Nick Candy has vowed to invest in Chelsea if his takeover bid is successful. The London property developer submitted a proposal in the region of £2.5bn to acquire the club from Roman Abramovich through his Blue Football Consortium before Friday’s 9pm deadline.
Other interested parties include Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehley, who head a Swiss-American consortium; the Ricketts family who own the Chicago Cubs; and a group fronted by Martin Broughton and Lord Sebastian Coe. There was also an offer for the west London club from Saudi Media.
Blues fans are wary of who their new owner will be after the unprecedented levels of investment and success they’ve become accustomed to since Abramovich bought the club in 2003. However, Candy insists that he’s prepared to spend big in order to keep Chelsea competing at the top table of domestic and European football.
READ MORE: Patrick Vieira has already solved Thomas Tuchel's major N'Golo Kante amid takeover worry
He pledged to make money available for new players and sought to allay supporters' fears by insisting that his vision for Chelsea is very different to the Glazers' at Manchester United; in which “one rich family” owns the club.
“On the pitch and in the transfer market, it’s simple - follow the model," he told the Sun.
“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 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.”
