With Roman Abramovich’s sales advisers dismissing several bidders from the process, the 3.95 billion USD battle to buy Chelsea intensifies. The consortium led by Todd Boehly has been informed they have made the shortlist of preferred bidders to buy the Stamford Bridge club. Also, the group led by Sir Martin Broughton and Lord Coe – but heavily funded by Crystal Palace shareholders David Blitzer and Josh Harris – are understood to have made the second round.There are those who have received bad news – New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, the Saudi Media Group and Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak — that their bids will not make it to the next stage.02.04. Sat 17:00: (1.35) Chelsea (4.90) Brentford (9.50) As the Raine Group, the finance firm running the auction for the club, have yet to produce an official shortlist, the playing field appears to have narrowed considerably and looks like being dominated by American billionaires. It is no news flash that several US wealth-holders already own sports franchises in both United States and the United Kingdom – Glazer family owns Manchester United and Tampa, Kroenke family owns Arsenal, LA Rams and Denver Nuggets. Chelsea could ‘join the club’ as LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and his consortium have made it through to the next stage, with their main competition appearing to come from the larger American group funded by Harris and Blitzer.Former Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton and fellow Chelsea fan Lord Coe have been presented as the public face of that bid- much of the funding is believed to be coming from Philadelphia 76ers owner Harris and another major figure from the NBA, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.British property developer Nick Candy, whose Blue Football Consortium contains backing from South Korean financial institutions and a tie-up with Gianluca Vialli’s investment fund, is hopeful of staying in the race, although there was uncertainty over the status of a bid from the Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise.Boehly and his Swiss partner Hansjorg Wyss were first to alert the world to Abramovich’s decision to put Chelsea up for auction and are now in a great position to make the purchase.It is believed that the disappointed bidders demanded explanations for being ruled out – which delayed the process of beginning the next round of the auction and caused frustration elsewhere. Additionally, rumour has it that Raine have encouraged some of the competing groups to merge in an attempt to secure a bigger fee that will also be politically acceptable to the Government. Hence, reportedly, Candy is understood to have been approached by several parties, including the Ricketts family, about a joint venture with talks continuing on Thursday night.06.04. Wed 22:00: (2.10) Chelsea (3.40) Real Madrid (3.90)Whoever buys Chelsea will require the Government’s consent in the form of a special licence to proceed with the sale, as well as to gain the approval of the Premier League by passing their owners’ and directors’ test.It could all take as little as 10 days – but realistically will last much longer as the Saudi state-backed takeover of Newcastle United took 17 weeks.The Blues’ manager wants a winner in the owner’s chairThe Saudi Media Group claimed their bid for Chelsea did not include any state funding, but the need for a quick sale and the Premier League’s sensitivity to fears of a conflict of interest counted against them.Therefore, the talks of the ‘Premier League middle Eastern big three’ (Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea) will not realize. And It looks like the US influence on the English top tier will continue to grow.
