Two consortiums in the race to buy Chelsea are exploring the possibility of using Liverpool’s Anfield blueprint for their Stamford Bridge redevelopment projects, according to The Telegraph.
Stamford Bridge, the report claims, will be one of the main topics when the four shortlisted groups meet with Chelsea executives this week.
Earlier, the group led by the Ricketts family already released an eight-point pledge which includes their Stamford Bridge plans.
“[We will] explore every option to redevelop Stamford Bridge and do everything in our power to keep playing in this historic stadium,” point six of the pledge reads (via The Athletic).
Roman Abramovich’s previous stadium plan, which was eventually scrapped, was to move the club out of Stamford Bridge, while the existing stadium was demolished and a new super-stadium was built, The Telegraph added.
However, at the time, such a project would reportedly cost £500million and take three years, during which Chelsea were expected to play at Wembley.
Industry insiders now believe a similar project would cost over £1.5billion now and require the team to play away from Stamford Bridge for five years.
Obviously, many Chelsea fans would not be happy about the prospect of having to watch the team play away from Stamford Bridge for five years.
Instead, Todd Boehly and Sir Martin Broughton’s groups are reportedly looking at an Anfield-style redevelopment plan, which means redeveloping Stamford Bridge stand by stand.
This would allow the fans to continue watching the team at Stamford Bridge during the project.
Interestingly, the report mentions that Boehly’s group has already spoken to David Hickey, who previously led Abramovich’s abandoned Stamford Bridge project.
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