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Chelsea bidder Sir Martin Broughton is ‘optimistic’ about a takeover of the club after his consortium submitted a bid.
The ex-Liverpool chairman has teamed up with fellow Blues fan Lord Coe to buy the club from sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich.
Raine Group, appointed to identify a buyer, received a number of impressive bids before Friday’s deadline – and The Times reports that Broughton and Coe are among the frontrunners.
LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly’s consortium is also thought to be a leading contender, while there is further interest from the Ricketts family – who own the Chicago Cubs – New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, the Saudi Media Group, and British property tycoon Nick Candy, among others.
Bids will now be presented to Chelsea chairperson Bruce Buck and director Marina Granovskaia, who will quickly create a shortlist as the club looks to complete the process in April.
But the UK government will also play a role – due to sanctions placed on Abramovich – and parliament must provide a special license for the sale to go through.
It is understood the government support Broughton and Coe’s bid due to their affinity with Chelsea and an impressive track record.
Broughton is credited with saving Liverpool from financial abyss when stepping in as chairman to oversee the transfer of ownership from George Gillett and Tom Hicks to the Fenway Sports Group in 2010.
And despite fierce competition, the 74-year-old insists he is optimistic about his chances of becoming the club’s new chairman.
He told talkSPORT: “We have submitted a bid. We’re optimistic because I think we’ve got the key ingredients.
“Personally, I’ve been there and done it at Liverpool, so I know what I’m letting myself in for.
“I think we’ve got a bid which combines a group of individuals, so there’s no one person in charge.
“All the risks around a single-party owner – geopolitical like we’re seeing now, financial like at Liverpool, health etc – can throw a club into confusion.
“A consortium gives stability to the club – people who are going to invest in the future with no timeline, no exit timeline.
“They’re committed to keeping the club at the level it’s been recently and they’ve all got along with it being a very fan-friendly bid and encouraged the fans, the Supporters’ Trust, to get much more involved in the process.”
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust has called for a ‘Golden Share’, like at Brentford, which would give fans veto power on certain issues, particularly those concerning the club’s heritage.
And Broughton insists the club’s supporters are at the centre of his plans moving forward, having already consulted the Supporters’ Trust on his outlook for the club.
He added: “Once we become the legal owners, we have to remember that the emotional ownership is actually with the fans. So you’ve got to involve them in one way or another.
“We don’t want to sit and tell fans which ones [ownership models] we’re going to introduce. I have actually met the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust.
“We said to them, which ones do you want? How do you want this to work in the future? Because we need to carry you with us. You are the emotional owners of this club.”
Chelsea are currently unable to agree new contracts, make transfers, or sell new tickets and merchandise until a new owner is put in place, creating fears over the future of the club.
Manager Thomas Tuchel has been linked with the upcoming vacancy at Manchester United, while star player Antonio Rudiger is among numerous players out of contract this summer and likely to leave.
However, Broughton insists his consortium have the desire and the means to keep Chelsea at the top, insisting Tuchel’s future will be one of his top priorities.
He continued: “Philosophically, we support the Financial Fair Play approach to football. Once those rules are determined again, we will commit to keeping within the rules.
“But we have the money. We have the commitment. And we are determined to keep the club where it is.
“I don’t want to be, and none of the guys in the team want to be, the guy who took the club from where it is today to mediocrity. We’re not interested in doing that and making a bit of money. That’s not the name of the game. We want to stay right at the top.”
Broughton added: “Do the fans want Thomas Tuchel to stay? Absolutely, they want him to stay. There isn’t a Chelsea fan around that I know who would suggest any other solution.
“That will finish up being down to Tuchel but there’s only one position we’ll be taking.
“We’re looking to get the process done as fast as possible. The current beneficial owners, the victims in Ukraine, need the money there as quickly as possible as well.”
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