Chelsea's new owners negotiating 'anti-Glazers rule' to prevent club being exploited

Who are the Glazers?

In case you're not aware, the Glazers family owns Manchester United and have been accused of using the club's profit for their own gains and other business ventures.

Man United fans have not been happy with their owners for years and have protested them several times over the last few seasons. Chelsea want to prevent such a scenario with the new owners.

Sky News explains the scenario in short: "The Glazer family's £790m takeover of Manchester United saddled the club with expensive debt known as payment-in-kind notes, and provided a focal point for fan protests, which escalated in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013.

"Manchester United was floated on the New York Stock Exchange a decade ago, with the Glazers having extracted hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends and from the sale of shares during their ownership."

What are the anti-Glazers rules?

The new owners of Chelsea Football Club would be prevented from paying dividends or taking management fees for a decade, as per Sky News. These are being labelled as the 'anti-Glazers rules'.

Todd Boehly's consortium, who will likely be the new owners, is in discussions about an 'unprecedented series of conditions as part of its £4bn takeover of the Blues.'

This would bar them from paying dividends or management fees until 2032, prohibiting the sale of any shares in the club for 10 years and agreeing to limit the amount of debt they can take on in this period.

They are also told to commit £1bn to the revamp of the stadium as well as for investing in the women's and academy teams.

Will this delay the takeover process?

Boehly and his consortium are in heavy talks with Raine Group LLC over these new proposed rules.

Sky News states that they could sign a binding agreement to acquire the club as soon as Friday, 'although the signing could still be delayed by several days'.

Source: Sky News