Chelsea: Lewis Hamilton & Serena Williams' bid branded "disrespectful"

Former Chelsea winger Paul Canoville has described Lewis Hamilton and Serena William’s involvement in a bid for the Blues as “disrespectful”. 

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion and 23-time Grand Slam winner have joined a consortium spearheaded by Sir Martin Broughton, the former chairman of Liverpool FC.

According to Sky Sports, both Hamilton and Williams pledged an estimated £10 million each to the bid.

In total, there are three bids competing to take control of The Blues – Broughton is set to be challenged by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca. 

Canoville, who played for Chelsea between 1981 and 1986, has met all of the interested parties. In a lengthy post on Twitter, he backed Boehly’s bid. 

The American billionaire  “won over” Canoville when he spoke of his “huge passion for social impact around community outreach”.

He was less impressed by Broughton’s bid, however, claiming he wanted celebrities involved in diversity and inclusion programmes at Chelsea. 

‘My views on ChelseaFC bidders’ pic.twitter.com/N9CKaP9ZrD

“Don’t anyone get me wrong, I am a huge fan of both Serena and Lewis,” he said. “Both Williams sisters have been phenomenal achievers and proud advocates of civil rights issues. 

“Ticks a big box with me personally of course. As far as playing a role in developing anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion programmes for Chelsea though; I feel this is disrespectful of our own supporter base.

“Serena is on record saying she supports Real Madrid and while I know Lewis has now suggested he was bullied into supporting Arsenal by his sister, he is an Arsenal fan and that’s a fact.

“I will always support Lewis Hamilton in everything he does in F1, he is the greatest