Chelsea bidders are said to be angry at what has been perceived as preferential treatment shown to the Ricketts consortium in their attempts to purchase the club, according to reports.
The Raine Group, the American company that is leading the sale process, allegedly asked Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck to facilitate a meeting between Tom Ricketts and Paul Canoville. This is despite strict ruling written out in a letter which was sent to the bidders that there should be no contact with the Chelsea executive team - that includes Buck, as well as directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum.
Worries had arose over the Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs, after Canoville, who was Chelsea's first-ever black player, voiced his displeasure at their attempts to purchase the London outfit amid claims of racism. He tweeted: "I've seen and heard enough. I'm backing @ChelseaSTrust and saying a big fat anti-racism NO to the Ricketts bid!!"
But after a one-hour meeting with Ricketts, Canoville's fears appeared to have allayed. "As the club's official ambassador on racism, I was grateful to be asked for my views on the sale," he said. "I was pleased to meet with Mr Ricketts and expressed my concerns over some of his family's members' public statements. I was reassured by his response.
"I am hoping to meet the other potential buyers in the coming days to have the same honest and frank conversations about their values and their commitment to diversity and community work. It's critical that the club is sold to the right person."
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Buck is believed to be adamant that he did nothing wrong by organising the meeting, and the Telegraph claims he would have done the same for any of the other interested parties. It's also claimed that while Buck sat in on the meeting, he had no input at all.
But according to The Times, the other groups looking to buy Chelsea have been left furious by the perceived preferential treatment. It has been stated that they were shocked that they broke their own rules to arrange the meeting.
“Why has Bruce helped Ricketts to organise this meeting?” a source told The Times. “It’s a joke. He’s actually helping them to cleanse their reputation when we have all been told we can’t speak to the Chelsea executive until we have the opportunity to meet them next week. We see it as a breach of the rules of the process; a failure to follow the instructions.”
The Raine Group have asked consortiums to refrain from making public statements on their bids with the whole sale becoming more media-oriented than Chelsea would like. The meeting has been confirmed by the Stamford Bridge club while Buck also attended but it was stressed that he was not involved.
There has been a growing social media campaign against the Ricketts family taking over, which also has the backing of US billionaire Ken Griffin. It comes after a series of racist comments came to light made by Tom's father, Joe, who denoted Muslims as "the enemy" in 2019.
Mirror Football has contacted Chelsea Football Club for comment.
