They can delay it all they want as long as they take the handcuffs of our club and lets us run properly now that we and roman have fully complied with the sale of the club with zero objections, and the process is in motion. What they have done to us supporters and the staff at our club the poorest of which were affected, is criminal.

A commercial ticket agency could sell tickets for Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final and Champions League quarter-final, with the proceeds going into a frozen account, under a plan being discussed by government officials that would allow the club’s fans to attend matches.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independent-agency-could-handle-all-chelsea-ticket-sales-as-part-of-plan-to-get-fans-back-at-matches-wqjv9p8rp

3 minutes ago, coco said:

A UEFA statement read: "UEFA is fully committed to always implementing relevant EU and international sanctions. Our understanding is that the present case is assessed in the context of the licence issued in the UK which allows Chelsea FC to continue minimum football activity whilst providing a safeguard that no financial gain will result for Mr Abramovich.

Hopefully they sort something out quickly then. I have no doubt we will be fine for the fa cup now but the CL first leg is awfully close 

2 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

Have you seen the complex he built where his crazily priced penthouse is, i think manage is the easy bit

Nope. Everyone in the running are vastly successful at what they do, that is how they can afford to bid. Does not mean they are for sure able to run a successful football club both on and off the pitch.

I really don’t see any reason for our government or the EU to stop us selling tickets once the agreement is done even if hasn’t officially been done, their supposed reason for this is so Roman doesn’t profit, with everything in place to have him out of the picture they need to let us crack on because they’re only hurting the club and it’s supporters

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Nope. Everyone in the running are vastly successful at what they do, that is how they can afford to bid. Does not mean they are for sure able to run a successful football club both on and off the pitch.

Abramovich made lots of mistakes running Chelsea, but he paid for them out of his pocket, this was the key to our success.

10 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I really don’t see any reason for our government or the EU to stop us selling tickets once the agreement is done even if hasn’t officially been done, their supposed reason for this is so Roman doesn’t profit, with everything in place to have him out of the picture they need to let us crack on because they’re only hurting the club and it’s supporters

Even if we wanted to give the money to Roman we couldnt, unless we sent it over to Russia in suitcases full of rubles, no banks would touch it.

24 minutes ago, coco said:

Abramovich made lots of mistakes running Chelsea, but he paid for them out of his pocket, this was the key to our success.

Aye he did and, as you said, covered for them pretty well. It is very unlikely the new owners could follow such a model, so they don't get such a luxury of making mistakes and covering them well.

9 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Aye he did and, as you said, covered for them pretty well. It is very unlikely the new owners could follow such a model, so they don't get such a luxury of making mistakes and covering them well.

They will need to follow that model at the start, we need to spend a fair bit of money to make sure we extend Tuchel's contract (which will mean giving him guarantees on funds for players) and give in to Rudiger's pay requests (make him a top paid player), if the new owners can do that were off to a great start.

25 minutes ago, coco said:

They will need to follow that model at the start, we need to spend a fair bit of money to make sure we extend Tuchel's contract (which will mean giving him guarantees on funds for players) and give in to Rudiger's pay requests (make him a top paid player), if the new owners can do that were off to a great start.

That is what we want them to do sure, the new owner may decide to go a different direction.

I'd be surprised if the government and FA don't allow tickets for the FA Cup Semi final.

I believe that a large part of the revenue goes to the FA, so I'm sure they will miraculously work out a way to prevent their own cash flow getting hit.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60828103

General impression is it will be BWG vs Ricketts-Harris. Tom Ricketts is heading to London to meet CPO and CST I have seen reported.

Ricketts/Griffin must know they're shortlisted, or that trip to London to meet CPO and CST is pointless and strange.... 

Surely, that kind of trip and effort would make more sense after being confirmed as preferred bidder, as the purpose of the trip is to win around fans who doubt your ownership credentials, and to explain your vision and ideas for your tenure.  I simply do not see any point in doing it if you dont even know whether you've made the shortlist, and not just that, the CST and CPO wont have a huge say in who takes over, they just wont. So it's not as if its a audition either, if you get me. 

If im Ricketts/Griffin, the only way i am taking that kind of trip to London and speaking to those 2 groups, is if i know i've won the bidding and essentially will be taking over.  I just do not see the point in it, otherwise the other bidders would do the same if they genuinely thought it improved their chances.

 

Could be totally wrong though and reading way too much into it.....

It was always said that the bidders will know if theyve made it before the media, obviously, and alongside Ricketts/Griffin I fully expect to see Boehlys lot, possibly that Centricus group, and maybe, just maybe, and unknown

Edited March 22, 20224 yr by RickUK

5 hours ago, coco said:

They will need to follow that model at the start, we need to spend a fair bit of money to make sure we extend Tuchel's contract (which will mean giving him guarantees on funds for players) and give in to Rudiger's pay requests (make him a top paid player), if the new owners can do that were off to a great start.

The new owners will have to make a splash when they come in, so Rudiger renewing, maybe Tuchel and a huge summer window are more or less certain id imagine

My guess would be that a long delay can be caused by (1) price not meeting seller expectations, (2) two or more bidders are close and there is a "can you improve" discussion (3) some aspects of due diligence on both sides by the selected bidder as to can the write the cheque and the bidder wanting to look at the books and haggle a bit.

