Chelsea New Stadium "Manuevers" - UPDATE

[Macmoish]

PA Sport
Chelsea need new stadium - Gourlay
November 7, 2011

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay has warned the club could struggle to compete in Europe unless they move to a new stadium.

The club's hopes of moving grounds suffered a setback at the hands of their fans last month after shareholders in the Chelsea Pitch Owners company rejected a proposal to buy back the land upon which Stamford Bridge is built.

It was a defeat for Blues owner Roman Abramovich and Gourlay said no decision had yet been made as to whether a fresh vote will be called at next month's AGM.

Gourlay insisted, however, that it was imperative a solution was found, claiming the club has "outgrown" Stamford Bridge.

He also revealed plans to reveal a naming rights sponsor for the ground in the new year.

"We have one of smallest stadiums in Europe," Gourlay told the International Football Arena in Zurich.

"We have corporate hospitality that is second to none and 30,000 season ticket holders. But we have a stadium slightly larger than 40,000 which drops to 38,000 on Champions League nights.

"We have to find a solution."

He added: "We have outgrown our stadium and tried every way possible to extend capacity.

"We need a 60-65,000 stadium. We have the eighth biggest stadium in England and the 61st biggest in Europe.

"But when you look at the activity of stadiums planned for next few years, we will fall out of top 75 which can only be restrictive to the football club.

"In the meantime we continue on our conversations to see if there is any way at all to extend Stamford Bridge.

"We hope to make an announcement on naming rights for Stamford Bridge within the next six to eight months. It would make a big step because we have to drive up the revenues."

Having lost one CPO vote, Gourlay refused to say whether the next month's AGM, which requires only a 50% majority, would prompt another ballot.

"This is a time for reflection, to sit down with the owner and discuss the situation," he said.

"We thought we made a very good proposal to the CPO shareholders. They decided on a 'no' vote.

"We got 62% but it's time to discuss it with Roman and the board. We have been very transparent in terms of venues."

In a wide-ranging address to the conference, Gourlay admitted that promoting Chelsea's brand in key markets like Asia - the club's prime overseas target - was just as important as satisfying lifelong local fans.

"We are very proud to be considered among the elite but unfortunately we have failed to win the Champions League," Gourlay added.

"When you talk about football clubs, you have to talk about businesses. Fans see them as football clubs, sponsors see them as brands. That's the way we have to operate."

Insisting Chelsea would have few problems adapting to UEFA's forthcoming financial fair play rules, Gourlay admitted they nevertheless posed significant challenges.

"We are looking to reduce our costs and balance the books but we still have to produce a very strong team to compete at the highest level," he added.

Gourlay said the club were also intent on identifying the Chelsea fans who were involved in chanting against QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during last week's Champions League match in Genk.

"We know the people who travelled but we don't know who participated in any of that chanting," he said. "If and when they are identified we need to sit down and discuss it."


soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/981323/chelsea-desperately-need-new-stadium---gourlay?campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=5901

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"We know the people who travelled but we don't know who participated in any of that chanting," he said. "If and when they are identified we need to sit down and discuss it."

Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=26947&page=2#ixzz1d48dt5FA

not act!!

[Macmoish]

INVESTIGATE..INVESTIGATE!

Guardian/Dominic Fifield

Takeover Panel may investigate Chelsea Pitch Owners share sales

• Share sales rush causes concern at Chelsea pressure group
• Club denies knowing who purchased the shares

The Takeover Panel is considering an investigation into the sudden rush in sales of shares in Chelsea Pitch Owners plc since Chelsea Football Club indicated a desire to repurchase from the company the freehold to the land upon which Stamford Bridge is built.

Solicitors working for the "Say No CPO" (SNCPO) campaign have written to the panel, an independent body which supervises and regulates takeovers and administers the City code on takeovers and mergers.

The solicitors expressed concern at the sheer volume of shares that were purchased once Chelsea's offer had been made public at the beginning of October and whether those purchases, sanctioned by CPO, had unfairly influenced the vote.

There are also fears within the group that shares were undervalued at £100 each, and that a decision agreed at last year's CPO annual general meeting that only £100,000 of shares would be sold in 2011 appears to have been ignored by the three-man CPO board. Instead, nearer £300,000 of new shares have since been issued, with some £200,000 worth bought in the period after 3 October prior to the vote on Chelsea's proposals at an EGM on 27 October.

The club needed to secure 75% of the shares of those either voting by proxy or present at the meeting at Stamford Bridge to force their plans through, but ended up achieving the support of only 61.6% to fall well short of their target.

SNCPO, however, believe that figure would have been significantly less had the sale of shares been suspended once Chelsea's offer had been formally made some three weeks previously. "The Takeover Panel is considering reviewing recent events at Chelsea Pitch Owners plc, which last month was subject to a proposal from Chelsea FC to acquire its only asset, Stamford Bridge," said a SNCPO spokesperson.

