Chelsea Supporters’ Trust demand assurances from any new owners that club won’t join any future European Super League and will remain at Stamford Bridge as Roman Abramovich seeks £3bn for the Blues
- Roman Abramovich has put Chelsea up for sale and wants £3bn for the club
- A consortium led by Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss is in negotiations
- Chelsea Supporters’ Trust has made a number of requests of any new owners
- They want an assurance Chelsea won’t join a future European Super League
- Trust is also looking for a guarantee club won’t be moved from Stamford Bridge
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust has demanded the club’s new owners guarantee they won’t sign up to any future European Super League and assurances the Blues won’t leave Stamford Bridge.
It comes amid immense uncertainty after Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale on Wednesday with an asking price of £3billion.
Abramovich is braced for sanctions from the UK government in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and wants to offload the club with proceeds going to a charitable foundation for victims of the conflict.
Potential suitors for the club include a consortium of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Todd Boehly and the Swiss businessman Hansjorg Wyss, who have an estimated combined wealth of almost £9bn.
With negotiations ongoing, the Trust has urged any prospective owners to engage with supporters at the ‘earliest opportunity’ and made a series of requests.
One was a guarantee that the new ownership will not sign Chelsea up for a future Super League ‘without the engagement of key stakeholders, with supporters at the forefront.’
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust have asked any prospective new owners of the club to guarantee they won’t sign up to any future European Super League
The Trust has also sought a guarantee that the club won’t be moved from Stamford Bridge
Roman Abramovich is seeking £3billion for the club amid the threat of imminent sanctions
There was widespread revulsion among Chelsea fans, who protested in the streets outside Stamford Bridge, when they became one of six Premier League clubs to sign up for the proposed breakaway competition in April last year.
Abramovich was quick to realise his error of judgement and Chelsea were the first of the English clubs to withdraw, sparking the collapse of the project.
However, with rumours that rebel clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus will revive the idea in the coming weeks, the Chelsea fans’ group are seeking assurances there won’t be a repeat.
The Trust are also seeking assurances the new owners will keep the club playing at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea supporters own the freehold of the stadium and the naming rights to the club.
Chelsea fans took to the streets to protest against the European Super League last year
The statement from the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust made a series of demands of new owners
They have asked for ‘the outstanding balance of the loan from the club to the Chelsea Pitch Owners should be forgiven, so that Stamford Bridge is secured and for Chelsea’s supporters.’
In addition, the Trust would like to see the key recommendations of Tracey Crouch’s fan-led review of football governance, including a golden share for fans, to be implemented by the new owners.
Crouch expressed her optimism this week that the recommendations would form a part of the Queen’s Speech and enter law in due course.
The Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss (left) has set up a consortium to purchase Chelsea
LA Dodgers owner Todd Boehly is part of a consortium alongside Swiss businessman Wyss
It came as negotiations over a quick-fire sale of Chelsea intensified with Wyss and Boehly formed a consortium to prepare a bid.
However, they are not willing to meet Abramovich’s £3bn asking price. The Russian-Israeli billionaire rejected a £2.2bn offer for the club from Boehly three years ago but was not an active seller back then.
With the lack of alternative bidders and the imminent threat of government sanctions, Abramovich could be hurried to sell.
Britain’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe and Egyptian investor Loufty Mansour have distanced themselves from bidding for Chelsea.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said on Thursday that a sale could be concluded in as little as 10 days. But closing a deal of this size in such a short space of time seems optimistic at best.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters believes a deal can be concluded swiftly
Masters said: ‘I think the quickest one (owners and directors test) we’ve ever done is 10 days. That’s not to say that record can’t be beaten.
‘But, normally, it would take a number of weeks, and it all depends on the complexity of the deal and the number of potential owners.
‘So, provided that the information is easily digestible, easily understandable, gives us all the right answers, it could be done relatively quickly.’