Nick Candy pledges he will keep spending at Chelsea if his takeover bid is accepted.
The London property developer made a £2.5bn proposal - through his Blue Football Consortium - to buy the club off Roman Abramovich as prospective buyers scrambled to get their offers in before Friday's 9pm deadline.
Other bidders include Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehley, who lead a Swiss-American consortium, the Ricketts family who own the Chicago Cubs and a group led by Martin Broughton and Lord Seb Coe. There was also an offer from a Saudi-led group.
Supporters are cautious of who will be named Abramovich's successor given their sustained success over his 19-year tenure. But Candy is not planning to rip everything up and hit the reset button with regards to how they would operate in the transfer market.
He vows to keep plowing money into the club for new signings but has promised to deliver a "new model" that isn't like Manchester United where "one rich family" owns a club.
Candy's global consortium is backed by investors from the USA, Europe and South Korea, although Korean financial company Hana is the only one that has been revealed so far. The others, including one 'very wealthy' Brit and multiple investors across the pond in NBA and NFL franchises, would be revealed next week.
He told The Sun : “On the pitch and in the transfer market, it’s simple - follow the model. It's not failed us and it's done really well. The last 20 years have been brilliant on the pitch. We’ve played glorious football, won everything, and Roman has done an incredible job with his team."
“If I got hold of the club I wouldn't change Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia. And if they want it to stay I would love them to stay. Why change something that is brilliant?But I don't think we should end up like Manchester United where we have one rich family that owns Chelsea and there should be a new benchmark of owning football clubs.
“Why does there have to be one rich family that the fans end up hating because they don't invest? It should be a global consortium of the best-in-class in every part of the world. We have 100 million fans in China, over 80 million fans in India and over 70 million in southeast Asia. We have European and American fans so why doesn't the consortium come from each continent? And that's what I've tried to do with my bid.”
