Prospective Chelsea owner Nick Candy has confirmed that he wants to run the club differently to Manchester United if he is successful in his attempts to purchase the west London outfit.
Candy, who is a London property developer, made his Blue Football Consortium's £2bn-plus offer for the club ahead of Friday evening's 9pm deadline. The Blues are in desperate need of a new owner following the wealth of sanctions that were placed on Roman Abramovich by the UK government a little over a week ago.
Abramovich was heavily sanctioned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month. The sanctions imposed on him means that Chelsea are currently unable to sell tickets, merchandise, sign new players, sell players and offer new contracts to players and staff.
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They are in desperate need of a takeover being completed as soon as possible to ensure that they can operate like their Premier League rivals. Several individuals and consortiums have expressed their interest in purchasing the club and Candy has emerged as a leading contender.
The 49-year-old's offer to buy the club has been supported by money from the USA, Europe and South Korea. He was also said to be serious about delivering a 'new model' of ownership, meaning that he does not want to run the club as just one family, instead teaming together with several others.
Candy 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 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 100million fans in China, over 80million fans in India and over 70million 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."
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