Prospective Chelsea owner Tom Ricketts has responded to Chelsea fans' protests against his ambition to purchase the Stamford Bridge club.

If his family's takeover proposal is successful, Tom, the rich family's leader, has promised to place "diversity and inclusion at the heart of the club."

Hundreds of Blues fans staged a protest during the club's match against Brentford on Saturday.

As the #NoToRicketts campaign gained traction, supporters were opposed to the Ricketts family being named as the club's new owners.

The demonstration is significant in light of their father, Joe Ricketts', historic Islamophobic remarks, which Tom and Laura Ricketts have been trying hard to erase and create bridges with Chicago's Muslim community since Joe's remarks in 2019.

Pete Ricketts, his brother, has been linked to anti-LGBTQ prejudice but is not part of the Chelsea offer.

"Over the past fortnight, our bid team has visited with many supporter groups to convey our vision for Chelsea Football Club," the rationale said in response to the protest.

We've discussed a series of concrete guarantees we'll make to fans if our proposal is successful in those meetings, as well as in a letter to all groups.

"We feel these are far-reaching, and they surely include the Ricketts family's and the bid team's full commitment to putting diversity and inclusion at the core of the club."

More meetings, including with the Chelsea Supporters' Trust, are planned, according to the Ricketts family.

During the week, reports surfaced that the Ricketts family is now in the lead in the race to buy the club from Roman Abramovich.

Rival bidding parties slammed US merchant bank Raine Group's alleged preferential treatment of the Ricketts family earlier this week.

The opposing bidding groups are concerned that Raine's favored choice for purchasing the Stamford Bridge firm is now the Chicago Cubs' owners.