3 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

I just want the new owners in before our game against Real. It will be a travesty if we have to play the game behind closed doors and not have the opportunity to let the snake know how we truly feel. 

Also does anyone know why the government can't just let us sell the tickets for free to season ticket holders. That way we don't make a profit and the fans don't suffer.

Oh dear, let the snake slither away already! Let's not sink to the level of bashing our former players. There are many more suitable candidates for that 

Here we go.....

4 hours ago, Mana said:

Did---you even read the rest of his thread? Or you just ignored it? SMG are very much still in the running to buy Chelsea and I still consider them one of the favourites.

 

I did read the rest that is why I included the potential problem of Turki Al-Shiekh.

6 hours ago, bisright1 said:

That's a pretty outdated take. "Soccer" is massively on the rise in America, tv rights there sold for 2bn in comparison to the 5bn we raise in the UK. They are hosting the world cup this decade. They have multiple top tier players in the team now. 

It's no longer a minority sport, it's one of their 5 big ones and it's only going to get bigger. 

Never ever going to be on the same levels of those 4 created American sports. 

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

I did read the rest that is why I included the potential problem of Turki Al-Shiekh.

And SMG consistently deny that Turki Al-Shiekh is not involved. Again, SMG wouldn't have bothered bidding if they had links to him or anyone in the state.

The media don't know jack about SMG so listening to them saying they have no chance is stupid. Just like what the Newcastle owners did, they are purposely being silent. Silence doesn't mean they are out.

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by Mana

20 minutes ago, Mana said:

And SMG consistently deny that Turki Al-Shiekh is not involved. Again, SMG wouldn't have bothered bidding if they had links to him or anyone in the state.

The media don't know jack about SMG so listening to them saying they have no chance is stupid. Just like what the Newcastle owners did, they are purposely being silent. Silence doesn't mean they are out.

Problem I see for them is time frame. How long it will take to prove they have zero involvement from anyone in their bid, any backers, who are linked to the Saudi state. It took Newcastles owners quite a while to "prove" that. We don't have such a luxury.

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by axman2526

6 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Problem I see for them is time frame. How long it will take to prove they have zero involvement from anyone in their bid, any backers, who are linked to the Saudi state. It took Newcastles owners quite a while to "prove" that. We don't have such a luxury.

No, that's incorrect.

The reason why it took so long was because of Saudi Arabia's illegal streaming of the Premier League. Not because of the "link" to the state.

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by Mana

24 minutes ago, Mana said:

No, that's incorrect.

The reason why it took so long was because of Saudi Arabia's illegal streaming of the Premier League. Not because of the "link" to the state.

I don't think we will have to wait too long before finding out the shortlist. Whittled down from 7 or so "serious" offers to 3 or 4 today hopefully.

The True Blues Consortium ideas would be amazing if that could be included. I'd definitely be up for buying a share in that.

However, with the CPO members already owning the pitch and Chelsea FC name, would the big money men be ready to let the fans have a 10% golden share? That's a lot of power for them to give over.

I wonder I Raine get paid directly by Roman or if they take a percentage of the sale amount.

I would happily take a 0.01% cut from the sale price 

Remember the reports of an enormous “mystery bidder”? According to the BBC, global investment firm Centricus, which “includes several Chelsea season ticket holders” are funding a bid to buy the club. 

With assets of £29billion, Centricus states that it “wants to maintain and support existing management”. And there’s more:

Centricus co-founder Nizar Al-Bassam and chief executive Garth Ritchie are heading the bid, which also includes hedge fund manager Jonathan Lourie of Cheyne Capital and Bob Finch of Talis Capital. 

In a statement, the group said it "will be committed to supporting [Chelsea] and its key stakeholders to ensure its continued success".

It added: "Our financing for the deal includes funding for the completion of the transaction and funding for working capital required for the day-to-day operations of the CFC Group, funds required to maintain an elite global brand, investment in grassroots and in-community football initiatives such as the Chelsea Academy, the Women's Team, the Youth Development Program and the Chelsea Foundation and strategic real estate investment.

"The intention is to maintain and support existing management on both the business and sporting operations of the CFC Group. We intend to maintain the existing strategy direction. 

