Chelsea sale: Who is Dan Gilbert?
The£23.6bn businessman interested in helping fund purchase
According to Sky News, the owners of NBA franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers, have teamed up with
one of the four remaining bidders for Chelsea.
The report claims that Rock Entertainment Group (REG) is set to join forces with the
Ricketts family.
The Ricketts family are the most controversial of the remaining bidders, with many Chelsea
supporters vocal about their dislike of the interested party.
The Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) released a statement in the week, saying: "Last week,
the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust stated that the Ricketts family must urgently and publicly
address supporter concerns — especially with regard to inclusivity, given both past
and recent statements by members of the family.
"We also committed to surveying our members as to their confidence and support in the
Ricketts family's bid for Chelsea FC.
Yesterday we conducted a snap survey of our membership.
"We asked our membership whether, based on information
in the public domain as of April 1, they had confidence that the Ricketts family would
run an inclusive and successful club, and we asked whether they supported the Ricketts
family’s bid.
"Our members have given a clear message in this regard: 72 per cent of those who responded
do not currently have confidence that the Ricketts family would run an inclusive and
successful club, with five per cent of respondents believing they would.
Similarly, 77 per cent of members who responded do not support the Ricketts family’s bid
for Chelsea FC and three per cent of respondents are in support.
"It is essential that the new owners of Chelsea FC have the confidence of the supporter base
and demonstrate an understanding of the values that we stand for.
At present, it is clear that our membership neither supports nor has confidence in the
Ricketts family’s bid for the club."
Ahead of Chelsea's humbling 4-1 home defeat to west London rivals Brentford on Saturday,
Tom Ricketts put out a statement with regard to his family's bid.
He said: "Over the past fortnight, our bid team has met with several supporter groups
to explain our vision for Chelsea Football Club.
In those meetings, and by letter to all groups, we have shared a set of specific commitments
we will make to fans, if our bid is successful.
"We believe these are far-reaching and certainly include an absolute commitment on part of
the Ricketts Family and the bid team to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of the
club.
We look forward to more meetings - including with the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust - over
the coming days and to making a public reiteration of our values and commitments.”
Dan Gilbert is the man responsible for the bid.
The 60-year-old Detroit-born businessman has been the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers
since March 2005.
In Gilbert's tenure with the NBA franchise, the Cavs have won five Eastern Conference
championships.
Gilbert is worth an estimated $31billion (£23.6bn), owning over 100 affiliated companies across
America.
Confirmed interested parties are reported to have been given until April 11 to submit
their final bids for the club, with the Government then left to sign off the sale to the new
owners.