Chelsea takeover candidate Pagliuca meets supporters groups after criticism

The high profile billionaire is leading one of three remaining bids to secure a takeover of the west Londoners from Roman Abramovich

Chelsea ownership candidate Stephen Pagliuca finally met with fan groups, including the Supporters' Trust, Women's Supporters Trust and Chelsea Pitch Owners, over the weekend.

The Boston Celtics and Atalanta co-owner was subject to criticism in a statement by supporters after failing to meet those stakeholders before making his final bid on Thursday evening.

However, he has quickly moved to reassure supporters which sees him jointly lead a bid with Canadian sports mogul Larry Tanenbaum.

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The bid initially acknowledged it hasn't been able to be as transparent as the others due to the late nature of its offer, addressing concerns in the Chelsea supporter group's joint statement.

"We are disappointed that the late announcement of the bid from the Pagliuca consortium has meant it has been difficult to engage meaningfully with them. Whilst initial contact has been made with some groups, this bid has not yet spoken in length with any of the aforementioned supporter groups," the group said last week.

Pagliuca explained both his and Tenenbaum's vision and experience in running sports teams, including their various interests in football itself.

They spoke about plans to build a "world class stadium for a world class team", their desire to keep the men's and women's teams well-funded, alongside presenting examples from their other sports teams regarding charitable community efforts.

They also committed not to join the European Super League and their willingness to allow a 10 percent fan share in the club. It comes after the John Terry-led True Blues consortium, which was first revealed as a player in the process by GOAL, having already endorsed them after discussions with all of the various groups.

There are many similarities between the offerings of the Todd Boehly-led and Sir Martin Broughton-led consortiums.

It is understood however that while Broughton's group is open to working with the True Blues consortium, the Boehly bid has given little indication of interest at this stage.

According to sportico, Boehly and Broughton-backer and Crystal Palace investor Josh Harris are among five groups in the running to buy US sports franchise Denver Broncos.

Pagliuca was also invited to join the race but declined to focus on his efforts to buy the Blues for what it is estimated will cost more than £2.5 billion ($3.2bn), making it the most expensive sports team transaction in history.

There were expected to be four options but the Ricketts-Griffin-Gilbert Group pulled out at the eleventh hour.

Several sources have suggested that they hope the process will be concluded this week, with New York investment bank Raine Group advising the process and Chelsea's board to decide who ultimately wins the bid.