The brother of Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has revealed why he did not purchase Chelsea from Roman Abramovich after holding talks to do so.
As Football London report, Sir Ratcliffe and his company Ineos were linked with the possibility of purchasing Chelsea from Abramovich, who has held the reins at Stamford Bridge since 2003.
However, no purchase materialised in the end and Ratcliffe eventually completed the takeover of Ligue 1 oufit Nice, for what Football London report to be a £91M purchase.
Now, obviously that is pennies compared to what Abramovich would demand for Chelsea, a much larger club and a project which he has sunk years of his life into.
It seems as though Ratcliffe ever actually agreeing a deal to buy Chelsea was always a long shot, not just due to the valuation of the club, but also because of difficulties surrounding the stadium.
Jim Ratcliffe’s brother, Bob, is quoted by Football London saying:
“We spent quite a lot of time looking at Premier League clubs and their valuations. It was difficult to rationalise purchases in the Premier League for us. If you look below the top six, they are all £150m and above. I think the foreseeable future it is off the radar. We have a three to five year project in Nice and that will keep us busy.
There was some early exchange [with Chelsea] but we were a significant way apart on valuations. The issue with Chelsea is its stadium. We are all getting older and it is a decade of your life to resolve that.”
We are more than happy with Abramovich owning the club. He has been the face of the revolution over the past 16 years and we owe a great deal to him. Money isn’t everything, strategy holds value.
