With just under a week having now progressed since the deadline for any bids for Chelsea, Blues’ supporter Nick Candy appears to have emerged as one of the major contenders for a takeover. A life-long fan, it has been suggested that the London businessman is one of a number of interested parties to have lodged a bid for the Blues.
It has previously been reported that an offer of towards £3bn would be enough to see a deal rubber-stamped but it remains to be seen whether Candy’s offer reaches those desired levels. His hopes of becoming Roman Abramovich ’s successor at Stamford Bridge could take a significant hit though, with rumours that UEFA regulations could scupper significant investment at the club.
According to Sky News, Candy is set to be backed by an affiliate of Elliott Management - the group that holds a controlling stake in current Serie A leaders AC Milan. Whilst not directly impacting Candy’s move to purchase Chelsea, a problem arises with the company’s involvement in west London.
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As per UEFA timeshare rules, via CalcioMercato, any conflict of interest between two clubs would be forbidden - as would be the case with Elliott Management due to their involvement with the Milan giants.
Article 5 of the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League state that no club participating in any UEFA-run competition be involved or ‘have any power management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition’.
Meanwhile, similar regulations also prevent any individuals from any involvement or indeed being shareholders in two UEFA clubs at any one time. Of course, it remains to be seen if indeed Candy’s bid is backed by Elliott Management and furthermore whether Raine Group deems the bid as satisfactory to complete a takeover in the near future.
Speaking about his interest in buying Chelsea earlier this month, Candy said: “I just love Chelsea. I don't go to every single away game but when I am in the country and can go to games I go to as many as possible.
“In some ways it will be easier not to buy the club for me because I could get on with my day job.But I was super close to dad. These things come up every 20 years if you're lucky. It could be 50 years. Roman has had it for 20.
“If you'd asked me four weeks ago if I was going to bid for Chelsea, I would have said you were mad.
“But the opportunity has arisen. We have the chance to really set the new benchmark of how things are done, the standards.”
