Chels have been dining consistently at the top table of European football for nearly eight years now. Those hideously short, turn of the century, UEFA Cup campaigns are largely forgotten by all but the most masochistic of our fans.

And there are a couple of teams that we seem to keep bumping into on our travels. One of them is Porto. Therefore, when discussing European trips there with friends we tend to tag them “Porto 1”, “Porto 2” or “Porto 3”. Or indeed “my Porto” and “your Porto”.

One friend managed to get so uproariously drunk during the course of Porto 1 and Porto 2 that he missed the games on both occasions.

There was a hiatus of four years between my last foray into Europe with Chels, the unspeakably awful trip to Seville for the Real Betis game and the trip which is the subject of this piece. A lot had happened in those intervening years. I had moved to London permanently. I had had my heart broken by The Former Mr Baby.

It had been discovered that the arthritis uncovered following the cartilage damage sustained on the way home from Seville was so serious that it was going to impose certain lifestyle limitations, necessitating a move from the Harding Lower to the West Stand.

2009 had been a really bad year generally. Someone picked me up in a bear hug at the FA Cup Final and fractured one of my ribs. Friends and family kept getting ill, having accidents, or actually dying and poor Old Mother Baby thought she’d pulled a groin muscle which eventually turned out to be a fractured hip necessitating replacement, had a heart attack after the op and was in hospital for 6 weeks.

I had had no holiday and was determined to get away by the end of the year even if it was just for a couple of days. And when the group stage of the Champions League was drawn and we pulled out Porto, I made arrangements to go over for three nights courtesy of everyone’s favourite reliable travel provider (starts with an “Ex” and ends in “pedia”).

However, given that many friends had already sated themselves on Porto 1 and Porto 2, this was going to be a solo trip and in order to cut down on time off, I arranged to fly out on the Monday evening after work.

I arrived in Porto after ten pm on a misty night and found myself a cab into town. I spoke virtually no Portuguese. The cabbie spoke no English. So we ended up having a nice chat in French (and I was glad to be reunited with the word “brouillard” to describe the weather). He dropped me off at the hotel, I negotiated my way through check-in and was glad to get to bed.

The great thing about turning up a couple of nights before a European game is a chance to have a good look around the city you’re staying in.

Next morning after a decent breakfast I set off to explore via the City Sightseeing tour. Jolly cold on the top deck – it was November, after all – but it looked like a really nice place and the tour took us out as far as Boavista, an aptly named place, when the sun shines. It also took in the port lodges on the way back into town and I resolved to visit one the next day.

After a quiet afternoon at the cathedral, and a delicious dinner at one of the recommended restaurants, I had an early night. I don’t think my liver’s ever had it so good on a European trip.

The next morning I woke to see rain teeming from the skies, and the trip on the tour bus round to the port lodges wasn’t quite so pleasant. I decided to go to Croft’s which was a bit further up the hill, but had the merit of not charging for admission.

By the time I’d walked up there in the rain I felt distinctly chilly and was delighted to be welcomed with a glass of white port and a roaring fire. The tour was a fascinating experience – I was mesmerised by one huge barrel which stored the equivalent of 146,000 bottles. Freezing cold in there, though. Must have been the chalk walls.

On the way back down the hill I met a group of fellow fans looking lost in their search for Crofts, so at least I was able to point them in the right direction. And still the rain teemed down. There was only one thing for it. A pre-match visit to the shops in Santa Caterina. There are two things I really want to do when Porto 4 comes along. Firstly go to Sandemans (the lodge with the famous label of the mysterious caped man), and secondly take a suitcase so I can lug a load of bargains back with me.

I had an omelette with some very strange, albeit potato-y, chips in a café next to the hotel before setting out to the Estadio Dragao. It was one of the quickest trips ever to a game by metro, fast and efficient. So fast that I got there at 7pm, with at least an hour to kill before it was time to go into the ground for an 8.45pm kick off. So I thought I’d have a walk around. And my eyes met the most beautiful sight.

Now, I’ve always been quite proud of the Fulham Broadway shopping complex. Some grounds offer you Victorian mansions and heavily residential areas. Some grounds offer you areas where if you see a cat with a tail, it’s a tourist. Some grounds offer you… Tottenham High Road. However, Estadio Dragao offers you the entirely appropriately named Dolce Vita Shopping Centre.

All right, it might not necessarily appeal to the entire fanbase, but if you’ve got an hour to kill before kick-off, bliss. Shops, restaurants, coffee bars – and by the way, even though everyone claims that Italians make the best coffee, I would dispute this. Portuguese coffee is the best. So I had a lovely meander until it was time to go to the game.

