Roman Abramovich Thread

[Vesper 29,022]

18 hours ago, milka said:

 

£1 billion isn't going to remotely come close for a new stadium, and that is not even counting the nebulous 'investing in the club' which means transfers, etc etc

what a farce

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Vesper

[Clockwork 1,794]

7 hours ago, Vesper said:

£1 billion isn't going to remotely close for a new stadium, and that is not even counting the nebulous 'investing in the club' which means transfers, etc etc

what a farce

 

Here in the US more than 50% of the stadium recently built by the NFL were funded by tax payers/ government, what is the law in England regarding stadium subsidy.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Clockwork

[Vesper 29,022]

5 hours ago, Clockwork said:

Here in the US more than 50% of the stadium recently built by the NFL were funded by tax payers/ government, what is the law in England regarding stadium subsidy.

that is not done in the UK

It also is very destructive in the US, as often it is a scam that benefits the billionaire class at the expense of the taxpayers (lol at RWers in the US who call us 'socialists')

The US is the biggest socialist nation on the planet, it is just CORPORATE socialism:

Privatise all profits

Socialise as much losses as possible

Use government money to aid your privatised profits whenever possible

Always strive for regulatory capture:

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

Where's the justice?

Now, let's accept that this bloke is not Roman. Let's also accept that this bloke is unlikely to be as squeaky as he presents himself and let's accept that it is possible that the sanctions may be justified. All of this either is or might be true but what is also true is that no information supporting the actions taken against these people has been made public. Justice is supposed to be blind but it mustn't be hidden. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by OhForAGreavsie

[Vesper 29,022]

Chelsea advisers aim for April 18 deadline to present preferred bid to ministers

The four remaining bidders for Chelsea FC have been told by the bank handling the sale that it plans to present a preferred bid to the government during the week of April 18, Sky News learns.

https://news.sky.com/story/Chelsea-advisers-aim-for-april-18-deadline-to-present-preferred-bid-to-ministers-12576754

Ministers and the Premier League will be presented with a preferred bid for Chelsea Football Club in three weeks' time, paving the way for a change of ownership to take place by the end of next month.

Sky News has learnt that a letter sent to the four remaining contenders to buy the Blues over the weekend indicates that the government will be approached to issue a licence enabling the sale during the week of April 18.

The additional detail underlines the speed at which Raine Group, the merchant bank overseeing the sale process, is conducting one of the most hotly contested corporate auctions in sporting history.

Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, has publicly indicated that it will examine a preferred bidder under its owners and directors test as speedily as possible, citing a previous club takeover that was approved within ten days.

In recent weeks, Sky News has exclusively revealed a series of key details of the Chelsea sale process as Roman Abramovich relinquishes control of the club he has owned since 2003.

At the weekend, it emerged that the quartet of bidders had been handed a deadline of April 11 - the day before the second leg of Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

They have been told by Raine that they must commit at least £1bn to future investment in the club if they are to succeed in the battle to end Mr Abramovich's tenure.

The additional funding must be made available for the Blues' Stamford Bridge stadium, playing squad and other areas of development.

Raine's insistence on the pool of capital for investment is likely to go some way to reassuring supporters that its new owner will continue to back it with the kind of significant financial resource they have become accustomed to under the Russian-born businessman.

All four of the remaining bidders have significant experience in sports stadium infrastructure, a key consideration given Chelsea's long-standing dilemma about the expansion of Stamford Bridge, which has a capacity barely half that of Manchester United's Old Trafford home.

Between them, the final bidders either control or own stakes in US teams including the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Cubs, the LA Dodgers, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Sacramento Kings.

Sir Martin Broughton, the former British Airways and Liverpool FC chairman, and Lord Coe, the former British Olympian turned sports administrator and businessman, are fronting a bid that has the financial firepower of Josh Harris and Dave Blitzer, two wealthy American financiers.

