CHELSEA chiefs Marina Granovskaia and Bruce Buck will STAY at Stamford Bridge if Todd Boehly’s bid to buy the club is successful, according to reports.
The consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly is believed to have been granted “exclusive terms” to take over the club from Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea chiefs Marina Granovskaia, middle, and Bruce Buck, right, are set to stay at Stamford Bridge if Todd Boehly’s consortium is successful in their takeover bidCredit: Reuters
And the Financial Times claim Boehly and Co want director Granovskaia and chairman Buck to remain at the West London giants if they conclude their deal.
The pair have reportedly offered informal terms to continue their roles at the Blues.
The Boehly group hopes the key figures staying will be good for “continuity” during the difficult transition into the new era after 19 years of Abramovich.
The American-led consortium believes Granovskaia and Buck have been key to the club’s recent success, including the 2021 Champions League title.
However, chair for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Julian Knight expressed concern at any of the Abramovich hierarchy remaining at the club.
Knight claimed: “Any continuity with the Abramovich regime at Chelsea is certainly an unsettling development.
“There needs to be clarity surrounding the process to ensure that everything is being done to the letter.”
The other question mark surrounds Granovskaia and Buck’s potential roles at the club.
Boehly has already claimed he will take over the running of “day-to-day operations”.
Another of the consortium – Clearlake Capital co-founder Behdad Eghbali – will be an “active director”, according to reports.
Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell has been touted as a potential replacement for Granovskaia should she leave.
Elsewhere, technical advisor and former Chelsea star Petr Cech is still awaiting news on his future at the club.
Meanwhile, Abramovich has been warned his sale of Chelsea may be BLOCKED if he does not go back on a last-gasp financial U-turn.
When Abramovich announced his plan to sell the club in March, he insisted he was not looking to benefit.
But it has now emerged Chelsea have informed the Government Abramovich DOES want the £1.6bn he had loaned to the club to be repaid in full as part of the sale process.
That has put the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which has the final right of approval to any new buyer after Abramovich’s assets were frozen, on red alert.
And unless the Chelsea owner reverts to his original promises, the possibility of the ENTIRE deal being blocked, potentially consigning Chelsea to the scrapheap and ending 117 years of Stamford Bridge history, is a real one.
