Chelsea Football Club’s hopes of a move to a new 60,000-seater stadium were dealt a blow today after failing to convince enough shareholders.
An attempt to buy the shares of the Chelsea Pitch Owners shareholders was backed by 61.6% of the 5,796 votes cast in person or by proxy, leaving the club 13.4% short of their 75% target to acquire the Stamford Bridge freehold.
Chelsea has been eyeing up possible move options for several months now with Earl’s Court, White City and Nine Elms in Battersea understood to be the favoured options.
But the defeat in today’s vote stops Chelsea regaining ownership of the £400m West London Stamford Bridge stadium, which the club had sold to the CPO group in the 1997 to prevent the club falling into the hands of property developers.
The major gripe for many members of the CPO was not that they objected to moving from Stamford Bridge, but that they wished to retain the freehold on any new site and thus secure the long-term future of the club.
While Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s motives are not questioned, there are concerns over what will happen to the club once he is no longer owner.
At today’s vote one shareholder, a lawyer, asked whether the club had considered asking for a “conditional sale agreement” that would see CPO shareholders automatically surrender their shares once the club had identified a ground within three miles of Stamford Bridge that would house 60,000 people.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said: “I don’t think we’re in a position in this meeting to revise our proposals.”
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
