Lord Sebastian Coe has warned the Government to find a quick resolution to Chelsea's takeover delays or risk seeing the club burdened by debt "for the next 50 years".
Coe was part of Sir Martin Broughton's bid to buy the club before the British tycoon was ruled out of the running, with the price tag to take control of Chelsea thought to be in excess of £4billion. The ongoing process to choose the next owner of the club to replace Roman Abramovich appeared to have been nearing completion after it emerged the consortium led by American billionaire Todd Boehly, co-owner of the LA Dodgers, had been chosen as the preferred bidder.
However, a report on Tuesday suggested exiled owner Abramovich is seeking an agreement to repay him £1.6bn of the money he invested in the club, causing a delay in the process and some confusion amongst prospective bidders. If the parties are unable to ratify the takeover by May 31, Chelsea's future as a Premier League club could be thrown into doubt as the club's licence to operate expires on that day.
And Coe says the financial implications of continuing to prevent the club from selling tickets could see the club submerge into significant debts unless it is resolved in the coming weeks: "Fans like me want a resolution to this but they want to make sure the club lands in the right hands and that the club isn't lumbered with debt for the next 50 years," he told LBC Radio.
"As someone who's been involved in sport, there is a vacuum here if we're not careful, which is going to impact on the players - it's certainly going to impact on the coaching. To be sitting in a stadium where you're regularly 10,000 fans down because you can't sell seats - there is a problem here.
"The rest of the decisions have to be made properly, there is a process and this is a one-off. You don't see clubs being sold in these circumstances so Government will have to be really clear what it wants out of this."
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Coe, the former Olympic gold medallist who is currently president of World Athletics, was understood to be keen on being part of the board at Chelsea after supporting the club for the majority of his life. And while his attempts to be part of the successful consortium ended in failure, the 65-year-old is now hoping that a swift solution is reached to confirm the club's new owners.
"I joined Martin's bid with one simple proposition - I'm a Chelsea fan of more than 50 years" he said. "I was in the ground in 1967, I was born near the ground and still have a house there.
"For me it was always about the club having the best possible ownership, one that was recognising one very simple fact - that is you don't really own a club, you're the stewards of a community sports organisation. At this moment the one thing I hope we end up with is a swift set of solutions to this."