Once there, I saw many of the usual suspects from European games, and although we hadn’t sold all our tickets, we managed to get a few decent songs going. And then, early in the second half, something happened which was the stuff of legends being born…

I was standing at the front near the corner flag (hoping that a camera might spot me so Old Mother Baby could see me), and a faint cloud of what the broadcaster and Chelsea fan, Andy Jacobs, describes as “jazz fags” drifted through the still night air – happily it had stopped raining by this time. And I could hear a refrain of a song that I couldn’t quite identify. And although it was being sung gently, it grew louder and louder.

“Don’t worry. About a thing. Cos every little thing’s. Gonna be alright…”

And it got taken up by the whole Chelsea contingent. Someone had obviously added bits to it, between the lines people started singing “doo doo doo/doo doo doo” and clapping to it. The Porto stewards were laughing their heads off and I saw a riot policeman trying not to smile. And we must have kept it up for about 15 minutes.

Although Sulky Nic scored after 69 minutes, the match was a bit of a non-event with both sides having qualified for the next round, although the victory ensured we’d top the group, for all the good that ever does. Deco seemed intent on not upsetting the home crowd and barely got out of neutral.

A reasonable detention period of about 20 minutes followed the game, and after we were allowed to leave, choruses of “Don’t Worry” continued not only to the metro station, but on the train as well.

I got invited to a pub, but I had to be up at 6am for a 9am flight, so I went back to the hotel and was so tired I left the packing (i.e. throwing everything into the case) till the next morning and sank into a deep sleep, waking with a start when the alarm went off.

Shame that it was still so dark that I couldn’t see out the window on the way to the airport by metro. I checked in (put my case in the hold this time to accommodate a bottle of pink port I’d bought at Croft) and was inevitably disappointed by the duty free shop. Got a decent seat on the plane and was looking out the window when a ragged cheer broke out – Pat Nevin was boarding the flight, having been in Porto commentating on the game for Five Live.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with him in baggage reclaim back at Gatwick – friendly, obliging chap that he is. He said on previous Porto trips he’d gone running in the hills above the port lodges but the weather was way too bad to do it this time!

I think European trips are quite heavily influenced by the numbers in which you travel. I’d been on my own for most of the time but I saw a great deal more of the city I was visiting than I’d managed on several other trips.

Also I was entirely sober, not having spent time in licensed premises.

But like several others, I look forward to Porto 4 immensely.

Prior to our second leg against Copenhagen in the Champions League there were a lot of annoyed people.

After the 0-2 victory in Denmark, people were disenchanted with the pricing policy set out by the club for the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Personally I agree with their disenchantment, especially in these times of austerity where money is tight enough anyway.

I’m certain that in the long run, the club could have re-evaluated their policy of this Champions League knockout match being Category A, especially as Copenhagen theoretically needed three away goals to go through.

On the Official Chelsea Website it states that “All Champions League knock out matches are priced at Category A prices.” The attendance at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening was 36,454. Unfortunately for the 36,454 the game ended 0-0.

The lowest priced ticket for the evening was £52.00 in the Matthew Harding Lower, with the highest priced ticket being £70.00 in the West Upper. Does the value of money outweigh the score in this instance? I don’t think so.

I agree that the club would not have known prior to the game that the score would have ended 0-0, but what they did know was that we had a two goal advantage and a gap of three weeks before the next leg.

In my opinion, it would be nice to get some kind of statement from the club and an understanding from them knowing if there would be any flexibility for the future in these circumstances. It would also be nice to know what our fans think and if they feel that the prices were fair and justifiable after the 0-0 draw.

For a lot of fans the price of the ticket isn’t just what they spend on the night, travel has to be accounted for along with food, drink and if you go as a family, or take a child then you can spend in excess of £150.00 depending upon where you sit. Sometimes in these situations parity is fair, plus the foresight to evaluate a situation when it arises.

The club may say, all you have to do is to look at the attendance on Wednesday evening, but if there were any new fans coming to Stamford Bridge having to pay those prices to see a 0-0 draw, then I wonder how many would return to pay those prices, under the circumstances?

Three or four years ago when I was writing for another Chelsea website, I was given the honour of being in charge of ticketing issues and enjoyed every minute. I was able to help people with their season ticket issues and any issues that they had, whilst I also liaised with the club for our fans.

So, personally I’d like to hear your views regarding the ticketing issues. Do you feel that the price for Copenhagen was fair, did you go to the game, or due to the prices, did you stay at home, or go to the pub to watch the game? We always want to hear our fans views.

We all love Chelsea, but we also have a point of view. As fans, expressing our views is as important as ever and the big issues are always something we always like to take seriously.

