On 27/08/2019 at 16:23, M.M.B said:

That's a shame, Bolton, Bury, or Notts County could have done with his money.

No point buying a dying club with little upside. Nice are on the up and in a top league. 

Nothing flashy about buying a money drain in the conference.

He must of sort of lost a bit of love for The Team and the Bridge, nothing is stopping him just going as Roman the owner, rocking up to watch his team, and them leaving the country till he fancies it again?

 

1 hour ago, Ballack & Blu said:

He must of sort of lost a bit of love for The Team and the Bridge, nothing is stopping him just going as Roman the owner, rocking up to watch his team, and them leaving the country till he fancies it again?

 

Do any of us go to every game, every season ? 

6 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

No point buying a dying club with little upside. Nice are on the up and in a top league. 

Nothing flashy about buying a money drain in the conference.

Tell that to those class of 92 manc w**kers & Salford City!

7 minutes ago, coco said:

Do any of us go to every game, every season ? 

Yes me the one and only super fan (this is a lie, I’ve already missed Norwich )

Roman Abramovich turns down Chelsea takeover offer from owner of LA Dodgers

Tom Morgan, sports news correspondent

10 DECEMBER 2019 •

 

Roman Abramovich is believed to have turned down another offer to sell Chelsea after a takeover approach was tabled by a US financier who part-owns the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Todd Boehly, former president of asset manager Guggenheim Partners, is said to have sent a figure to representatives of the Russian last month.

The New York-based Wall Street Journal, which first reported the approach, claims Boehly's bid fell short of Abramovich's valuation, but the American may yet request further talks.

Boehly's spokeswoman has failed to respond to multiple requests for comment. However, sources close to the Russian have subsequently reiterated his position that he has no interest in selling up. The Daily Telegraph disclosed last month how the club had effectively been taken off the market.

In 2015, Boehly, 46, who studied at the London School of Economics, set up investment firm Eldridge Industries. Three years earlier he was part of a group of investors that bought Major League Baseball’s LA Dodgers in a deal worth $2.15 billion.

Abramovich, however, has lost interest in selling up at market value. Despite the Russian's ongoing visa wrangle with the British Government, he will make around £150 million available for Frank Lampard to spend over the next two windows after their transfer ban was overturned last week.

 

Boehly's approach is the fourth to have become public over the past 18 months. A Middle East-based consortium, which expressed interest last year, said it was quoted £2.5bn for the Russian's shares.

 

Costs and complications surrounding a potential redevelopment of Stamford Bridge have put off at least two potential bidders. The Middle East consortium, who spoke to Telegraph Sport, estimated costs at £1.2bn, and said preparations could take years to resolve with Chelsea Pitch Owners Plc. CPO say they have not received any contact and would not stand in the way of the club relocating temporarily should the mothballed redevelopment be revived.

Meanwhile, Bob Ratcliffe, the brother of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, previously told the BBC fears over redeveloping the stadium proved too big to overcome for a potential takeover by petrochemicals giant Ineos.

While Boehly is unlikely to be successful in taking over at Chelsea, the bid is the latest example of investment interest in the US as the Premier League becomes increasingly popular across the Atlantic.

Silver Lake, the US private equity group  which had also previously expressed interest in Chelsea, took a £380m stake in City Football Group, owners of Manchester City, last week.

Chelsea have consistently said the club is not for sale, but Abramovich appeared open to offers last year when he appointed Raine Group, a US merchant bank, to conduct a “strategic review”.

 

The Russian oligarch can in theory travel to the UK on his Israeli passport, but has stayed away from Stamford Bridge because he remains sore at his treatment by European nations. His UK visa expired amid bitter Anglo-Russian recriminations in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings, and he withdrew a bid for Swiss residency in 2016 when it emerged federal police had advised he posed a "threat to public security and a reputational risk".

However, associates of Abramovich say the Russian is as enthused as he has ever been about Chelsea under Lampard, who is on course for Champions League qualification despite being unable to bring in players over the summer.

American owners, god no. They don’t do well in UK.

Edited December 10, 20196 yr by dansubrosa

I recall the CPO initiative was set up to prevent future owners selling out to commercial interests like property developers.

I think the stance from CPO should be they will remain as long as there is a demand for football at Chelsea FC and if the time comes when football loses it fan base then CPO would relinquish their holdings and CFC would exist only in history and of course legend. 

22 minutes ago, fitz said:

 

However, associates of Abramovich say the Russian is as enthused as he has ever been about Chelsea under Lampard,

£200m Jan kitty or its lies.

11 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

American owners, god no. They don’t do well in UK.

I don't know about that, look at Liverpool. 

6 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I don't know about that, look at Liverpool. 

