Chelsea set March 18 as deadline for bids: What will the takeover process be like?

Chelsea have set Friday, 18 March as the deadline for interested parties to submit bids to take over the club. They have given the responsibility of sifting through the bids to American consortium Raine, and the process is expected to carry on until next week. 

At least six formal bids are expected to be considered by Raine in order to decide the next owner of the club. The size of the bid in itself will not be the only factor that will be used to decide the new owner. The proof of funds, vision and timescale of implementation will be used to determine the best bid among all the ones that were received. 

Chelsea to have new owners soon 

With the UK government sanctioning Roman Abramovich, he will not be able to receive any profits from the sale of his beloved club. All the money collected from the sale was expected to go to relief funds for Ukrainian victims, according to Abramovich. But, whether or not the government will supply the sale funds to the victims remains to be seen. 

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and chairman Bruce Buck have met with prospective buyers, and have guided them in ways to submit bids. 

The Blues will be hoping to complete the takeover soon, with fans prohibited from buying tickets or merchandise. As a result, the team is having to play behind closed doors. With the new owners in place, it would potentially remove the sanctions placed on the club and allow normal regulations to resume.