UK government also give green light but Chelsea sale could take 4-6 weeks — report

Following the report from the Telegraph that Roman Abramovich has given the green light for the sale of Chelsea Football Club to go ahead without his involvement, we have a report from The Athletic that the UK government have done the same, and the process can indeed resume now.

This is not the same as the government amending the General Licence issued for the club’s temporary, semi-frozen state of operations. That amendment still needs to be applied for — formality or not — by Raine Group, who continue to handle this process, once they have selected a “preferred buyer”. The Athletic claims “several credible interested parties” but no “formal bids” yet (despite reports earlier this week of Boehly-Wyss already doing so).

The bidding deadline is reportedly the end of next week (March 18), though the deal might take a few more weeks to finalize after that. There is “confidence” that it can be done in 4-6 weeks, which still seems quite long considering Abramovich bought the club in like 4-6 hours back in 2003.

Hopefully the club’s financial situation regarding bank accounts, credit cards, and what and how much is legally allowed to spend will get sorted out and amended on the Licence in the meantime.