Ex-Liverpool FC Chairman Reportedly Interested in Buying Chelsea Amid Troubled Future Buzz

The football club faced problems after the imposition of personal sanctions against its owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, due to the Kremlin's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine. The club's bank accounts were reportedly frozen and the fate of the top team was up in the air.

Former Liverpool FC chairman and current deputy chairman of International Airlines Group, Sir Martin Broughton, is assembling a bid to buy Chelsea FC as the application deadline approaches, the Independent reported on Sunday.

Broughton, a former British Airways chairman and ardent Chelsea fan, was anticipated to attend Sunday's Premier League match versus Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. After the Blues' first match under the new government operating license, the 74-year-old was reportedly scheduled to meet with members from Chelsea supporters organizations.

According to the report, Broughton is the only person to have successfully completed a change of ownership at a major football club while under the supervision of the UK government. The mogul reportedly has first-hand experience negotiating a Premier League club sale with government involvement, as the state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland was Liverpool's largest lender at the time he served as chairman of the club, for a brief period in 2010, in order to facilitate the club's ultimate sale to American television producer Tom Werner's Fenway Sports Group.

His entry into the bidding fight for Chelsea could be a good sign, according to the paper, as the business magnate won a court battle to push the sale of Liverpool to FSG, which enabled the club return to the Premier League and the European elite.

London sanctioned Chelsea owner Abramovich on Thursday, freezing all of his UK assets, except Chelsea.

Later that day, the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation approved a license allowing Chelsea to engage in financial activities that would otherwise be prohibited due to the sanctions placed on Abramovich. The license allows Chelsea to pay wages, cover the costs of hosting games, travel to and from games, earn money from broadcasters, and sell club products as long as "no funds or other financial benefits are made available to the Club or to the designated person."

The Blues will reportedly continue to negotiate with the government for concessions to the new operating license in order to complete the season while the selling process is monitored.

On Saturday, Abramovich was dismissed by the Premier League as the director of Chelsea.

On March 2, the 55-year-old billionaire put his sports club up for sale, promising to write off the club's 1.5 billion pounds (almost $2 billion) debt and not personally take any money from the sale. The process will, however, now be overseen by the government, with the Raine Group of New York overseeing the sale.

The number of serious bidders continues to rise, with Broughton the most recent to submit a credible offer. Prior to that, former US ambassador to the UK and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, and UFC star Conor McGregor expressed interest in buying the club.

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