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Roman Abramovich sent message to Chelsea fans with ownership blueprint, says Sir Martin Broughton.
Roman Abramovich’s influence, according to Sir Martin Broughton, who was one of the final bidders in the battle to buy Chelsea last summer, is still felt at Stamford Bridge.
The Boehly-Clearlake partnership beat out other bidders to purchase the Blues for £2.5 billion through the investment firm Raine Group. The consortium also pledged to invest an additional $1.75 billion into the club over the following ten years.
As a result of the UK government’s sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was prevented from making the choice to sell Chelsea, and he did not stand to gain financially from the transaction.
Broughton, who headed a group that included Crystal Palace investors Josh Harris and Dave Blitzer, outlined in new detail how the new owners must adhere to an Abramovich plan in his speech at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit.
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He said: “The strange thing was this was a reluctant seller who was not receiving any of the money, so normally price would be the ultimate dictator. It was not the ultimate dictator here.
“We were very much led by Raine, Bruce [Buck] and Marina [Granovskaia] to bid an amount. Agree to put an amount over the next 10 years in this piece, be it the academy, you’ve got to agree to invest this much into the women’s team.
“It was very focused. In fact, it was Roman trying to say to the fans, ‘I don’t want to leave’, but if I have to, whoever takes over will do what I would have done.”
The auction-style process saw several buyers competing against each other, including Broughton with Harris and Blitzer.
He believes he was close to becoming the owner, along with Boston Celtics and Atalanta owner Stephen Pagliuca.
Broughton added: “Frankly, between us, the winning bidder [Boehly-Clearlake] and Pagliuca, there wasn’t a hair [between us]. The three bidders, there was little difference between the ultimate bid.”