operations and
strategy of Chelsea Football Club. We are committed to preserving the
incredible legacy of the club and to promoting community involvement, and we
can provide the financial stability to ensure the future growth of the club
on the world stage."
'The race to own Chelsea is heating up'
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
"We already know that on Friday they put in a bid that was worth more than
£2b and they have now increased that bid, that is because they have managed
to get in more investment into their consortium over the weekend.
"We already knew they were back by two South Korean companies and, Hana
financial group and also C&P Sports Group, over the weekend another South
Korean financial institution has joined their consortium.
"Now earlier [on Monday] The Times reported another consortium had made a
bid for Chelsea, this was a consortium headed by Centricus, who are an asset
management company, they manage about £29b worth of assets, they are based
in the United Kingdom.
"They significantly have four bankers, hedge fund managers in the consortium
who are all Chelsea season ticket holders as well.
"What we're really seeing today is the race is heating up to make it onto
the shortlist of the preferred bidders who will really have a chance of
buying Chelsea."
The latest with the sale of Chelsea: Centricus and Ricketts family in the
running
A British-funded bid involving Chelsea season ticket holders has revealed it
is trying to buy the club.
London-based asset management firm Centricus have joined forces with hedge
fund manager Jonathan Lourie of Cheyne Capital and Talis Capital's Bob Finch
to submit a bid.
Lourie, Finch and Centricus' co-founder Nizar Al-Bassam and CEO Garth
Ritchie are all season tickets holders at Stamford Bridge. The group's
hoping for a quick resolution to the situation to help Chelsea.
Al-Bassam told The Times: "There' s a clock ticking because the club is
bleeding money at a faster rate than it should while there's uncertainty
there."
Roman Abramovich put the London club up for sale on March 2, amid Russia's
continued invasion of Ukraine. The Russian-Israeli billionaire was then
sanctioned by the UK Government on March 10, with Downing Street claiming to
have proven the 55-year-old's direct links to Vladimir Putin.
American-backed bids from Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and
Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts family are among the front-runners to take
over.
Sir Martin Broughton and Lord Sebastian Coe have also offered a bid.
'Ridiculous' to prevent Chelsea fans
attending FA Cup semi-final, says MP Julian Knight
The government has been urged to allow Chelsea fans access to FA Cup
semi-final tickets, provided any proceeds go to the people of Ukraine.
Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee,
has called for changes to the special licence imposed upon the club after
their owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the British Government.
The intention of the licence is to deny the club - and by extension
Abramovich, who the government says has ties to Russian president Vladimir
Putin - the ability to generate new revenue, including from ticket sales.
Chelsea fans were unable to buy any tickets for the FA Cup quarter-final win
at Middlesbrough beyond those purchased prior to the imposition of
sanctions, but Knight insists a solution must be in place ahead of the
semi-final against Crystal Palace at Wembley next month.
"It is ridiculous that we face the prospect of a half-full Wembley for the
Chelsea vs Palace FA Cup semi-final," Knight said.
"Chelsea is more than just its owner, it's a living organism with huge
importance to its fans and community. It was understandable that, at short
notice, last week's game against Middlesbrough went ahead without Chelsea
fans but, with this much notice, the FA have no excuse for excluding them.
"The FA must be allowed to sell tickets to Chelsea fans so long as all money
goes to the people of Ukraine."
Last Tuesday, Chelsea initially requested the match against Boro be played
behind closed doors "for matters of sporting integrity" because of the
inability to sell further tickets to travelling fans, but withdrew the
request later the same day.
The club are currently unable to sell any new tickets in home sections of
Stamford Bridge beyond those already sold, or sell tickets to visiting fans.
Unless the licence is changed, it means their Champions League quarter-final
first leg at home to Real Madrid would be played behind closed doors.
Discussions between the government, the Premier League and the Football
Association on ticketing are ongoing.
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