"Clearly, the CFC Group has been operating in challenging conditions and we appreciate the importance for the CFC Group, the fans and other key stakeholders of ensuring a smooth and stable ownership transition. During this transition period and thereafter, we will ensure that we have frequent and open dialogue with all key stakeholders which underpins our long-term commitment to the CFC Group and its continued future success. 

"If our offer is successful, Centricus would be focused on ensuring that the CFC Group continues to achieve sporting excellence, high level of community support, transparent governance, financial sustainability, fan engagement and exemplary custodianship."

 

Sounds very interesting to me.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Never ever going to be on the same levels of those 4 created American sports. 

Not true.  Like cricket in the UK, I am guessing, baseball is becoming an old person’s game and is falling away fast in popularity.  Too slow for the 20- and 30-somethings.  nBA has big issues with their BLM and Antifa ‘love’, which has turned off half of the population in the US.  NHL will always be a Canadian-first sport, but it is very popular, just think about kids in Florida - they ain’t playing ice hockey!  So given all that, soccer falls (way) behind the NFL, which I loathe due to its start/stop plays that bores me to death,  not to mention about 8 refs/umpires who have too much control over plays.

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by Phillip

Regarding the interest in the USA, let's not forget they'll be hosting the World Cup over there in just 4 years time.

Could be some of the US bidders have that in mind and have a plan to push Chelsea amongst the hype the build up to that will generate.

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by TokyoBlue

It is definitely growing. I read that it is now the third most watched sport in the U.S. The team I follow, Atlanta United, averaged 43K people per game last year. After they restructured the schedule that has more matches against teams within driving distance, that number will raise. I attended the opening game against Sporting KC and there were 71K in attendance. That number was surpassed a few weeks later when a more local team, Charlotte FC, came to Atlanta. 

Edited March 21, 20224 yr by Zaphod2319

Yes you could imagine the Summer tour in the Southern US and bring a decent Mexican team into a mini tournament and guess that would get a lot of media coverage over there.

“Raine Group plans to narrow down the shortlist of bidders to 3 on Monday or Tuesday, sources close to the deal told Reuters.“

 

 

3 minutes ago, JM7 said:

“Raine Group plans to narrow down the shortlist of bidders to 3 on Monday or Tuesday, sources close to the deal told Reuters.“

 

 

Monday Tuesday or Wednesday and if need be Thursday or Friday and in a worst case scenario Saturday or Sunday 

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Never ever going to be on the same levels of those 4 created American sports. 

It's already ahead of NHL, it's not far behind baseball. Honestly I think you're massively out of date with your view on this 

Sky Sports expert in the news Channel said all the finalist only care about making more money at CFC, winning not being important. Said we needed someone like Bezos or Musk to come in if we were going to remain signing top players and winning bug trophies.

8 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

It's already ahead of NHL, it's not far behind baseball. Honestly I think you're massively out of date with your view on this 

34 minutes ago, JM7 said:

“Raine Group plans to narrow down the shortlist of bidders to 3 on Monday or Tuesday, sources close to the deal told Reuters.“

 

 

Yeah sounds like they want to inform all 3 of those parties at the same time.

Appears bidders 1 and 2 are locked in already, BWG and Ricketts-Griffin. Raine are said to have quickly approved their proposals are whittling down the 3rd option, which is taking longer.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Sky Sports expert in the news Channel said all the finalist only care about making more money at CFC, winning not being important. Said we needed someone like Bezos or Musk to come in if we were going to remain signing top players and winning bug trophies.

Yes, I can see the US bidders such as BWG and Johnson doing this.

But Sky Sports are being very selective with their choices (example ignoring SMG like they don't exist). Also these "experts" are BS. They don't know s***.

39 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Sky Sports expert in the news Channel said all the finalist only care about making more money at CFC, winning not being important. Said we needed someone like Bezos or Musk to come in if we were going to remain signing top players and winning bug trophies.

I'd prefer to win regular human trophies, not trophies for bugs. We would have to invest in microscopes and the such to amplify them in the trophy case... just seems like a lot of unnecessary work

14 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I'd prefer to win regular human trophies, not trophies for bugs. We would have to invest in microscopes and the such to amplify them in the trophy case... just seems like a lot of unnecessary work

Space saver though  😉