The younger members of the family have tried hard to move on from the episode, but that has not been easy and the issue is certainly not helping their cause now, as they attempt to buy a football club with such a diverse staff and first-team squad. 

Nor has the family’s standing among large sections of the Cubs fanbase been helped by their close ties to Donald Trump: Todd Ricketts was the chief fundraiser for Trump’s failed re-election campaign, and a Chicago Tribune headline from January last year declared: “No team has closer ties to President Trump than the Chicago Cubs.”

For Chelsea fans in Chicago, there are also concerns over the potential disconnect between the Ricketts family and the footballing culture in the UK. Tom Ricketts is said to be a football fan, and he has watched matches at Stamford Bridge before, but no one can reasonably claim he feels the same bond with Chelsea as he does with the Cubs.

Before his family bought the baseball team, Tom Ricketts had been a fan since the mid-1980s. He even met his future wife in the stands on Wrigley Field, and lived across the street from the stadium with his brother Pete (the current governor of Nebraska). In his book ‘The Cubs Way’, American sportswriter Tom Verducci describes Tom Ricketts as someone who “deeply understood Cubs culture”.

The contrast with Chelsea, Wolff says, is stark. “They have zero connection to Chelsea, zero care, zero understanding of the culture of the club,” he tells Telegraph Sport.

This is not the first time the Ricketts family has shown interest in buying Chelsea. They also did so in 2018, and much of the due diligence they did then has proved useful over the past few weeks. There was previously interest in buying AC Milan, too.

There has been criticism from Cubs fans in recent seasons that the owners have not invested enough in the team. The Ricketts family object to those assertions, saying that the Cubs are among the highest spenders in baseball. Earlier this week, the Cubs agreed to a five-year, $85 million contract with Japanese star Seiya Suzuki, although in 2019 Tom Ricketts warned: “As much as I would love to have a great, new exciting player every single season it just can’t happen every year.”

In Chicago, Wolff says, the general mood towards the family is one of disgruntlement. “The Cubs winning in 2016 was probably the most important championship the city of Chicago has ever seen,” says Wolff, who is part of Chelsea’s fans’ forum and has made his views clear to the club. “Within five years, they took probably the greatest goodwill that sports owners have ever enjoyed, at least in this city, and they completely torpedoed it, to the point where people are just fed up with the Cubs in general.”

Politics, baseball, a lack of experience in English sport: how much does this all matter? And how much should it matter when the various bids are being assessed? The family believe they are well-placed to move Chelsea forward, and that their experience in stadium redevelopment could be valuable. 

For those of a Chelsea persuasion in Chicago, though, the thought of two of their favourite sports teams being owned by the same divisive owners is almost too much to bear. “I have not talked to anyone who is positive about this potential move,” says Wolff. “I will fight this, and any proposed ownership bid that I don’t feel is appropriate for Chelsea, in any way that I can.”