‘At least 30 offers’ made for Chelsea; Tuchel hoping at least one will ‘love winning’

Some predicted that no one would bid, that no one would touch the tainted, forbidden fruit. Some claimed that 200 might. Opportunities to acquire a “true global brand” summa summarum don’t come along every day, after all. We certainly had plenty of jokers and clowns pop up, left and right — for example, that Turkish billionaire BS artist of course didn’t bid in the end, claiming a “misunderstanding” LOL — but in the end, the truth of the final number is probably somewhere in between, as usual.

The Guardian report that “at lest 30 offers” have been received by merchant bankers Raine Group, who have now begun the process of whittling those down to a shortlist of less than a handful, from whom the ultimate preferred bidder will be chosen in hopefully not too long.

And so we wait, and we hope. The new owner won’t be as generous as Roman Abramovich, that much is given, but the new owner also doesn’t have to build like Abramovich did. They just have to come into an existing structure and culture, and maintain it, cultivate it, and perhaps even grow it.

For the fans, the players, the coaches, the employees, it’s just a waiting game. A hopeful waiting game. As usual, head coach Thomas Tuchel put it best in his pre-match press conference yesterday.

“I am an employee and I am ready to play my role and ready to adapt. Let’s see what’s coming. [But] we can also trust in what we have in the culture of the club, what we have at Cobham in the quality of the staff and the group.

So, we can trust [for] a good outcome. This is what we do. We stay positive and hopefully, it will come like this. [...] The new owner is not here and the ideas are not set out [but] hopefully, they love winning! That would be a big plus.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

The leading candidates have all talked a good game. From stadium development, to continuing support for youth and women’s football, to perhaps greater fan representation at the executive level.

Hopefully we (well, Raine) choose wisely.