It took a while for things to calm down the Klopp effect with money spent on players.

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

It took a while for things to calm down the Klopp effect with money spent on players.

He spent a lot of sh*te on players for Dalglish and Rodgers also, it's just that Klopp actually wanted good players. 

There’s every possibility Roman wanted to sell but changed his mind. We also may get/ be getting a thaw in relations between UK and Russia, especially if Johnson wins a majority. 

38 minutes ago, Dean said:

There’s every possibility Roman wanted to sell but changed his mind. We also may get/ be getting a thaw in relations between UK and Russia, especially if Johnson wins a majority. 

I thought Corbyn was the commie, Johnson is a Yank.

21 hours ago, Dean said:

There’s every possibility Roman wanted to sell but changed his mind. We also may get/ be getting a thaw in relations between UK and Russia, especially if Johnson wins a majority. 

That is a possibility though see Johnson being more realpolitik if he wins on the international stage so it could go either way.

46 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

That is a possibility though see Johnson being more realpolitik if he wins on the international stage so it could go either way.

But from a realpolitik perspective they’d rather have a thaw and this is happening already in France and Germany. Just not in their interest, not good for business and a Johnson government would be more willing to have good relations I think than Macron or Merkel. I’m guessing Johnson and co readier than others to accept and turn a blind eye to foreign money that MIGHT be tarnished one way or the other, grant visas to billionaires (who will conveniently pass ‘Australian’ tests etc). either way, the relationship has probably seen its worst days. So if Roman does sell Chelsea it’s more likely to be for business than geopolitical reasons. I could be wrong of course. I thought he was going to sell amid the Ukraine and then Skripal fallout.

If he didn't sell the club when his visa was declined, I doubt he actually cares about the elections, if anything he would welcome any changes to the current relations between Britain and Russia.

12 minutes ago, Dean said:

But from a realpolitik perspective they’d rather have a thaw and this is happening already in France and Germany. Just not in their interest, not good for business and a Johnson government would be more willing to have good relations I think than Macron or Merkel. I’m guessing Johnson and co readier than others to accept and turn a blind eye to foreign money that MIGHT be tarnished one way or the other, grant visas to billionaires (who will conveniently pass ‘Australian’ tests etc). either way, the relationship has probably seen its worst days. So if Roman does sell Chelsea it’s more likely to be for business than geopolitical reasons. I could be wrong of course. I thought he was going to sell amid the Ukraine and then Skripal fallout.

With Boris the USA foreign policy will likely influence our attitude to Russia, however if we get good trade deals with rest of world perhaps less so.

Not sure under a Corbyn coalition how this will pan out, we have just made two aircraft carriers operational and he is generally perceived as more pacifist. I think he will probably want to align with the EU.

The EU has factions too, when Clinton was the foreign policy guru under Obama, war over Ukraine looked on the cards with battlefield nukes being sent to Poland and Rumania. The world is back to the old cold war days yet we are not told this as they previously noticed people stopped spending. 

 

I actually think that now owning A Top tier PL club has more kudos than flogging it off, 3 odd billion is an awful lot of money, RA is worth 3 times this amount, a few more quid in the coffers won't really add to his life, but losing such a coveted baubel might deplete it.

31 minutes ago, Ballack & Blu said:

I actually think that now owning A Top tier PL club has more kudos than flogging it off, 3 odd billion is an awful lot of money, RA is worth 3 times this amount, a few more quid in the coffers won't really add to his life, but losing such a coveted baubel might deplete it.

You might be right and we may come to feel like Newcastle with Ashley at the helm as every other club of note upgrades it ground and we are still stuck in a rut with just 42k seats.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

You might be right and we may come to feel like Newcastle with Ashley at the helm as every other club of note upgrades it ground and we are still stuck in a rut with just 42k seats.

So say thats it and Roman absolutely hits the jackpot an cashes in for 3billion, the next incumbent is looking at spending 4billion to buy the club, and re-develop, thats some big bucks, the Indian owner at QPR should be tapped up, he's seriously minted, or the Saudi king?

Well, now that the election is in, and Johnson has a clear majority, I wonder how this will impact upon Roman? Will he get his visa? Will the stadium redevelopment be resurrected? It was under Theresa May that his visa renewal was declined.

On 10/12/2019 at 18:08, Slojo said:

I don't know about that, look at Liverpool. 

Think it's Klopp who are making them look good personally. They have a very poor track record when it comes to backing their managers properly, even the VVD and Allison deals came through selling their biggest creative outlet for big money.

Imagine if our manager had to make do with Karius to two years because Marina wouldn't release funds for a top keeper, these boards would go into lockdown.

 

No news media reports of this, only social media.

No news media reports of this, only social media.

Which suggest it’s not true