Josh Harris, Jamie Reuben, Nick Candy all ‘exploring’ bids for Chelsea as well — reports

There are up to “20 potential bidders” (or groups of bidders) in this game now, according to Bloomberg, only one of whom has actually submitted a bid and many of whom are just BS artists and attention-seekers. But there’s certainly plenty of legitimate interest, if perhaps not many (if any) legitimately exciting interest from our spoiled-fan perspective.

One potentially promising name could be Josh Harris, the Crystal Palace minority owner, who is “exploring” a bid, according to the Financial Times. Harris would have to divest from his 18% stake in Palace to do so of course, but he might actually have the funds to make a strong play on the Blues.

Harris made his billions in investing and asset management with Apollo Group, and is also the (co-)owner of both the New Jersey Devils (NHL) and Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) franchises through HBSE. Any man who is smart enough to authorize a draft of Matisse Thybulle is a good man in my sports book (NB: I don’t actually watch the NBA, but Matisse is fun and awesome).

Anyway, speaking of minority owners of other Premier League teams, we have the “early considerations” of Jamie Reuben, son of David Reuben (not the sexologist, but rather the head of the UK’s second richest family).

Jamie, born in London and apparently already a Chelsea fan, would face some scrutiny in terms of conflict of interest, as his family (the aforementioned David and his brother, Simon) were part of the takeover at Newcastle United last year and own 10% of the club. Bloomberg’s report doesn’t figure this bid too likely as things stand.

Last and possibly least, we have celebrity property developer, sorry “tycoon”, Nick Candy claiming to be working on a £2.5b as well, which, according to the Daily Mail, would also include a £1.5b stadium rebuild, and also something to do with NFTs because 2022 (simmer down, John Terry!).

A spokesperson for the “lifelong Chelsea fan” confirmed the intent to bid, though it sounds like he’s looking for some help in that regard still.

“Nick Candy is actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid for Chelsea Football Club. Any bid would be made in conjunction with another party (or consortium) and we have serious interest from several international partners.

“Mr Candy has a huge affinity with Chelsea. His father was asked to play for the club and he has been watching matches at Stamford Bridge since the age of four. The club deserves a world class stadium and infrastructure and Mr Candy’s unique expertise and background in real estate would be a hugely valuable asset to delivering this vision.”

-Spokesperson for Nick Candy; source: Daily Mail

Real estate development and stadium plans? Better buy some CPO shares!