• CPO shareholders demand no further issue of stock
• Board bows to pressure to hold another EGM soon
Chelsea fans dealt what could be another blow to the club’s hopes of moving to a new stadium on Friday after another stormy meeting of Chelsea Pitch Owners. The supporter-led company CPO, which owns the freehold of Stamford Bridge and in October revolted against Roman Abramovich’s attempt to buy it back, on Friday effectively blocked the Chelsea owner from being able to railroad through any relocation plans.
In what were scenes almost as dramatic as those at last year’s extraordinary general meeting, the CPO board caved into angry calls to prevent more shares in the company being sold pending an investigation into whether associates of Abramovich and other club directors engaged in bulk buying prior to the EGM.
It has been claimed those alleged associates backed Chelsea’s proposal to reacquire the stadium freehold at Friday’s EGM, a vote the club needed to win to be able to move ground but ended up losing anyway.
Bulk buying is perfectly legal and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by anyone at Chelsea, but CPO sold 1,686 more shares than they were entitled to last year and it has been claimed many of them were bought by those with sympathies to the club. Sales of shares were suspended shortly before the EGM and the CPO board proposed that they be reopened at the AGM on Saturday.
Fearing the 1,000 shares available would be hoovered up by more alleged club sympathisers, shareholders queued up to demand no more were issued, and they got their way in the most unexpected fashion.
Having insisted he would use his hundreds of proxy votes to ensure the resolutions to reopen share sales were passed, the CPO chairman, Steve Frankham, performed a dramatic U-turn when it came to the vote itself. The man who succeeded Richard King after the EGM used his proxies to defeat the resolution that would have effectively given CPO permission to issue shares to non-shareholders. His climbdown prevented anyone joining CPO until a resolution was passed otherwise.
Frankham said afterwards: “I did it because the room asked me to. Hopefully that shows that we are listening.” The CPO board also bowed to pressure to hold another EGM in the next few months, during which shareholders would be able to propose resolutions of their own.
In the meantime, the CPO director, Gray Smith – a lawyer who was invited to join the board after voting against the club at the EGM – vowed to try to establish who bought the 1,686 oversold shares.
The board reiterated it was against the law for CPO simply to void the shares in question but promised to explore whether their validity could be challenged. Were they to succeed, that could make it even harder for Chelsea to win any future vote on the Stamford Bridge freehold.
Chelsea
guardian.co.uk
