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One of the bidders to buy Chelsea have offered to meet the club’s fans to discuss their bid after a fierce backlash began against them on social media.
The Ricketts family have been forced to issue s statement on social media denying allegations of racism and Islamophobia.
The family have owned the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise since 2009, and backed them win the World Series in 2016, for the first time in 108 years. They also redeveloped the Cubs’ Wrigley Field Stadium at a cost of £750 million.
However, in 2012, the father of the family, Joe Ricketts, sent a number of controversial emails in which he described Muslims as his enemy.
He has since issued an apology and admits that he was in the wrong, but that is not enough for a section of the Chelsea fan base who have launched a campaign against the bid.
To try and assuage the doubts, therefore, the Ricketts family have offered to meet the fans and have insisted, I their offer was to succeed, that the father would have no involvement in the running of the club.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.