Chelsea ask for FA Cup tie to be played behind closed doors, Blues unable to sell tickets for Middlesbrough
Tue, Mar 15, 2022
Soccer News (AP)
Chelsea have asked the FA to move their quarterfinal match against Middlesbrough behind closed doors as they will be unable to sell tickets to away supporters for the game.
The Blues have been in dialogue with the British government over amending the terms of the special license under which they have operated since Thursday, when owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned due to his links with Vladimir Putin. The terms of that license currently mean that Chelsea are unable to sell any additional tickets for home or away matches, something which the club have been pushing to change since its implementation.
However, they have failed to reach an agreement with the British government in time, meaning they are unable to sell any tickets for the trip to the northeast. Chelsea are now of the belief that if they cannot have any supporters at the Riverside Stadium neither should Middlesbrough, who have sold out every home ticket at their ground, which has a capacity of nearly 35,000.
"Despite engaging in extensive discussions with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the deadline to purchase away tickets has passed without appropriate amendments being made to the Government license which would allow a full allocation of Chelsea supporters to attend," said Chelsea in a statement. "Executives at Middlesbrough had been kind enough to extend their deadline for ticket sales and stadium allocation from 7.30pm last night until 9.30am this morning.
"It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognizes that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the license was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.
"We will continue to discuss the issue of ticket sales with OFSI as there are a number of fixtures still to be played this season and we hope to reach a resolution."
Championship side Middlesbrough, who beat Manchester United and Tottenham to reach the last eight, did not immediately respond to Chelsea's statement though they might rightly ask why they must allow be punished due to Abramovich's links with a Russian regime that is waging war in Ukraine.
Their request may also open them up to tit for tat responses in future games. Brentford said on Thursday that they were awaiting clarity on what would happen with the away tickets they had not yet put on sale while future opponents including Wolverhampton Wanderers have no agreement over allocations in place and as such could not sell tickets unless a new license was in place. In these circumstances those clubs might reasonably suggest that if Chelsea's away games must be played behind closed doors for reasons of "sporting integrity" they should also lose any advantage that they might gain from the presence of Stamford Bridge's season ticket holders.
The 530 mile round trip to Middlesbrough will be all the more complicated for Chelsea with their travel costs limited to $26,300 (£20,000) by the terms of the license. That will not be a problem for their visit to Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday but eventually, manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledged, changes would have to be made.
"There are restrictions and we have to deal with them," he said. "There are adjustments in the amount of staff, who is travelling, how many rooms we have in hotels and how we arrive at matches. There will come some, to my understanding, that we can arrive at on a professional level.
"It isn't about luxury and bling-bling. This is just a professional level of sports, where we play with two days between matches with our opponent having four days between matches and we arrive with the possibilities of injuries. For that, it is better to arrive with a plane rather than a bus.
"We try to do it. From my understanding, we have a framework to go and play in Lille with absolutely no excuses. Regarding these organizations, it is already more difficult to arrange things on a professional level, in the best way possible, for the FA Cup. But we will deal with it.
"As long as we have shirts and are alive as a team, we will be competitive and fight hard for our success. We owe it to the people who support us in a very invisible way. Of course, we are in the spotlight and it is our responsibility to do so. We will do it."
Speaking after his manager, Chelsea playmaker Kai Havertz said he would be willing to cover his own travel costs if needed. "There are harder things in the world right now than if we have to take the bus or plane to an away game," he added.
Such turbulence off the pitch has yet to impact on Chelsea's on field results so far with Havertz netting a late winner to carry the Blues to a 1-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday. The German acknowledged, however, that he and his team mates were not finding it straightforward to maintain their focus.
"Everyone knows it's not easy," he told AP Sports. "You always try to focus on the games. Such a situation has never happened at Chelsea before, it's a little bit strange of course. We are professionals and sometimes situations like this can happen.
"It's not easy for us all, especially the whole club, the fans. The best we can do in the moment is play good football, try to give the fans a smile in these kind of situations. Everything is tough for us in the moment but as we saw on the weekend we can handle these situations and hopefully tomorrow as well."