That consortium also includes Vivek Ranadive, an Indian-born entrepreneur, and a syndicate of other investors from around the world whose identities are expected to be confirmed in the coming days.

Another of the leading contenders is headed by Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers part-owner, and includes Jonathan Goldstein, the London-based property developer, and Clearlake Capital, a US-based investment firm.

A third group comprises the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, and the Citadel hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, with the US investment bank Lazard in talks to advise it.

The other remaining contender for Chelsea is a bid spearheaded by Stephen Pagliuca, an American private equity billionaire who owns the Boston Celtics and Atalanta in Italy's Serie A.

Sources have said that Raine would assess the four bids against a set of criteria including the level of equity and debt funding; price; future investment commitments; speed and certainty of execution; and the claims each party has to being an appropriate steward of a prestigious sporting brand.

Among the bidders who were eliminated from the process last week were offers fronted by the London-based property developer and lifelong Chelsea fan Nick Candy; the former US ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson; Centricus, an asset manager; and Saudi Media Group, whose bid is said to have been largely debt-financed.

The cluster of American sports billionaires circling Chelsea underlines the extent to which the English Premier League has become a magnet for financiers from across the Atlantic, with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all having been acquired by US-based businessmen.

Prior to being sanctioned, Mr Abramovich had said he intended to write off a £1.5bn loan to the club and hand the net proceeds from the sale to a new charity that he would set up to benefit the victims of the war in Ukraine.

Last week, the government agreed to further amend the licence allowing Chelsea to continue operating, with the club now able to resume selling tickets for away matches.

The proceeds are to be retained by the Premier League and earmarked for a Ukrainian war victims charity.

Chelsea can also now receive £30m from the club's parent company to ease cashflow constraints caused by the current crisis.

A rapid sale is seen as essential if Chelsea is to avert the uncertainty that would trigger the break-up of one of the top flight's most valuable playing squads.

The current Fifa Club World Cup-winners have been thrown into disarray by Russia's war on Ukraine, with Mr Abramovich initially proposing to place the club in the care of its foundation and then formally putting it up for sale.

Mr Abramovich had initially slapped a £3bn price tag on the Stamford Bridge outfit, with the net proceeds being donated to a charitable foundation set up to benefit the victims of the war in Ukraine.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Vesper

[Valdo 583]

 

[Vesper 29,022]

4 minutes ago, Valdo said:

 

wtf

[Pizy 18,419]

Putin needs to be fucking taken out, man. Ffs…

 

[Fernando 6,488]

Skysport saying is Chemical weapon.....

Roman Abramovich: Chelsea owner 'suffered symptoms of suspected chemical weapons poisoning' after talks in Kyiv

 

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is 'fine', Sky Sports News understands; Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators reportedly suffered symptoms including "piercing pain in the eyes", but the dosage and type of toxin was likely insufficient to cause life-threatening damage

 

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/12577015/roman-abramovich-Chelsea-owner-suffered-symptoms-of-suspected-chemical-weapons-poisoning-after-talks-in-kyiv

[Fulham Broadway 16,923]

What the fuck is wrong with that lot. 

[Fulham Broadway 16,923]

Roman the Peacemaker. Let him keep our club now 🤬

[Johnnyeye 7,445]

this is what Putin does, trying to eliminate anyone or anything that stands in his way, fucking coward.

[Vesper 29,022]

ffs, this cannot be happening, arrrrrfffff

 

The Athletic: Group handling Chelsea sale want to sell them to unpopular party (the Ricketts)

https://www.Chelsea-news.co/2022/03/athletic-group-handling-Chelsea-sale-want-to-sell-them-to-unpopular-party/

As we now sit here impatiently waiting for yet another deadline before even being close to finding out who the new owners of Chelsea FC will be, more gloomy news comes out about one of the parties.

Chelsea fans have been making themselves heard in recent weeks on social media, putting their options across on all parties bidding on the club.

But there has been one party who have largely been very unpopular amongst the Chelsea fan base for many reasons, The Ricketts Family.

