The Football Association has convened an urgent meeting for Wednesday to rule whether to accept Chelsea’s request for their FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors “for matters of sporting integrity” after their own fans were blocked from buying tickets.
Officials from the Treasury and the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have been locked in talks with Chelsea for days now about how the club are permitted to operate since owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned for links to Russia president Vladimir Putin.
But while Chelsea lobbied hard to be able to sell away tickets for Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough, the Government made the decision to block it.
As a consequence, Chelsea lodged a request with the FA Board to play the game behind closed doors without any fans at all “for matters of sporting integrity”, which would deny the Championship club the significant financial gain of hosting the current European and world club champions.
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Roman Abramovich saga shows only radical ownership changes will stop history repeating itself14 March, 2022An FA spokesperson said: “We are aware of Chelsea FC’s request to play their Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final tie against Middlesbrough FC behind closed doors. The matter will be discussed at the Professional Game Board meeting tomorrow.”
The Government was privately said to be unimpressed by Chelsea’s move, given officials are working hard on a daily basis to ensure Chelsea can survive despite being the asset of an owner sanctioned by the British Government and the European Union for his support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
As another extraordinary day unfolded in the history of Chelsea Football Club, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham was answering questions at a DCMS hearing when Chelsea released their statement and immediately faced a grilling on the subject.
He said he was unable to comment openly on the Middlesbrough request as he had only just heard about it as he walked into the hearing.
“What they’re referring to is [for] any football match — and it’s an issue raised by Uefa — normally you have both sets of fans and their argument is only one set of fans has an effect on sporting integrity,” he said.
“The government are trying to put pressure on Vladimir Putin, I don’t think it is trying to stop away fans for Chelsea or fans visiting Stamford Bridge. I hope and expect fans will be able to attend Stamford Bridge.
“The end state will be the government allows fans to go to games and I think that hasn’t been possible for this weekend. My personal point of view I would expect the game to go ahead. I can’t say more than that in a clear way as it could prejudice any discussions going on.”
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Chelsea said in a statement: “We are disappointed to announce we will not be able to sell tickets for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough.
“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 licence which would allow a full allocation of Chelsea supporters to attend.
“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 recognises 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 licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.”
Middlesbrough: Chelsea request is ‘bizarre’ and ‘ironic’
By Mark Douglas, i‘s Northern Football Correspondent
Middlesbrough reacted with fury to Chelsea’s request for the game to be played behind-closed-doors, accusing the Blues of a “bizarre” request that is “totally without merit”.
The game is a total sell-out and Chelsea had already sold around 600 tickets before sanctions were introduced. The Championship club are now urgently seeking clarity so they can decide whether to put any remaining tickets on general sale before Saturday evening’s kick off.
But they made it clear in an incendiary response that they will resist any attempt to play the game with no supporters at the ground.
Their statement read: “We are aware of Chelsea’s request to have Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup sixth round tie played behind closed doors and find their suggestion both bizarre and without any merit whatsoever.
“All concerned are well aware of the reasons Chelsea have been sanctioned and that this has nothing to do with Middlesbrough Football Club. To suggest as result that MFC and our fans should be penalised is not only grossly unfair but without any foundation.
“Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting ‘integrity’ as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme.
“We currently await formal notification from the FA of the next steps but rest assured MFC will resist Chelsea’s actions in the strongest terms.”
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