Chelsea Supporters’ Trust reiterates concern over Ricketts family bid for club

The leading Chelsea fans group, the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust [CST], has expressed concern about the ability of the Ricketts family to run an “inclusive” and “successful” club after meeting the group for talks this week about their potential ownership.

Tom Ricketts is leading his family’s bid for Chelsea

The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise, are expected to make the shortlist of three preferred offers being drawn up by the Raine Group after the club was put up for sale following the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich by the UK government.

The bid is being led by Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts but has been met with criticism from Chelsea fans following past comments from his father, Joe, who came under criticism in 2012 for calling Muslims “the enemy” in a leaked email.

It led to Chelsea supporters starting a “No To Ricketts” campaign on social media, prompting the family to fly to the UK and meet with the CST this week in an attempt to reassure fans and allay concerns about its bid.

However, the CST says that those concerns have yet to be addressed following the meeting and has urged for the bid to be dismissed unless the Ricketts family can “publicly and urgently demonstrate” how they will do so.

Tom Ricketts responded with a statement on behalf of the family in which he said “it is now up to us to redouble our efforts and clearly lay out a vision for our stewardship of the club with diversity and inclusion at its heart.”

An earlier statement from the CST read: “It is essential that the new owners of the club has [sic] the confidence of the supporter base and demonstrate an understanding of the values that we stand for. That is why the strength of feeling towards the Ricketts family bid from