Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea’

The Race For Champions League Final Tickets

Chelsea fans are currently scrambling for Champions League Final tickets with the first round of tickets going on sale earlier this morning to season ticket holders with over 82 points.

The Allocation

Tickets are selling fast with an allocation that is only enough for around two thirds of our 28,000 season ticket holders, let alone the tens of thousands of members for what is the most in demand fixture in our history.

17,500 tickets is a paltry allocation for a stadium that holds over 60,000 people but with UEFA long since selling its soul to the advertisers this is not a surprise as the worlds rich demand their day out, even if they are not that interested in football.

Sadly this means that many will be disappointed, yet thousands of fans are expected to make the trip to Munich without a ticket to savour the atmosphere and hope for a miracle.

Queuing

Times have changed and the days of queuing up at the box office are over.

There was something quite nostalgic about queuing outside at the box office, getting there early in the morning and seeing the queue snaking around Stamford Bridge.

Instead the scramble is in cyberspace with those with enough points jostling for position electronically.

With sales starting at 7am this involves an early start, lumbering to the computer and screaming at it as you cannot buy a ticket as demand is too high.

Instead you are put in a virtual waiting room, an unscientific queue where you know you are waiting but you have no idea how many times your virtual queue would snake around Stamford Bridge.

Patience in these situations is never forthcoming and I am sure many find themselves screaming at the screen as the counter ticks down to 0 only to reset and begin another cycle of waiting.

Groggy, sleepy and probably only half dressed getting a Champions League Final ticket is certainly a glamorous affair.

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Preview – FA Cup Fifth Round Replay – Birmingham

There is a second trip within three days for Chelsea to the West Midlands, after a disappointing 1-0 loss at the Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. On Tuesday night, the scene is the replay in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, the opposition is Birmingham City and the venue is St. Andrew’s.

And oh – Chelsea have a new manager.

At the weekend, the Blues of London fell to 5^th in the Premier League, 3 points behind Arsenal. Roman’s axe was swift to fall. Within 24 hours, Andre Villas-Boas was gone and his assistant Roberto Di Matteo had been appointed interim manager till the end of the season.

Another 24 hours later and he had former Chelsea teammate Eddie Newton alongside him in an assistant’s role. It is fitting that the pair’s first game in charge comes in the FA Cup. The Italian-English duo are synonymous with Chelsea’s FA Cup success in 1997, as they were the goalscorers in the final at the Old Wembley.

There will be no time for reminiscing, however, as they have the tough task of guiding a turbulent club into Champions League qualification, while also trying to progress in the FA Cup and Champions League.

Their first test will be against the Blues of Birmingham, who lie in 6^th place in the Championship. They have an excellent home record, with only two losses at St. Andrew’s this season.

The first leg saw a solid performance from Chris Hughton’s side as they scored early through defender David Murphy. Daniel Sturridge equalized with half an hour to go, but Chelsea weren’t able to get past a resilient City defence to get the winner. Juan Mata had missed a penalty in the minutes immediately following the Birmingham goal.

There is no clue as to whether Di Matteo plans to rock the boat in terms of team selection for the next two months. It likely, though, that he will stick to the tried and tested to get the results in order to see us through till the end of the season.

For this game, there is an injury doubt about Ashley Cole, which means Ryan Bertrand is likely to play. The definite absentees are John Terry, Ross Turnbull and Jose Bosingwa.

Birmingham will line up with a considerably different eleven than the one which walked out at the Bridge three weeks ago. Up front, they have available the services of the gigantic Nicola Zigic and Marlon King, their top scorer this season.

In their defensive unit, they will be without Stephen Carr, Steven Caldwell and the scorer at Stamford Bridge – David Murphy. Centre back Curtis Davies could also miss out due to illness. Also, Andros Townsend, Caleb Folan and Erik Huseklepp are not available for this game.

Chelsea will hope the so-called “new manager syndrome” hits and we are able to secure progress to the quarterfinal stage of this historic competition. The winners of this game have been handed a home tie against Leicester City two weeks from now.

