In the latest twist ahead of the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) at Stamford Bridge next Thursday to decide the future of the freehold of the 106-year-old stadium, it has emerged that discussions about the share buyback were held between Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, and the CPO hierarchy as early as March.
Richard King, the CPO chairman, confirmed in response to a set of questions posed by the SayNoCPO campaign group that ‘there was a brief discussion in March of this year when CPO was informed that Chelsea were considering making a proposal to shareholders.’
Alas, neither King nor his fellow directors felt it necessary to inform those shareholders of these developments, instead preferring to start selling shares to members of the Chelsea board, namely Buck, who bought 100 a month after these tentative discussions had taken place.
Without wishing to start lauding conspiracy theories left, right and centre, this is an uneasy development that further muddies the waters ahead of next Thursday’s crucial vote.
Buck has built the ‘Yes’ campaign on the premise that CPO shareholders, and Chelsea supporters, can trust the current regime to do what is best for the football club. Whilst Chelsea supporters undoubtedly support Roman Abramovich wholeheartedly, it somewhat discredits the club’s ‘trust us’ stance to see the chairman purchase a bulk of shares that gives him maximum voting rights at next week’s EGM.
A counter-proposal was put to the club earlier in the week suggesting tighter stipulations over any future move (SayNoCPO are not against a move away from Stamford Bridge per se, just object to agreeing to the current resolutions set to them by the club), namely that the club could move within the 3-mile radius up to 2030 so long as Mr Abramovich remained in charge of the football club, and that the CPO protection of the freehold be transferred to any new ground. These were rejected out of hand.
The latter might not seem an appropriate demand given the dedication Mr Abramovich has shown to the football club over the past eight years, however it must not be forgotten that it was only once Chelsea FC was passed down the generations from our founder, Gus Mears, that the stadium was sold to property developers. The point being that things change very quickly in football, and in life, and who’s to say what the situation will be at our football club in twenty, thirty or forty years time.
The CPO will provide protection from any eventuality, it is a unique tool that gives the lifeblood of the football club, the supporters, some means to prevent the club ever coming to serious and real harm. It would be a tragedy if that protection were just handed back next Thursday in return for a hundred quid and your name etched into some brick of a soulless arena off the M25 in Guildford.
For more information visit the website at www.saynocpo.org.
If you’d be so kind then follow me, daspecial1, on twitter at www.twitter.com/daspecial_1. I try to be as interesting and Chelsea-related as possible.
Share this article