Chelsea progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with an aggregate 2-0 victory over FC København, after the second leg finished in a dour 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.

The match started brightly enough with Chelsea dominating the possession and creating all the early chances, but Copenhagen were gritty and kept plugging away, denying Chelsea, who were themselves guilty of wasting chances, the chance to put the match to bed.

Carlo Ancelotti continued to rotate his side around as Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic returned to the starting line-up, along with the returning Obi Mikel, who has been missing in action since the FA Cup game against Everton due to a knee-injury.

FC København played the same system that they employed in Parken Stadium, playing two banks of four, with Gronkjaer and N’doye up top in their classic system where Gronkjaer plays as a false number nine and N’doye roaming behind him.

Copenhagen played a very high defensive line which led to a lot of offsides for the Blues, but also gave us the opportunity to get in behind their defence, which we managed to do quite often as well.

Chelsea’s full backs were instrumental in all the build-up early on as we tried to get the first goal of the night. The build-up on the left hand side of the park was particularly impressive with Zhirkov and Cole combining very well.

Yuri Zhirkov in particular was in the thick of things early on and was causing the most trouble to the FC København defence with his perfectly-timed passes. Nicolas Anelka could have put Chelsea ahead with one of these passes, but his first-time shot was saved by Wiland’s fingertips.

Despite dominating the possession, Chelsea were fortunate not to be behind when N’doye’s free kick came off the post, with Petr Cech well-beaten.

The second half started much like the first, with Chelsea playing the possession game and Copenhagen happy to defend, with their front- line hardly getting a look-in in the game. Obi Mikel hit the bar early on in the half from an Ivanovic head on from a corner, the closest we would go to getting the goal.

On a day when it felt like the result was of secondary importance to them, København fans continued to be in good voice throughout the game. On the contrary, Chelsea fans were in less than their usual numbers, owing to the club’s pricing policy which kept some of the fans away.

Nicolas Anelka, whose indecisiveness in front of the goal from kept him from continuing his scoring record in this season’s Champions League, had a decent game and was clearly not happy when his number came up in the second half as Carlo Ancelotti introduced his star striker, Fernando Torres, to get the goal required to seal the tie.

Chelsea continued to pour forward and creating chances, but lacked the finesse required to convert those chances.

Florent Malouda and Michael Essien came on late at the end in place of the impressive departing duo of Yuri Zhirkov and Obi Mikel.

Yuri Zhirkov was creative going forward, combining well with Cole, but also made his share of trackbacks as well. While Obi Mikel provided the protection for the back four that we have been missing in his absence.

Next up for Carlo Ancelotti’s men is Manchester City in the league, who will provide a much more sterner test than København and will require improved performance from us to get the job done and overtake them into third place.

Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied with his team’s progression to the next stage, he said; “I think that we played a good game, we were focused and avoided risk and maintained a good control of the game.”

“We had a lot of opportunities to score, we were unlucky I think. We did not need to score tonight.”

“It is important to create the situation and we created a lot of opportunities this evening. I am happy because apart from that it was good, the players showed a good attitude on the pitch.”

“We wanted to move on from the last 16 and now we are in the quarter-final. I want to remind you that at this same time last year we were crying and now we are to be happy.”

“I see that the team is fresh and in good condition and I want to rotate the players because all the players deserve to play and this is a good reason to do this.”

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires, Mikel (Essien 83), Lampard, Zhirkov (Malouda 75); Anelka (Torres 67), Drogba.

So that was easier than many of us expected! What with Copenhagen’s impressive home form this season, and ours erratic, the 2-0 win was more than many of us could have hoped for.

Chelsea lined up with Torres and Anelka up front, in what turned out to be more a 4-4-1-1 formation than 4-4-2, with the Frenchman playing just behind the Spaniard.

Ramires took the right midfield position, with Malouda on the left, and Lampard partnering Essien in the middle of the park. With Luiz ineligible, Ivanovic partnered Terry in the centre of defence, Cole left, and Boswingwa right.

Chelsea old boy Jesper Gronkjaer lined up for the opposition in what many of us thought would be a tougher encounter than it turned out to be.

The 4-4-2 allowed us something we’ve missed in previous games with both Malouda and Ramires seeing a lot of the ball in wider areas.

Copenhagen also lined up in a 4-4-2 formation which made life easier as the players lined up man for man, and left a lot of space behind their defence was left open to exploit, unsuccessful at first with a raft of offside decisions.

Torres and Anelka both looked sharp and interchanged well throughout the match, yet it was the Frenchman who made the headlines by way of a brace, with both lovely goals.

