Gary Neville has told Chelsea's prospective new owners that they need to 'stabilise' the club in the near future if the Blues are to be successful in 2022/23 after a sale.
As we approach the April 18 deadline for new bids and proposals to be submitted, each of the four consortiums are now doing all they can to make the best pitch to senior officials at the club and fans alike. Todd Boehly attended the first leg of the Real Madrid Champions League quarter-final defeat last week whilst Stephen Pagliuca was present at the Southampton thrashing at the weekend as his big automatically grew stronger earlier on Monday with the news that he was to seek further backing in his bid from NBA chairman Larry Tanenbaum and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
For the Ricketts, alongside major backers, Ken Grifin and Dan Gilbert have been in the English capital in the last week or so to try and hold talks with the supporters' group and in particular, Paul Canoville, to calm down the social media storm that has followed their campaign from the start regarding controversial discriminatory comments against minority groups.
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With the whole takeover saga expected to conclude in full by May now, Chelsea's focus at this pivotal point in the season solely has to be on the pitch with crucial Champions League and FA Cup fixtures coming up this week.
"By not accepting it before it ends," Tuchel replied when asked about what he wants to see from his side on Tuesday if they were to go out of the UCL. "By not accepting it and by leaving everything on the pitch that we have and by showing we can work harder, play better, that we know we can take more risks and that we show our true face and live up to our full potential. That's what we should do first."
When the dust settles over the next week, regardless of whether or not the outcome is positive or negative, off-the-field issues will need to be sorted promptly if the west Londoners are to have a successful season in 2022/23.
"They've got to make sure that they just try and keep the manager," he outlined on his latest edition of the Gary Neville podcast. "They need to keep the behind-the-scenes staff on the football side and also keep the players in place. That's the big job for Chelsea, to stabilise.
"Big upheaval in the last month or so that must have had an impact. So, I think for Chelsea, third place, making sure the new owners pick up a Champions League team and don't blow up in the last part of the season which they will do. They will get third and for me, that's a good season."