The international break gives a little bit of breathing space.

I am getting increasingly keen to move on from Abramovitch, he was a good owner for Chelsea, but maybe that's not enough.

6 hours ago, coco said:

A commercial ticket agency could sell tickets for Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final and Champions League quarter-final, with the proceeds going into a frozen account, under a plan being discussed by government officials that would allow the club’s fans to attend matches.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independent-agency-could-handle-all-chelsea-ticket-sales-as-part-of-plan-to-get-fans-back-at-matches-wqjv9p8rp

Hopefully it’s still done via the club & loyalty points or it’ll be a massacre!

I hope that any new owner can do something about the stadium and get us a bigger capacity. Other than the financial benefits, it would be great to allow access for more supporters to see the team occasionally. I understand the current system of loyalty points, but it just results in a closed shop. I imagine the 650 at Boro were those who qualified for the first day of sales by having a season ticket since 1905 and haven’t missed a game home or away including friendlies. Or at least they bought a ticket for every game to get the points and then resold it because they couldn’t be arsed going up north on a Tuesday night.

While the Raine Group are conducting the process, Sir Martin Broughton said the preferred bidders would be chosen by Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, and directors Eugene Tenenbaum and Marina Granovskaia. (Times)
 

Once 3 or 4 bidding groups have been selected, Broughton explained, the proposals will be placed under further scrutiny before one consortium is chosen. (Times)
 

It is at that point, Broughton said, that the offer will be put forward for government approval, with a licence for sale issued once treasury officials are happy that the proceeds will not be going to a Russian oligarch whose UK assets have been frozen (Times) #CFC

2 hours ago, Munkworth said:

Hopefully it’s still done via the club & loyalty points or it’ll be a massacre!

That's what I was thinking if it's a first come first served basis it's totally unfair on s/t holders and members. 

13 hours ago, Phillip said:

Horrible game to watch on the tele.  Just try to focus solely on the sneaker squeaking by the players, I know, I should not have brought it up, but once you concentrate on that, it will make you go crazy with all the 'squeak squeak squeak' that you constantly hear throughout the game.

There was once a study done why football isn’t as popular in america and one of the reasons was that Americans cannot focus on anything for 45 minutes straight without having any advertisements and commercials or snack breaks in between. Also they don’t like low numbers like 2-0 or 1-1 but prefer 60-55, and they don’t like draws someone always has to win 

8 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

There was once a study done why football isn’t as popular in america and one of the reasons was that Americans cannot focus on anything for 45 minutes straight without having any advertisements and commercials or snack breaks in between. Also they don’t like low numbers like 2-0 or 1-1 but prefer 60-55, and they don’t like draws someone always has to win 

Never understood why they don't just play the last 2 minutes of a basketball game.

15 hours ago, axman2526 said:

It would be a huge PR move to get them involved, may push a bidder to winning. 

While we all see JT as a legend, many others see him as a racist so his PR value isn't great.

51 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

There was once a study done why football isn’t as popular in america and one of the reasons was that Americans cannot focus on anything for 45 minutes straight without having any advertisements and commercials or snack breaks in between. Also they don’t like low numbers like 2-0 or 1-1 but prefer 60-55, and they don’t like draws someone always has to win 

LMFAO.. Please bro we all don't have ADHD for sports. The fact of the matter is the other sports got into the market early and dominated it. Hence the best athletes gravitate to those sports. Soccer was always seen as a back burner but trust me the changes in tidesare ridiculous . I remember when i had to always subscribe to Chelsea TV online just to watch highlights of our matches or listen to audio commentary because the Premier league was never shown on TV. The only soccer on TV then was the champions league on ESPN, but now catching a Chelsea match is easy. 

I kinda agree with the statement that most Americans don't like low numbers because a usual comeback from non soccer fans is that how can I sit sown , watch a game for 90 mins and have it end in a goalless draw. 

We dont like draws because most of the mainstream sports don't have ties apart from American football and a tie is rare in that

55 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

There was once a study done why football isn’t as popular in america and one of the reasons was that Americans cannot focus on anything for 45 minutes straight without having any advertisements and commercials or snack breaks in between. Also they don’t like low numbers like 2-0 or 1-1 but prefer 60-55, and they don’t like draws someone always has to win 

Believe me they don't have the attention span of more than 15 minutes and you are spot on re Ads, breaks etc. And they only go to the baseball games for the beer, popcorn and flying hotdogs and Tee shirts. Having been to numerous ball games watching the Jays, its a constant battle of standing up and down as these prats go back and forth to their seats...still I doubt you'd have that many US fans at the Bridge, but the US TV broadcasters might have a say on how many ads are shown every time a player goes down injured. The more US owners grab teams in our league the more it will become Americanized with Ad breaks dictating when play commences after a stoppage in play...NBA and NHL is a prime example if you have ever gone and watched these games live.  Our club will be raped blind if we get US owners, maybe not initially but as time goes on we will start going downhill.