Chelsea's takeover candidates could reportedly switch allegiances to other shortlisted consortias if they weren't to make Raine Group's initial shortlist, with Nick Candy and John Terry given in this example.
The likes of Todd Boehly's consortium, the Ricketts family's collaboration with Ken Griffin, and Nick Candy are some of the likely front runners in the race. But there are also outliers such as the Saudi Media group who stand a chance at winning the bid. Whilst the Raine Group prepare for the next stage of the takeover process, the interested parties are now planning on how to best integrate themselves into the club if they are to be the chosen new owner.
The Ricketts Family have been trying to cool down the tumultuous #NoToRicketts campaign on social media, with their place on the shortlist far from guaranteed. Meanwhile, Candy's consortium that will involve C&P Sports have been interacting with fans in a positive manner on social media to make clear their plans for the future regarding different issues including player transfers and retention of key board members like Marina Granovskaia.
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The head of the South Korean group Catalina Kim has gone the extra mile to try and build a rapport with a fanbase who just like the candidates, themselves are awaiting shortlist confirmation from the Raine Group. She announced her plans with Candy in a recent Instagram post that read: ''Thank you for continued supports from everyone for our process of buying #ChelseaFootballClub.
"We are very much pleased with our additional investor to the #BlueFootballConsortium. It is another one of the largest finance corporations from South Korea with subsidiaries under such as retail bank, Securities, Insurance, Credit Card, Asset Management, Real Estate Trust, Data Systems etc. They also have an exceptional track record of running significant sports teams.
"The new investor Blue Football Consortium secured has strong ties to big Korean corporations and institutions such as: National Pension Service of Korea (a public pension fund in South Korea, the third largest in the world with $800billion (£606.47billion) in assets); Korea Investment Corporation (sovereign wealth fund established by the government of South Korea in 2005 with c. $180million (£136.5million) in assets under management), Samsung Group, Hyundai Group, LG Group, SK Group, E-land Group, Kakao Group (IT); Krafton (Gaming), Lotte Group, GS Group, Hanwha Group, Shinsegae Group, NC Soft (Gaming); Smilegate (Gaming) etc.
"The fund will come with strategic partners that every football club needs for its stable and continued success. 'Very excited for the plan we have for #chelseafc."
With so many buyers part of this big consortias, GOAL's Nizaar Kinsella states that some of them could switch allegiances if their current group wasn't to make the final cut for the shortlist. "What you might see in this process as well is that people might move about when preferred bidders are announced," he said on the London is Blue podcast.
"So, when people get kicked out of the process, people like the Korean group of companies behind Nick Candy might just transfer over to Todd Boehly's group or to try and elbow their way in with negotiations there. I mean, we've seen John Terry wants to do something similar with his True Blue's consortium.
"So we are going to see a lot of people even after this trying to elbow their way in and there will be a lot of news about that. People who you might have though had been ruled out, might rule themselves back in which is going to be really strange and really chaotic.".
One example of this is co-owner Stephen Pagliuca who is involved in the running of NBA team Boston Celtics and Serie A side Atalanta. He has lodged his own bid for the club as per Sky News but in that report, it is added that if he wasn't to make the initial shortlist, then he could seek to team up with another consortium.