There will be no dearth of Chelsea support as a sizeable contingent is expected to travel to the Midlands, despite the game occurring in midweek. The players owe it to the Chelsea faithful to come out with passion and a will to win, which has been lacking in recent games.

There would be a great instance of the “romance of the Cup” if the Cup heroes of the nineties can lead this Chelsea side to the final at Wembley in two months’ time. The road starts here…..

Good luck to Robbie and Eddie. Come on the Chels!

Top 4 Threat Forces Roman’s Hand

Chelsea succumbed to yet another loss on Saturday as a late West Brom winner put us 3 points behind Arsenal in 4^th place. The threat of finishing outside the top 4 places finally made owner Roman Abramovich make up his mind to sack Andre Villas Boas, despite the teams above us not looking like world-beaters either.

Now, lack of participation in the Champions League for a season or two would not be considered a huge disaster in itself. However, it comes with concomitant side-effects that put together could affect the long-term direction of the club.

The current situation:

There has been much discussion recently among fans regarding the financial situation of the club. The club announced financial results on 31^st January for the year ending June 2011, while also making a presentation regarding commercial activities and sponsorships to the Fans Forum on 25^th February.

On both occasions, the club sought to portray the financial condition of the club in a healthy state. Despite the £67.7m loss incurred, Chief Executive Ron Gourlay seemed confident about complying with the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, which require clubs in European competitions to effectively stop living beyond their means.

Despite the heavy loss numbers, there does seem to be a basis for the confidence of the club. Approximately £42m of the total loss was categorized as “exceptional costs”, which included severance payments to sacked manager Carlo Ancelotti and his staff plus the compensation paid to Porto for getting AVB.

Of course, this is nothing new for Chelsea, as owner Roman Abramovich is not shy of sacking managers. It is interesting to note, if some reports are true, that AVB’s severance payment is capped at £5m or so. The loss figures also included the £70+ sum paid to acquire Fernando Torres and David Luiz last winter. Since then, there does appear to be a reluctance to pay over the odds for players which is encouraging.

At the latest Fans Forum meeting, the club presented its “global business” model. Of course, some old-school supporters may not like this terminology, but irrespective of fans’ feelings, it is the reality and the club has no option but to embrace it. There was a positive outlook about present and future revenue generation methods in terms of sponsorship, in particular with Samsung and Adidas having long-standing relationships with the club.

So one may ask – it all seems to be moving in the right direction, what’s the catch?

The catch is in the underlying assumption behind the club’s confidence in their financial plans, i.e.  regular participation in the Champions League. Take that away and it is fair to say Gourlay and his men would be ill-prepared in terms of future plans. To see why this competition is so important to the club, let us look at the different aspects of losing our place in it.

Champions League Revenue:

This is a direct consequence of no Champions League football. In the financial year for which the recent results were published, Chelsea accrued £44.5m directly as a result of Champions League participation, including TV funds and bonuses for reaching the quarterfinal stage. In contrast, our English rivals Manchester City and Liverpool both amassed a measly £6.1m from Europa League football. In fact, the highest earners from Europe’s second tier club competition were Villareal who got £9m. So, the club stands to lose somewhere in the region of £35m up front.

Replacing the old guard:

For the first time since Jose Mourinho’s departure, it finally appears that Abramovich has realized the need for a transition at the club. This means several high-profile experienced players have left and more are likely to leave.

But as we have seen this season, it is not easy to replace players of the calibre of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Ashley Cole et al. Anything less than world class quality will lead to a deterioration of the playing squad.

In recent years, Chelsea has been a tempting destination for world class footballers not only because of the riches on offer, but also the chance to play in Europe’s biggest competition. Without Champions League football, the club would struggle to attract the best footballers. If such players were to be enticed, it would take extraordinary sums of money, a policy which the club is looking to move away from in the first place.

If not, we will be stuck with mediocre footballers as Liverpool have found after elimination from the Champions League, with the likes of Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing. It would be an uphill battle to get back to the Champions League places with such players, especially as the teams above us will continue to strengthen.

