Roman Abramovich Thread

[King Kante 1,341]

5 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

 

Interesting if true. Ratcliffe wouldn't be wasting time like this if he wasn't serious. I'd imagine there must be something in the Boehly bid that isn't the best, I'd imagine this is either to do with where the money is coming from and/or it is something to do with leverage. 

Edited May 3, 2022 by King Kante

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Blues Forever

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Blues Forever

[Costa19 846]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8484d81c-cadf-11ec-b4b6-e30a321b8cd3

• The sale of Chelsea has hit a serious obstacle over fears that Russian-born owner Roman Abramovich is attempting to renege on his promise to write off a £1.6 billion debt.

• It is understood that Chelsea told the government — as well as the rival bidding groups — last week that they want to restructure the way the club is being sold, which would include paying off the debt from Chelsea’s parent company Fordstam Ltd to a Jersey-based company Camberley International Investments, which appears to be linked to Abramovich.

• But sources from the rival bid groups said it was only “days” before that decision was taken that they were informed that the loan, which is in trust in Jersey, needs to be repaid on the sale of the club.

• There are big concerns about allowing that to happen when Abramovich has been sanctioned and has had his assets frozen. Ministers have been under the impression that all proceeds from the sale would be given over to the government to be used for good causes.

• The Times contacted Duncan and asked if Camberley International Investments was connected to Abramovich. He responded by saying: “We are not commenting on anything.” A spokeswoman for Abramovich did not respond when contacted for comment. Chelsea have also been approached for comment.

• Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s attempts to hijack the deal with a late £4.25 billion bid were dismissed last week by both Chelsea and the Raine Group, the New York merchant bank which was appointed by Abramovich to handle the sale.

• Sources around the Martin Broughton bid believed they were favored by Raine Group up until the Boehly bid was selected.

 

 

Daddy wants his money back 😬

 

[Vesper 27,435]

I am so fucking stressed

there is a real shot we go under if Roman wants to blow us up

🤬

[Vytis33 1,060]

Can things ever just be normal?  Incredible 

[ZAPHOD2319 3,936]

Chelsea takeover: Todd Boehly speaks about his ownership philosophy

Prospective new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly, whose consortium was chosen as the ‘preferred bidder’ last week, has discussed his ownership philosophy at a conference in Los Angeles.

Boehly is already a part-owner of baseball’s LA Dodgers and more recently acquired a stake in the LA Lakers. He fronts the bid that also includes Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, which is expected to be successful despite late competition from British petrochemicals magnate Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The American initially made his fortune in finance and has spoken openly about ensuring there is affordability for fans in order to fill stadiums – the example he used was Dodger Stadium. He also mentioned pursuing big brands, which could be a huge revenue opportunity for Chelsea.

“There’s nothing like sports to excite passion. And if you have passion, then you have people who care about things. And if you have people who care about things, you have great opportunity. And really, it’s about curating that experience, that access, that opportunity,” Boehly said.

“We’ll have four million people coming out to Dodger Stadium this year. So, our goal is to give them the best possible experience. We still have the most affordable tickets in the league basically, for a stadium that’s full regularly,” he added.

“When you look at how we think about price points, and how we think about sports, we just believe they’re not making more of them, so implicit in that is scarcity value.

“We’ve been really focused on just the super big brands. In some sports like the NFL, they share all the media money. In baseball, you’re really a derivative of your local market.

“The Premier League is similar. If you look at the way it works, to be one of the big brands, you have a structural advantage. And for us, we’re always looking for structural advantages.”

https://www.90min.com/posts/Chelsea-takeover-todd-boehly-ownership-philosophy

[Superblue 6,333]

32 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I am so fucking stressed

there is a real shot we go under if Roman wants to blow us up

🤬

I struggle to see how it would get to this point and feel some things are being sensationalised now. There will be a lot of posturing and negotiating now towards sorting this out.

There has always been the question mark over how the loan is being settled or written off and it is something that needs to be negotiated with the Government. As the loan is tied to the purchase price, one thing I did read was the possibility of the new owners buying the club with the debt and repaying it once sanctions have been lifted in the future.

The problem with the Government is as clear as day on a couple of the posts above and it already appears like they've earmarked some of the sales proceeds for grassroots football in the UK, when Roman has already intended on charitable causes regarding the war in Ukraine. This to me suggests the arrogance of the UK government that this money is coming to them and they'll disburse how they see fit (the cynic in me believes more than likely a fraction will end up in charity, and the rest will be lining their own coffers). I wouldn't be surprised if Roman is looking at a way or means to block this even if it means the funds sit in a frozen account for the time being. I wouldn't trust this Government as far as I could throw them.

Ultimately so long as the funds aren't being passed over to Roman now, I don't see why the government will want the headache of blocking a sale when they've stated time and time again that it's about Roman. If they were that concerned about the damage they could do to the club they'd seize us and sell us themselves if they're that confident that their reasonings for sanctioning him in the first place are completely justified.

 

[Strike 6,991]

Have the others like Matt Law, The Athletic confirmed that Times story?

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[King Kante 1,341]

18 minutes ago, Strike said:

Have the others like Matt Law, The Athletic confirmed that Times story?

The Times have had a number of articles pilling into the club since the sanctions. There was one that said we should be relegated. Ignore anything from them, they have been throwing red meat articles out since the start of this. 

[Pizy 17,867]

Just when it seemed as though the end of this mess was in sight another massive hurdle is put up throwing the whole thing into doubt.

If I was Tuchel and this shit drags on for longer I’d seriously consider walking.

[Superblue 6,333]

2 minutes ago, King Kante said:

The Times have had a number of articles pilling into the club since the sanctions. There was one that said we should be relegated. Ignore anything from them, they have been throwing red meat articles out since the start of this. 

I think it's important to note there has been a lot of scaremongering since the sanctions started through the media. 

At one point we'd be travelling by bus across the continent, then we had our bank frozen and couldn't even fuel the team bus to travel to games. There was then also talk that we couldn't pay wages in March and players were looking into escape clauses in their contracts if they weren't paid. And now the threats of league expulsion and Roman backing out of a sale.

At present it's another 'sources' story which gives very little evidence of being backed up. 

At present Boehly over the next couple of days is in a period of exclusivity and assuming that proceeds with no hitches I'm confident then things will move on from there. 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]