Chelsea Supporters’ Trust still concerned about Ricketts family inclusivity efforts following meeting

We are at near end of the week and we still do not know for sure who will remain in the Chelsea ownership race. Besides an array of reports confirming Saudi Media Group’s failure in their approach to sale organizers Raine Group, confirmed afterwards by members of the company, the media itself is still unsure whether the final list will boil down to two or three options.

Also yesterday, the Financial Times reported the Ricketts’ family bid had been “knocked back” by Raine. That led to some warranted confusion over the language as the expression used in the tweet, apparently changed later on in the article (thanks, paywall!), could mean the approach was outright rejected. Or that the Ricketts just have a huge mountain to climb in terms of convincing Raine and also Chelsea — reportedly represented by Marina Granovskaia, Bruce Buck and Eugene Tenenbaum — that they should be the pick of the bunch.

The Ricketts efforts should be made more difficult by Chelsea supporters beyond social media. On Twitter, Chelsea Supporters’ Trust voiced their continued concerns over the Chicago Cubs owners’ ability to stay true to the inclusivity values cherished and actively pursued by the club in recent years, as well as keeping the club successful in everything they do on and off the pitch.

The key part of the statement reads:

The CST are grateful to the Ricketts family for meeting with us this week. We challenged them on all of the points supporters have raised concerns about. However, our concerns about their ability to run an inclusive, successful club on behalf of our diverse supporter base around the world have not yet been allayed.

It is for the Ricketts family to demonstrate how they will address supporter concerns – especially with regard to inclusivity, given both past and recent statements by members of the family, and they have not yet done that.

They must do so publicly and they must do so urgently. If they are unable to do this and gain the confidence of Chelsea supporters, the CST Board does not believe it would be in the best interests of our members and Chelsea supporters for their bid to succeed.

-Source: Chelsea Supporters’ Trust

Therefore if you were unsure on whether or not to jump on the #NoToRicketts bandwagon in fears it was just another Twitter mob, perhaps your fears will be allayed in this regard.

What everyone seems to agree is that there are two approaches still in the running. The frontrunner is Boehly-Wyss, competing with the Broughton-Harris bid.

The sooner we know, the better.