Sponsorship:

The club’s lucrative kit sponsorship agreement with Adidas runs till 2018 while the other big deal with Samsung is till 2015. In general though, the club will find it difficult to market itself if we are not in the crème de la crème of Europe.

Past long-term business relationships will mean nothing if the team fails to be noticed. And there is no bigger place to be noticed than the Champions League, so that is what all the major sponsors will go for. It is also of note that despite what all the club has said regarding sponsor activation, we are still well behind Man United, Real Madrid and Barca when it comes to the financial stakes.

Even Liverpool and Man City rake in more with their shirt sponsorship deals. Of course, the former are not in the Champions League but they have an already established fan base due to past glories. Chelsea are unlikely to find a similar environment if we cannot guarantee exposure in Europe’s flagship tournament.

Merchandise sales:

It is easy to see a drop in revenue even in other areas like shirt and merchandise sales. A large portion of this income comes from the club’s popularity in pockets of Asia and the United States. Old school supporters may again frown upon this, but to keep this revenue stream alive, the club needs to be able to attract new supporters.

Although the Premier League is equally popular in these parts, new football fans tend to lend their loyalties to successful teams, and if the club keeps failing to qualify for the Champions League (which is easy to imagine if it happens once), then we are potentially losing new supporters or as a cynic might say- “customers”.

Final comments

This season has already shown the difficulty in balancing a transition to a new type of football with results. It is a tough balancing act perfected by Alex Ferguson at Man United, and AVB showed few signs that he was capable of such an achievement, although it must be admitted that his long-term vision was impressive at least in word.

If you couple the already precarious balancing act with the factors of revenue and players mentioned above, it is easy to see that losing Champions League football could have potentially poured cold water over the so-called “project” that the manager aimed to create at Stamford Bridge.

The idea of managerial stability is noble but there is no point in stability for stability’s sake. Finishing out of the top 4 could scupper our medium and long-term plans, and could signal the beginning of a downward spiral for the club as all the aforementioned factors form a vicious circle, which could take years or even decades to recover from.

The conundrum facing the Chelsea board was this. Sack the manager and somehow finish in the top 4, and you possibly lose the long-term project. Stick with the manager and finish below 4^th, and you lose the project anyway (for reasons mentioned above). Of course, there is also the inconvenience of having no obvious replacement.

One way or another, there should be no doubts about the wide-ranging implications of having no Champions League football next season. Of course, there is something to be said for going back to the exciting mid-table times of the past with the glorious unpredictability that comes with it. But it is unlikely that Roman Abramovich sees it that way.

Follow me @Celeryphile on Twitter. I tweet only about football and mostly about Chelsea.

West Brom Match Report

Chelsea slumped to their 7^th defeat of this league campaign at the Hawthorns courtesy an 82^nd minute winner for West Bromwich Albion. The home side fully deserved a victory after a complete performance where they dominated for large periods of the game. The loss saw Roman Abramovich finally lose his patience and the club sacked Andre Villas-Boas following the game.

The fans who traveled up to the Midlands will feel, however, that he was let down by the players, very few of whom can come away from the game with any credit.

Team News:

The Blues boss stuck to the same side that had beaten Bolton at home the previous week. In the eyes of most people, it was Chelsea’s strongest eleven. They lined up against a West Brom side managed by Roy Hodgson, who has recently favoured a 4-3-3 formation. Their front three consisted of Jerome Thomas, Marc-Antoine Fortune and the Premier League’s February Player of the Month Peter Odemwingie.

First Half:

Attacking midfielder James Morrison created the first genuine chance of the game when he forced Petr Cech into a save with a swinging shot from 25 yards. Chelsea soon had a chance of their own, but Juan Mata horribly misjudged Daniel Sturridge’s cross and failed to make any contact from a good position on the edge of the box. The little Spaniard did better on 14 minutes, though, as he forced Baggies ‘keeper Ben Foster into his first save after a Drogba flick-on.

By the 20^th minute, West Brom had had the better of the proceedings with efforts from Fortune, Morrison and Odemwingie. Their front men showed good interchangeability, with Chelsea coming under pressure particularly in the wide positions.

