Ricketts family and its consortium are no longer interested in buying Chelsea after weeks of making efforts to take over from embattled Roman Abramovich.
Recall that Abramovich, a Russian billionaire who has been the owner of Chelsea since 2003 decided to sell the club for £3 billion because he and the club were subjected to criticism after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
Following the invasion, the government of the United Kingdom confirmed that Abramovich was heavily linked with his country’s president. Hence, the UK government sanctioned him by freezing all his assets in England including Chelsea.
However, Chelsea remained in operation because of the special permission the UK government gave the club. The government permitted the sales of the club to go on and the earnings from the transaction are not expected to go to Abramovich.
Since the process for the sale of the Premier League club started, the Ricketts family has been at the forefront of the process. Then, reports claimed that the family was the favorite to win the bid.
The family who own the Chicago Cubs baseball team took their interest in buying Chelsea so far that they had to travel from the United States to England to assess things directly.
To be able to muscle its way through the process, the Ricketts family formed a consortium comprised of US billionaires Ken Griffin and Dan Gilbert.
Amid their drive to buy Chelsea, the club’s supporters protested against the family’s interest because Joe Ricketts, the head of the Ricketts family used Islamophobic language in emails sent between 2009 and 2013 that were leaked in 2019.
Ricketts family did not stop pushing to buy Chelsea because of the fans’ protest
The protest of the fans was not what forced the Ricketts family and its consortium to stop pushing to buy the Premier League club. According to a statement from the consortium, the partners could not agree on the structure of the final bid they were expected to submit on Thursday. Hence, they had to bow out.
The statement read: “The Ricketts-Griffin-Gilbert Group has decided, after careful consideration, not to submit a final bid for Chelsea FC.
“In the process of finalizing their proposal, it became increasingly clear that certain issues could not be addressed given the unusual dynamics around the sales process.
“We have great admiration for Chelsea and its fans, and we wish the new owners well.”
Who are the bidders left in the race for Chelsea ownership?
Before now, Raine Group, the bank handling the sale of Chelsea, shortlisted four bidders for the final round of the bidding process. Those finalists were the Ricketts Family, Sir Martin Broughton-led consortium, Todd Boehly-led consortium, and Steve Pagliuca-led consortium.
Now that the Ricketts Family have bowed out, three bidders are left in the race for Chelsea ownership. Reports claimed that they have all submitted their final bids before the Thursday deadline.
All things being equal, Raine Group is expected to announce the winner of the bidding process before the end of April. If that happens, that means that Chelsea would be freed to renew contracts, sign new players and sell players during the coming summer transfer window.