"Although shareholders defeated the proposal, suspicion remains about 2,000 new CPO shares sold to a small number of people. It also appears that the majority of these shares were issued despite being beyond the number authorised for sale by CPO shareholders at the last AGM."

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the club, which has consistently distanced itself from suggestions that it was aware of the identity of those who purchased the shares in bulk in the buildup to the vote.

"We don't know who bought the shares," said the chairman, Bruce Buck, once the proposal had been rejected. "I certainly know that one of the leaders of 'Say No CPO' bought 100 shares during that period because he told me and he wasn't hiding it.

"During the course of the three weeks [between the announcement of the proposal and the EGM] there have been people who have come up to us at Chelsea and said: 'What can we do to help?' We said: 'Vote in favour if you have shares or want to buy shares.' We've been pretty relaxed about it." Chelsea are still taking stock following the rejection of their proposals last month.

The fallout from the fractious EGM has already seen the CPO's chairman, Richard King, resign with confirmation of his successor, Steve Frankham, drawing criticism from SNCPO.

Frankham was one of the original directors when CPO was founded in 1993 as a protection against property developers ever rendering Chelsea homeless, but his reappointment by the two remaining directors, Rick Glanvill and Bob Sewell, to a position he held in the late 1990s prompted criticism with SNCPO complaining at the lack of consultation over his elevation. He will stand for re-election to the position at the AGM next month.

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/07/takeover-panel-chelsea-pitch-owners

[Macmoish]

Today's Standard

We did not fix vote over the future of Stamford Bridge'
Simon Johnson
19 Jan 2012 Chelsea today furiously denied claims they tried to rig the vote to buy back the freehold of Stamford Bridge.

It was reported in The Sun today that people associated with owner Roman Abramovich and club directors bought a number of Chelsea Pitch Owner (CPO) shares ahead of a ballot last October to decide whether the club could purchase the land from the company.

CPO was set up in 1993 to protect the club from being forced out of the stadium they have played at since their formation in 1905.

A total of 2,517 shares were bought between October 3 and the suspension of trading on October 20, of which 1,686 shouldn't have been re-issued because of a restriction agreed by CPO directors a year before.

There are allegations that a lot of the shares were bought by people who had strong connections with the boardroom in order to secure the 75 per cent share of the vote they required.

If someone purchased 100 shares (at a £100 each) it would secure 100 votes but in the end only 61.5 per cent were in favour and CPO maintained the freehold for now.

Today's report suggests Chelsea tried to use underhand methods to ensure the motion was passed.

However, a club spokesman said: "As we have previously stated, when approached by people asking how they can help, we responded that they should vote in favour of the motion if they have shares, or buy shares and vote in favour of the motion. We categorically deny any allegations of wrongdoing against the club or anyone connected to the club."

The mass buying of shares was actually pursued by both sides and a fans' organisation was set up called SAYNOCPO to lobby support against the club's plans.

There have been suggestions that Chelsea, who have yet to decide to leave Stamford Bridge, are looking to sell the site and build a cheaper venue elsewhere in order for Abramovich to make a significant profit due to the value of real estate in SW6.

But it is believed all funds from the sale of the ground would go into the development of a new ground and the club expect there to be a shortfall, which Abramovich or a loan from a bank would have to make up.

CPO will be holding their Annual General Meeting at Stamford Bridge tomorrow when a motion to begin the re-selling of shares is on the agenda.

Some fans feel it could pave the way for more individuals close to the boardroom to buy shares so that any future vote regarding the freehold will go in Chelsea's favour next time.

As yet there has been no date set for a second ballot on the issue, but sources at SAYNOCPO, who campaigned strongly against the club's proposal back in October, fear they could hold another one during the off-season when it will be harder to alert fans who own shares to the issue.

In a statement today SAYNOCPO said: "The (Sun) article would appear to vindicate our long-standing position on this issue regarding organised gerrymandering of the vote. We feel the sale of shares in CPO should remain suspended until discussions have taken place to prevent such practices being repeated in future.

"We have previously suggested this issue can be solved by only re-opening share sales via a new class of share, with a maximum of 1 (or 10) voting rights per person, with proof of identity and UK address requirement, and we would urge the board of CPO to adopt this measure."

A much bigger turn-out is expected tomorrow, where the five members on the board including chairman Steve Frankham and former Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise are standing for re-election.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Shenhua claim they are close to signing striker Didier Drogba. The Chinese club have already acquired Nicolas Anelka from the Blues this month and expect the Ivory Coast star to follow. Board member Zhou Jun told Shanghai Daily: "Everything is going well so far, though there have been a few obstacles."

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-24029302-we-did-not-fix-votes-over-the-future-of-stamford-bridge.do