Chelsea’s January signing Gary Cahill had a good chance on 27 minutes when an uncleared corner fell to him 12 yards in front of goal. The England international was able to sort his feet, but his left-footed effort was blocked by Morrison.

At this stage, Chelsea’s defenders were holding firm, with West Brom failing to make Cech do much work despite being the dominant side. At the other end, Mata was having an uncharacteristically mistake-prone game and Chelsea’s main method of attack was long balls from the back.

A Drogba flick-on from a long ball opened up a chance for Sturridge, but his deflected effort went wide. The resulting corner eventually came to Michael Essien, who was playing the holding role. His volley was saved by Foster, but was probably going wide anyway.

Chelsea’s best chance of the half came on 40 minutes when Drogba showed good strength and pace on the right wing. He followed it up with a peach of a first time cross for Daniel Sturridge who was in space in front of goal. The England striker made space to shoot, but his effort was wide. We would end up ruing this miss.

The end of the first half brought another half chance for West Brom as midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu advanced unchallenged into the Chelsea area, but his shot was deflected wide. Although West Brom were dominating, Chelsea would have gone into half time reasonably pleased with their defensive solidity, and hoping to come out in the second half looking to nick a goal or two.

Second Half:

In the 54^th minute, Sturridge missed his second big chance of the game when West Brom right-back Steven Reid pulled up with an injury, which allowed Mata to pinch the ball and cross to the striker. But Sturridge got distracted by the onrushing Foster and lacked the composure to control the ball. Reid could not continue and had to be replaced by Gabriel Tamas.

Meanwhile, West Brom were putting Chelsea under immense pressure, and Ashley Cole was having a tough time dealing with the quick Odemwingie. He also failed to judge Thomas’s cross from the left on 59 minutes. His missed header allowed Fortune to shoot, but his effort was straight at Cech.

Both teams made a substitution each on 64 minutes with Thomas being replaced by Chris Brunt and Sturridge’s disappointing performance coming to an end as he was replaced by Florent Malouda. West Brom really started to pepper the Chelsea goal after this, looking for their third win on the trot.

Mulumbu’s left-footed volley was tipped over by Cech, while Fortune’s drive was parried by the Chelsea ‘keeper. A good interchange between left-back Liam Ridgewell and substitute Brunt led to a cross from the former with Brunt bursting into the box. This time Cole showed good awareness to clear.

Chelsea made another change in the 76^th minute with Fernando Torres coming on for Essien as AVB switched to a diamond formation with Mata in behind Torres and Drogba. This didn’t change the game much though, as soon the hammer blow was dealt.

West Brom won two corners in succession and from the second, Chelsea failed to clear properly and Keith Andrews was able to cross it back into the danger zone. This time, the ball fell to Ridgewell whose volley across goal was turned in by Albion defender Gareth McAuley.

Villas-Boas had limited attacking options on the bench but he threw on midfielder Raul Meireles in place of right-back Branislav Ivanovic in the 84^th minute. The Baggies made a change themselves with Shane Long replacing Fortune in a like-for-like swap up front.

Chelsea did have most of the possession in the closing minutes, but most of it consisted of passes in our own defensive line as the Baggies put men behind the ball to protect their lead. There was a golden chance to equalize in injury time as Cole’s cross from a Drogba flick-on was directed towards Frank Lampard. The midfielder, who had made a typical late run to the near post, opened his body up well but was unable to direct the ball into the net.

A minute later, Chelsea had another half chance as Mata’s volley from the edge of the penalty area went tamely wide. The game ended with both sets of fans chanting “You’re getting sacked in the morning” at the Chelsea manager.

Closing notes:

The chants came true and the bubble finally burst on AVB’s project. This particular game, though, there cannot be many complaints about his decisions. The players must shoulder the blame for lacking motivation against a West Brom side that simply fought harder.

The loss will hurt the Blues harder on a day when Arsenal managed to open up a 3-point advantage in 4^th place with a late winner at Anfield against Liverpool. A massive improvement will be required if we are to get past Birmingham in midweek’s FA Cup replay, and further on to climb back into the Champions League qualification positions.

