Chelsea, have issued a statement insisting racism and Islamophobia “have no place in our society” after receiving a backlash from furious fans.The American family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, are one of six parties to have confirmed their offer to buy the Premier League club and are currently awaiting further news.
The sale is being handled by financial firm Raine, with the Blues’ billionaire owner Roman Abramovich sanctioned by the UK government and unable to oversee the terms of the sale.However, their attempts to buy Chelsea have been met with strong opposition after reports emerged of the family’s patriarch, Joe Ricketts, making racist comments in an email exchange in 2019.
Ricketts, who later apologised, wrote: "Muslims are naturally my (our) enemy due to their deep antagonism and bias against non-Muslims”.Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first black player, called on fans to make their opposition known to the Ricketts family. "So I've seen and heard enough.
I'm backing Chelsea Supporters' Trust and saying a big fat anti-racism NO to the Ricketts bid,” he wrote on Twitter.The hashtag ‘NoToRicketts’ became the top trending topic in the UK on Twitter on Tuesday evening as thousands of Chelsea supporters made their feelings about a possible takeover known.
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