However, despite this, Raine Group, the ones handling the sale of the club, want to sell to The Ricketts Family, according to The Athletic today.

The report believes that the Ricketts family ticks every box: they are rich, they are backed by somebody in Ken Griffin who is even richer, they have experience of running a big sports team from a major city, they have developed that team’s historic home and created an entertainment district adjacent to the stadium, and they have enjoyed sporting success.

Luckily though, the decision does not solely rest with Raine Group, and we can remain hopeful that the others read the room here.

[Vesper 29,022]

3 minutes ago, Vesper said:

they have enjoyed sporting success

erm............5 years removed from winning the world Series in 2016:

2nd to dead last in their division

[Superblue 6,372]

The success in American sports is so difficult to corelate and compare to success in football.

I like the way in which it is structured to try and help worse teams rebuild to challenge through the draft system, etc. I don't follow baseball but I do watch NFL and although there will be teams regularly challenging for a sustained period of time, there has been in recent years a number of teams come from seemingly nowhere to the championship game or even the superbowl (e.g. the Bengals). 

The one thing though American sports does afford, or possibly even encourage, is getting a team that might be struggling to tank and rebuild for a couple of years before coming back again. My NFL team is the New Orleans Saints and you get the feeling that our window of opportunity for another Superbowl left over the last year or two with Drew Brees retiring and Sean Payton leaving. However we're not a team that is likely to only get 2 or 3 wins during the season as the squad is still competitive so we could end up as a middling team which in American sports can at times seem to be the worst position to get caught into unless you hit gold with some later draft picks or pay through the nose in free agency.

This just does not apply to football. You only have to see examples such as Arsenal and United (and earlier than this Liverpool) that when teams lose their competitive edge and drop off, it's extremely difficult to rise back again. Whomever becomes the new owner will be inheriting a very strong, competitive squad with a top manager. We may be one or two pieces away but I don't think we're a million miles away from Liverpool and City and we have a much younger core of players than both of them do. But what we do also have that runs throughout the club, from academy to womens to mens is a winning mentality and the experience of winning trophies. So long as that can be retained we'll remain in the hunt. As soon as you lose that it's trouble. Other clubs have experienced it and sport is cyclical by nature. I just hope the new owners embrace the culture around the club to look to maintain it's position challenging for and winning trophies. You don't necessarily need the deepest pockets for this - just a clear strategy and intelligent recruitment.

[Pizy 18,419]

Even as an American, baseball is a sport I don’t follow closely at all. But what I do know is that the Cubs basically had everything come together during a magical run during that 2016 season. They had a team full of young star players who they developed themselves and they had the best GM (sporting director equivalent) who helped them build through scouting and analytics.
 

Then, from what I understand, after they won it all and broke their 100+ year title drought the Rickett’s family hasn’t spent the necessary money to keep the team competitive since and have sold off all those star talents. Now the Cubs are back to irrelevance and their fans really dislike the owners.

As I’ve said before, I think a Ricketts owned Chelsea closely resembles Arsenal under Kroenke this past decade. Spending frugally and only doing so once there’s major fan outrage. Doing just enough to keep us competitive near the top but not spending what’s needed to get us where we want to be which is fighting for titles.

Plus on top of the shitty on-pitch stuff I’ve mentioned, you have the family’s Trump/right wing connections. Of those we know are shortlisted this would be the worst easily.

[Vesper 29,022]

here is one of Governor Pete Ricketts' biggest supporters in the Nebraska Senate

this is the type of madness that family supports

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

53 minutes ago, Vesper said:

here is one of Governor Pete Ricketts' biggest supporters in the Nebraska Senate

this is the type of madness that family supports

 

What the hell has happened to Americans? The place is a mad house.

Only thing to be said for Gov. Ricketts is that he wasn't the one displaying the stunning credulity to believe such drivel. I hope he at least had the sense to disavow this nonsense.