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Thursday, 27 October 2011

Chelsea Bid Fails at the Bridge


Chelsea have been successful in their bid to take back control of Stamford Bridge.

The club's home is actually owned by a group called the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO), which was established in 1993 with the help of then chairman Ken Bates - to make sure the stadium's future was secure.

Before the CPO was convened, there was a real danger that Stamford Bridge could have been sold off and Chelsea would have been homeless.

As part of the deal the CPO currently lease the ground to the club. 

The non-profit organisation also holds the naming rights along with owning the turnstiles at the club.

Chelsea are now looking to the future and have confirmed that will mean a move to a new site as developing and expanding Stamford Bridge is not a feasible option.

Their owner Roman Abramovich was looking to buy back the freehold, which the club claim will then allow them to negotiate a move to a new site.

The CPO meeting was convened for Thursday, where members could vote on the outcome of Chelsea's bid, although it was always destined to be a close given a number of voters were refusing to back Abramovich's bid.

Those included Ken Bates himself - who insists that the CPO must retain the freehold for the good of the club.

"Roman Abramovich is said to be worth between £9bn and £10bn. According to the newspapers he has spent £800m on the club already," Bates told the Daily Mail.

"If he wants to build a new stadium it will cost between £500-600m. He could do it out of his own back pocket. He does not need the freehold.

"Stamford Bridge is the club's heritage. I sacrificed personal profit to make sure Chelsea could continue to play at their home. It is my legacy to Chelsea fans. They own the stadium and the site and they are proud of that."
Hopeful

A Chelsea spokesman had said the club were hopeful ahead of the CPO's AGM.

"We have made what we believe to be a reasonable proposal to the CPO shareholders, and that is the proposal that will be put to them," said the Chelsea spokesman.

"We've been discussing our proposal with shareholders and supporters' groups and we'll continue to do so."

Chelsea have been pro-active in their campaign to convince fans they are doing the right thing by allowing them to take the freehold back.

Chairman Bruce Back has been actively campaigning, whilst club captain John Terry - who is also president of the CPO - had called on the fans to back Abramovich.