Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) has released a fresh statement where the fan group have asked for the new owners of the club to confirm their intentions as soon as possible.
The deadline for any last minute bids for Chelsea passed at 9pm on Friday, with numerous interested parties facing a race against the clock. These offers are now set to be considered by Raine Group, the organisation in charge of the bidding process, in the upcoming international break.
The likes of Todd Boehly, Nick Candy and the Ricketts family all reportedly got their bids in before the clock hit 9pm. Following the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich last week, any offers will have to be given the green light by the UK government and the Premier League.
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Now, the CST has released a new statement, where the fan group have called on supporters to get involved as much as possible, while asking the owners to set out their intentions as soon as possible. "The deadline for offers on the future ownership of our club has now passed," the statement read.
"For Chelsea fans eager to secure a better future for the club and for any fans who want to improve the governance of football, the hard work starts here. The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) has set out a number of expectations to prospective new owners.
"We want to give them a chance to set out how their stewardship of the club will be geared towards supporters and sustainability. And we hope to develop a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship, between the club, its new owners and its supporters.
"Our most pressing ask is that fans are involved in protecting and nourishing the club’s heritage, through the creation of a legally-binding golden share. We call on all prospective owners to confirm their plans to do this as soon as possible.
"The CST has played an important role over these difficult weeks. Through engaging with MPs and the Government we have ensured the voice of Chelsea fans has been heard at the table when decisions have been made.
"We have ensured information has got to fans, made sure that events such as the Charity Sleepout at Stamford Bridge can go ahead, and we continue to push for tickets to be made available to supporters. We will always fight the corner of Chelsea fans in future discussions.
"We can also confirm that we have held positive discussions with a number of prospective bidders. We have presented them with detailed plans on how our proposals could be implemented.
"We strongly welcome these proactive discussions and look forward to continuing them in the coming weeks. The CST is cautiously optimistic about the future for Chelsea and for football generally.
"Even at this complicated time for our club, we are seeing the benefit of positive supporter engagement. We now have a huge opportunity to drive positive change in football governance, with supporters at the heart of it.
"There is clear recognition of the need for this change and near-universal support. Our call for a golden share for fans has received cross-party parliamentary support, widespread support among Chelsea supporters, the wider football community and in the media. We cannot let this moment pass.
"We urge the Government to demonstrate it is serious in its support for football fans by insisting upon a golden share for fans and implementing the recommendations of the Fan-led review for the benefit of all football supporters."
