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Bates clears path for Russian's £30m Chelsea deal

Chelsea owner Ken Bates has cleared the way for a Russian businessman to buy the club for around £30m.
Stamford Bridge chairman Bates has agreed to sell his £17.5m stake in Chelsea Village to Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich has arranged to buy 84,908,506 Chelsea Village Shares - around 50m of which are owned by Bates - representing approximately 50.09% of the entire issued share capital of Chelsea Village, parent company of the Premiership club.

The total cost of purchasing these shares will cost the 36-year-old Abramovich £29.6m.

Abramovich, one of the major shareholders in one of Russia's largest oil companies, is a keen follower of sport and international football and owns an ice hockey team in his homeland.

He said: "We are delighted to agree this deal to acquire what is already one of the top clubs in Europe.

"We have the resources and ambition to achieve even more given the huge potential of this great club.''

Bates said: "This is a great deal for Chelsea Village, the club and our fans.

"We have achieved an enormous amount over the past 21 years, building a fantastic new stadium and a talented team which is firmly established as one of the top clubs in Europe.

"In today's highly-competitive football market, the club will benefit from a new owner with deeper pockets to move Chelsea to the next level.

"I look forward to working with Roman Abramovich to achieve even greater things.''
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so there we have it, my beloved Chelsea sold to a very rich oil baron. Hopefully he will plough millions into it, buy Chelsea some top notch players, and we will win the League. I think we have the potential now to do this. I just hope he keeps Rainieri as the man is responsible for the teams stability and increased sucess.

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Russian Oil Baron ---- read Russian Mafia

You do not become a billionaire in Russia through legitmate means.

This 'deal' is not a done one yet. There have been question raised by the Department of Trade and Industry about it and it may yet be slapped down by the Government. There are question hanging over this guy, for obvious reasons, and that means that the DTI want to be sure he is a 'fit and proper person' to be taking over in it's entirety one of London's major top flight clubs.

Of course there is an easy way around this, the guy simply has to donate a few million to the Labour Party and all will go away, that is how this country works at the moment.

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Hmmm as long as they get rid of that haselbank who cares!
I hope bates gets shagged to death by a russian blonde the tosser!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dreamengineer
Hmmm as long as they get rid of that haselbank who cares!
I hope bates gets shagged to death by a russian blonde the tosser!

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Ha. Chelsea days away from bankruptcy before this deal, according to a story that I read (as some of us have been saying for a while). And Zola gone, trading up by heading for Serie B.

Now that Bates has gone, Ron Atkinson becomes number one annoying figure in football related matters, followed by Sir Alex Whinger (if it is really true that Real can recoup much of the Beckham transfer fee before play even starts, then that would really illustrate Ferguson's transfer genius).

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Smug stop talking bollocks.
Zola always said that he would finish his career in Sardinia, however its hardly trading up. And Bates is apparently still going to be chairman, he just wont own the club. And whatever you read is probably speculating just a bit.

Either way we are in the Champions League, and you are in the Nationwide. And we will probably take some of your best players off your hands very shortly. Hopefully the 'suspicion thing' will blow over and we can move on.

We all knew Ferguson was an idiot when he traded Jaap Stam because of what he sadi in a book. Stam is better than any of the centre backs at manure.

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you forgot to say that your team is now owned by the Russian Mafia.

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I play ze football for chelski!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Phil
you forgot to say that your team is now owned by the Russian Mafia.

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quote:

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Originally posted by pj
Show me the proof of this anyway. This guy is apparently good friends with Yeltzin and Putin.

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oh yes, and the onus is not one me to prove that it is the case, the onus is on you to prove that it isn't. Note I am only taking the government's lead on this, if requesting someone to prove a negetive is good enough for them it's good enough for me.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Phil
oh yes, and the onus is not one me to prove that it is the case, the onus is on you to prove that it isn't. Note I am only taking the government's lead on this, if requesting someone to prove a negetive is good enough for them it's good enough for me.

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This whole thread is so British it hurts.

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quote:

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Originally posted by pj
Either way we are in the Champions League, and you are in the Nationwide. And we will probably take some of your best players off your hands very shortly. Hopefully the 'suspicion thing' will blow over and we can move on.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
I wasn't making comparisons, I was just saying that Chelsea were in financial trouble (as the market knew); getting bought out by this guy is a stroke of luck (Leeds will be jealous) and Bates may not last long (thank Christ).

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"Searching for investors"? That is an interesting way of saying that he was looking for people to sell the club off to before it went broke. It was hardly a secret that the club was in trouble financially, so that he has been looking for twelve months says more about the fact that it wasn't an attractive proposition in general, until he found a Russian billionaire with money to flush away.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
"Searching for investors"? That is an interesting way of saying that he was looking for people to sell the club off to before it went broke. It was hardly a secret that the club was in trouble financially, so that he has been looking for twelve months says more about the fact that it wasn't an attractive proposition in general, until he found a Russian billionaire with money to flush away.

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Well, there isn't much doubt that apart from the swine from Manchester, to play in the Big Leagues (challenging for European glory) is not a cost effective business (Real Madrid only cleared their debt through sale of property) and Chelsea already had large debts. In effect, he was looking for someone who wanted to sink a shitload of money into firstly paying off the debt and then into buying more players and operating at a loss (at least in the short term, until Chelsea might feasibly become a huge worldwide marketing entity like Man Utd).

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Smug Chelsea Village was built (that includes the hotels, bars, restaurant, health club, and travel agents) to fund the football club making them self sufficient. no other club in England has that. Chelsea has a better infrastructure for the future than most clubs.

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quote:

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Originally posted by pj
Chelsea has a better infrastructure for the future than most clubs.

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Yeah but they let Zola go that sux0rs

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quote:

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Originally posted by pj
Smug Chelsea Village was built (that includes the hotels, bars, restaurant, health club, and travel agents) to fund the football club making them self sufficient. no other club in England has that. Chelsea has a better infrastructure for the future than most clubs.

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I would have thought the most obvious reason why this Russian geezer is likely to be dodgy would be that ANYONE associated with Chelsea Football Club is a complete and utter cunt.

Isn't that obvious?

Am looking forward to Stamford Bridge being flogged for flats and a new shared stadium for Fulham and Chelsea being built in Staines. He has already been quoted as saying a new shared stadium for the two clubs 'makes sense'.

Still run by scum, followed by scum. Very apropos.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Weasel Spoor
I would have thought the most obvious reason why this Russian geezer is likely to be dodgy would be that ANYONE associated with Chelsea Football Club is a complete and utter cunt.

Isn't that obvious?

Am looking forward to Stamford Bridge being flogged for flats and a new shared stadium for Fulham and Chelsea being built in Staines. He has already been quoted as saying a new shared stadium for the two clubs 'makes sense'.

Still run by scum, followed by scum. Very apropos.

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