Jose Mourinho joins Chelsea Pitch Owners with special CPO share number one. As you should be aware, Chelsea Pitch Owners is the non-profit organization that actually owns the Stamford Bridge freehold, which it then leases back to Chelsea FC for football and ancillary activities. While nowadays the threat of Stamford Bridge being sold off from underneath the club to real estate development is pretty small, the CPO has remained relevant in protecting the clubs history, name, and ties to the local community from the whims of the clubs owner and board. You might remember it playing a key role in the clubs ultimately unsuccessful bid to buy the Battersea Power Station site. As of October 2012, CPO has sold about 17,700 of the original 70,000 shares created to finance the purchase of the freehold. While technically the financing is now done through a £10m loan (back) from Chelsea Football Club (with which CPO purchased the freehold outright in 1997), the shares policy ensures that the ground continues to be owned by the fans... and the 20-25 shady stakeholders from 2011 who most likely represent certain interests of club higher-ups, but lets not worry too much about that right now. In any case, when you buy a share (£100), you essentially become a part-owner of the Chelsea pitch - a unique and wonderful way to feel connected to your club. When the shares were originally doled out, numbers 1-200 were held back for special occasions. Last May, on the one-year anniversary of the Champions League final, Frank Lampard was presented with share number 200. And on Thursday, at CPOs One Special Evening fundraiser, Jose Mourinho was presented with share number... wait for it... one! CPO share number one for The Special One. Jose Mourinho, Chelsea Pitch Owner. Truly, one of us.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:56:06 +0000
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