royds...........

....yes, it's a long tale about the CPO, but I'll try and keep it as short as possible.

Basically, we nearly got bought by property developers pre 1993 - Bates fought 'em off repeatedly and the CPO was formed, 15,000 shares sold to them for ?100. The aim was to make things as difficult as possible (ergo, put them off) for other buyers wanting to do the same.

The CPO lease the ground and the name of the club back to Chelsea free of charge. Chelsea loaned the CPO ?8.5m to make up the ?1.5m that they raised themselves, to ensure the deal went through.

So, whilst the club have, indeed, offered to buy the shares back at the purchase price they've offered to write off the ?8.5m owed. Also an incentive that all CPO shareholders that accept get their name permanently on a wall leading into the stadium by way of thanks.

The shares were never sold as ordinary shares, most (I'd say 99%) of them don't want any profit - but do want assurances as to what will happen with the club and where we're moving to before relinquishing their shares.

If the club provide this, many will give their shares away for free - they paid their ?100 to save Stamford Bridge, not to f**k the club over. And want to ensure the club don't f**k future generations over if they sell up.

(and that is, genuinely, as short as I could keep it - more here: User Posted Link but you'd probably have to be a Chelsea fan to read it all - it's a very clever way of protecting yourselves, though.

Posted By: Karnivore, Oct 4, 19:59:27