Good luck Robbie! You’ll need it.

West Brom Preview

Chelsea will travel to the West Midlands for a traditional 3 o’clock kickoff against West Bromwich Albion, after a midweek international break. The Blues will go into this game with some of their confidence restored following a comfortable 3-0 home win over Bolton last week.

The international friendlies in midweek saw good performances from several of our contingent, and there will be a positive atmosphere in the camp before the game at the Hawthorns. Despite the short lull in club activity, there has been no dearth of media speculation regarding Chelsea, but manager Andre Villas-Boas and his players will be keen to get back to proper football to do their talking on the pitch.

Injury news:

The Blues boss would have been fretting over the composition of his forward line, with regular first choices Didier Drogba and Daniel Sturridge picking up niggles. The latter bruised his toe which ended his man-of-the-match performance for England against Holland on Wednesday night. However, both have been passed fit to start against the Baggies. Captain John Terry remains sidelined following knee surgery.

Team selection and tactics:

In the captain’s absence, Gary Cahill and David Luiz did a solid job in central defence against Bolton, although the Trotters failed to muster up much attacking threat. Even so, both have good technical quality on the ball and are swift on their feet, which will stand them in good stead against a quick West Brom frontline. Both defenders have scored this week, in similar fashion, with Cahill following Luiz’s opener against Bolton with a goal of his own for England against the Dutch.

In this era where lone strikers are the norm, it is often difficult for the midfielders to create space for themselves, which puts a premium on having defenders who can step out of defence with the ball and affect the game offensively. The aforementioned duo are comfortable with the ball at their feet, with Luiz in particular capable of pinging cross-field passes accurately.

The good-natured Brazilian has been much maligned in the media for his defensive mistakes, but most pundits fail to realise his astute reading of the game. He has shown good initiative in breaking up play with interceptions and starting off attacking moves, apart from having the composure and natural to finish when required.

In midfield, most Chelsea supporters will hope that the trio of Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Ramires is persisted with. The fans will also look to Spanish attacker Juan Mata for a creative spark against a West Brom side that will most likely look to maintain a solid defensive shape. There was some decent interplay among the likes of Lampard, Mata and Sturridge last week, particularly in the second half. More of the same will be the prescription for Saturday’s trip.

The opponents:

West Brom are on a high at the moment with their last two games producing four-goal victories over Wolves and Sunderland. The wins have propped the Baggies up to 13^th in the table, a comfortable 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

The Midlands side tend to play better away from home, with only 11 out of their 32 points accrued at the Hawthorns. Chelsea will also look to take comfort from their excellent record at that stadium, with our last 8 league meetings there resulting in wins.

Their manager Roy Hodgson likes to play neat simple football with a strong emphasis on maintaining a compact formation. However, they are susceptible with their fragile defense and mediocre central midfield. In goal, they have Ben Foster who has thwarted the Blues on multiple occasions.

Their main attacking threat comes from Nigerian Peter Odemwingie, who is their top scorer with 9 goals in this season’s Premier League. He will look for support from attacking midfielder James Morrison and winger Jerome Thomas. Chelsea right-back Branislav Ivanovic is likely to have a busy game against the skilful wide-man Thomas.

Closing notes:

This week could again provide a chance to make headway into the quest for Champions League qualification with tough games for the teams around us in the table. The early kick-off on Saturday sees 4^th-placed Arsenal travel to 7^th placed Liverpool, while 3^rd placed Tottenham play against Manchester United on Sunday.

Chelsea manager Villas-Boas will hope the Bolton victory heralds the start of a winning run for the Blues as we head into a crucial period involving games in three major competitions. The loyal support who will make the trip to West Brom will hope the manager gets it right.

Up the Chels!

Probable line-ups:

Chelsea (4-3-3) –

Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole; Essien, Ramires, Lampard; Mata, Drogba, Sturridge.

West Bromwich Albion (4-3-3) –

Foster; Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Morrison, Mulumbu, Andrews; Thomas, Fortune, Odemwingie.