Blue Armour

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10746905/Chelsea-takeover-held-potential-Stamford-Bridge-renovations.html REVEALED: Chelsea sale is being delayed due to concerns over renovations needed at Stamford Bridge - and ANOTHER stage of the bidding process is set to be introduced, with one interested group set to be eliminated from the race this week Bidders for the club are struggling to make the maths work on bids of around £2.5billion because of a potential requirement to renovate the home ground — as opposed to moving elsewhere. It has also emerged that another stage in the bidding process has been introduced, with one of the three interested parties to be eliminated this week. It was originally thought a preferred bidder would be chosen from the three remaining consortia. Without moving the stadium, the sums don't work,' a source said. 'They're private equity guys and want to make a profit in the long term. No matter how glamorous the trophies are, the sums don't work without moving the stadium if the deal is for £2.5bn.' They will probably knock the price down. Everyone's talking about it, it's just no one's talking about in the public domain,' the source said Observers close to the situation said they expected Boston Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca's bid to be eliminated this week, as it is not offering anything new. The proposals from Sir Martin Broughton and Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers-part owner, will then likely progress. Broughton's group, which is backed by American financiers Josh Harris and David Blitzer, are seemingly making the right moves, bringing Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams on board. But concerns have arisen over the Boehly bid bringing in former chancellor George Osborne, a noted Chelsea fan. Given that current chancellor Rishi Sunak is understood to be playing a key role in determining the winning bid, the inclusion of Osborne is looking wrong-headed, according to close observers. 'How will Rishi Sunak, who's making the decision, feel about the inclusion of the ex-chancellor? It doesn't look good compared to the alternative, a diverse ownership group with the great and the good of Britain on board,' said a source. Even if one of the groups is successful, Roman Abramovich may yet decide not to sell to a bidder from the US or the UK. Could be just tabloid journalism from the Mail (who are probably just clamoring for a British owner), but interesting if true. Especially the last part. Probably just nonsense. Hard to imagine they would let the bidding process come this far only to eliminate all the bidders

Rudigers contract expires in June. Technically, he is free to talk to any club he wants. And that includes Chelsea. How and why they decided to rule out Chelsea and finalize their decision in the next week is a mystery to me. I'll still hold on to the slight hope that it is all just paper talk until I hear something official from Rudiger or the club signing him. But one thing is certain. We better wrap up the ownership transfer by the first week of May. Or we're going to face a real uphill battle even before the season begins. There's selecting an owner, and then there's the actual process of transfer which includes a PL owners litmus test, and government approval, likely to take a week or two itself.. Such a long process. Was it ever this long for Man Utd?

Part of me really wants to see them in the CL again. To see them get royally embarrassed by an elite European team It's the Arsenal way.

It's becoming a recurring theme. And I'm furious that we're the ones that keep putting them back in contention. Anyway. As long as they keep holding on to Arteta and stay away from better managers, that's a positive I guess.

If what Simon Johnson and the Athletic said is true., then we should hear something official next week. Either from Rudiger or the club that is approaching him. The one positive if any., is that it will kill this stupid speculation. There's been so much uncertainty over the past few weeks, that it's become more annoying than this contract situation. Hopefully this means we can kill this speculation and move on. Hope to say the same about the ownership situation soon enough as well

I blame the Lukaku deal for this. Whoever decided to put Lukaku on the wages he's on needs a hard look at. Offering that waste of space three times of what someone like Rudiger is earning., is what led to this fiasco.

To be fair, he is going through a divorce and the clubs future is in the air. These aren't normal circumstances. So I would cut Tuchel some slack. A lot, actually.

Wasn't aware of this. Has to be especially tough to go through this. Even without a club crisis in the background.

Would you rather Arsenal finish in top 4 or Europa? As opposed to United or Spurs.. Personally not sure what would be the better outcome.

Play Chalobah. And Silva. Don't want to see Christensen or Saar in the starting lineup

I'm beginning to dread this post of yours. It feels like a jinx after that Arsenal game. Do a rain dance or something to reverse it.

Fucking hate losing to these lot. Their insufferable fans will keep gloating about it too. Would prefer United over either of the London clubs to make it into top 4.

I give Christensen credit for his CL final performance. But for the most part he has always come across as such as a passive, weak player. Never plays any penetrating passes from defense (when in the central role) and shies away easily from challenges. And made of glass. His mind is no longer at the club.

Mendy has not looked himself since the AFCON. Their 2nd and 3rd goals were something a prime Mendy would have dealt with comfortably. Hope he turns it around against West Ham. He had a stinker against them earlier this season. Would be a good chance at redemption.

True, but the rules are there for a reason. Connor scoring an own goal to knock out Palace wouldn't make for good headlines.

Hope this game puts to bed all those accusations that he fails to step up in big games. Lucky to have him.

Eder Militao out for this fixture. Hopefully we can take advantage of the yellow card he received in the first leg. Would prefer we keep the same front 3 from the Southampton game. Werner seems to be in the best form of his life since joining. Would be mad to not take advantage. But Tuchel knows best.

As good a result as you would want ahead of Tuesday's game. AND a clean sheet. AND Mendy making a crucial save to keep it that way. Let's hope this carries over.

Eh...we lost at Stamford bridge this time. Not the same kind of match. The atmosphere at the Bridge was electric in 2012. This time I'll remember for it being hostile to Courtois. Acting like snowflake Gooners.

Knew this was going to be a lousy game right from the off. Crowd booing Courtois from the start of the game. Arsenal-like mentality of acting bitter. Got treated like Arsenal.

True. I'm now worried about the misinformation that is being circulated around on forums. Don't want to scupper a potentially good bid because of outrage from overblown facts. I hope the majority of local Chelsea fans are being pragmatic about the whole thing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but has there ever been a consortium of this size and wealth involved in a European football club before? Surely the fact that so many are looking to get a piece of the pie would imply that the investments they put into the club could be proportional, especially if they intend to get any sort of meaningful return

If that's true then good. Anyone else barring these guys and Johnson seem to be a big positive

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2022/03/24/zelensky-urged-biden-not-to-sanction-oligarch-abramovich-report/amp/ Zelensky urged Biden not to sanction Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich: report