Nick Candy has promised Chelsea fans their club will continue to be major players in the transfer market if his consortium ends up buying the club from Roman Abramovich.

The deadline for bids to be made for the crisis-ridden Premier League giants passed on Friday evening, and Candy’s Blue Football Consortium, backed by cash from the USA, Europe and South Korea, remains in the running.

Candy, is a lifelong Chelsea fan, faces significant competition to complete a takeover which will be handled by The Raine Group, who want to conclude a quick sale with the club still operating under a special, restrictive license which was issued after the UK Government’s decision to sanction Roman Abramovich.

The 49-year-old, husband of former actress and pop star Holly Vallance, remains confident he will emerge victorious and insists he will follow the Abramovich blueprint of spending big on transfers and will avoid the mistakes made by the Glazer family at Old Trafford.

He told The Sun: ‘On the pitch and in the transfer market, it’s simple – follow the model. It’s not failed us and it’s done really well. ‘The last 20 years have been brilliant on the pitch. We’ve played glorious football, won everything, and Roman has done an incredible job with his team.’

Key Abramovich allies, Marina Granovskaia and Bruce Buck have been vital to Chelsea’s recent success, and Candy also revealed there would be a place for the influential duo under his regime.

He added: ‘If I got hold of the club I wouldn’t change Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia.

‘And if they want to stay I would love them to stay. Why change something that is brilliant?

‘But I don’t think we should end up like Manchester United where we have one rich family that owns Chelsea and there should be a new benchmark of owning football clubs.

‘Why does there have to be one rich family that the fans end up hating because they don’t invest?

‘It should be a global consortium of the best-in-class in every part of the world.

‘We have 100 million fans in China, over 80 million fans in India and over 70 million in southeast Asia.

‘We have European and American fans so why doesn’t the consortium come from each continent? And that’s what I’ve tried to do with my bid.