Chelsea bidders 'angry' at 'preferential treatment' for the Ricketts

Groups rivalling the Ricketts consortium bid for control of Chelsea are angry at what they believe to be preferential treatment shown to the Chicago Cubs owners, according to reports, as the fight to replace Roman Abramovich heats up.

The Times have claimed that one of the four shortlisted groups is concerned that the process' rules have been 'breached' after Bruce Buck, the club's chairman, organised a meeting between Tom Ricketts and former Blues player Paul Canoville. 

Canoville has publicly called for the bid from the Ricketts to be rejected as a result of past racist comments made by Joe, the head of the family.   

'If they want the Ricketts family to buy the club from Roman Abramovich, just tell the rest of us now and spare us what is an awful lot of hard work,' the bid adviser said.

The controversy has arisen after a letter sent to bidding groups on March 1 insisted that there should be no contact made with the executive during the sales process. 

But despite this, Tom Ricketts - Joe's son - spoke to Buck and requested him to set up a summit with Canoville, the club's first black player, after the family were made aware of the mounting opposition to their proposals from the Chelsea fanbase. 

The meeting was held last Thursday, ahead of the Ricketts receiving notice from Raine Group, a US bank leading the sale, that they had made the shortlist. 

Now, however, the other consortiums have expressed their alarm at the sit-down with Canoville, and have pointed out the fact that they were told not to speak to the executive team at Stamford Bridge ahead of the preferred bidder being selected. 

Directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum were also at the meeting, while Chelsea have confirmed that Buck facilitated the