The first came in the 17th minute by way of the unfortunate Gronkjaer, who played a pass blind, which Anelka latched onto and ran at the Copenhagen defence, before smashing the ball past Wiland from the edge of the area. The strike was Anelka’s sixth goal in Europe this season.

Chelsea enjoyed numerous chances to double their lead, with Anelka and Torres both lively, and the movement between the strikers and mid-fielders a marked improvement on recent weeks. However we went in at half time with no change at 1-0.

Copenhagen started the second half a lot better than they’d played the first, and caused Chelsea problems early on, testing Cech on a couple of occasions. However it wasn’t long before Chelsea doubled their lead.

Essien drove forwards and picked out Lampard, who with two touches controlled, turned and played a delightful reverse ball into the patch for Anelka to shoot low and hard into the net after 54 minutes.

Chelsea grew as the match drew on with Copenhagen visibly tiring, we could and should have had more goals. Torres had a chance cleared half a yard of the line and Anelka was sharp as he hunted his hat trick, however it wasn’t to be.

Didier Drogba made an appearance for the last twenty minutes, with Zhirkov getting five and Kalou replacing Torres in injury time.

All in all a better performance and the home leg should be a comfortable affair. Ancelotti was please after the match, stating; “The key to this game was the good movement up front from Nicolas Anelka and Fernando Torres.”

“It was a good performance because we played with intelligence. We played quick up front to avoid the pressing and this why I say we played with intelligence. We didn’t give Copenhagen the opportunity to press.”

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Malouda (Zhirkov 84), Anelka (Drogba 73), Torres (Kalou 90+1).
Goals: Anelka (17, 54)

During the Autumn of 2004, something odd happened to my legs. I developed a rash resembling pin-pricks which got bigger and redder.

It was after the CL game against PSG, when I went into Soho with a group of friends and danced until we were thrown out of O’Neills at 3am, the rash turned black.

So it was that I found myself admitted to hospital for some tests, the upshot of which was the medics suspected a particularly unpleasant condition called vasculitis, inflammation of the blood vessel, which attacks the nervous system and at worst leads to heart failure.

Only one option. A biopsy for diagnosis, but prior to that complete bedrest to reduce the rash. For six weeks from 1st December. No Chelsea. Nothing. I cried that frosty morning in the cab on the way home from the hospital.

And then the Champions League draw was made. Barcelona. In February. I’d be back on my feet by then. So The Former Mr Baby (TFMB) booked flights for us and his Heathen Child (the reason for that name will become apparent later) and I arranged a hotel.

The end of Feb ‘04 was going to be a big time for CFC. In the space of a few days we’d be playing one of the giants of world football followed by a trip to Cardiff a few days later to plays the Mickeys in the League Cup final.

The single biggest difference was that as season ticket holders, the League Cup final tickets were easy to come by. The Barcelona match was massively oversubscribed and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d be spending our time looking for tickets whilst in Spain.

However, the weather nearly threw a spanner in the works at the outset. There was heavy snow the night before our departure, and caused us to fret that the flight would be delayed. But with only a small delay at my end, we met at Victoria and took the train to Gatwick.

Whilst in the departure lounge we saw a familiar looking face and realised it was Sky’s resident Chelsea fan, Rob Wotton, who was travelling economy like a proper supporter. However, on getting on the plane, walking through the business section, the HC said “why can’t we sit here”, to which I replied “because we haven’t got the money”.

The solitary passenger in business class started laughing his head off. And it was only when we’d passed him I realised that it was none other than the infamous Alan Green of Radio 5.

We arrived in Barcelona about 8pm and took a taxi to the hotel we were staying in on Las Ramblas. After dumping our luggage we went out and ate pizza (rather sadly it always seems to be Italian food) and met a few faces, including the members of John Terry’s Blue & White Army, prior to meeting up with our other friends who were out there and ended up visiting The Black Horse pub in the Born area. It wasn’t a late night though, as the growing HC required sleep and TFMB is a responsible parent.

There had been a rumour in the Black Horse that tickets were going to be available from the Barca ticket office the next day, and after a hearty breakfast, we decided to have a walk on the Ramblas prior to setting off for the ground. We didn’t visit Sagrada Familia (which we could see from the balcony of our rooms) but went into the old Cathedral. This elicited the remark from the Heathen Child “Is this where Jesus is buried?”…

The Nou Camp is an easy journey by Metro, and we arrived at the ticket office about 11am only to find a huge queue ahead of us. After a wait of 3 freezing cold hours (it wasn’t very warm out there), we got to the front and I applied for the tickets in my pidgin Spanish, to which we received the response “English. Sorry. No tickets”.

We tried everything, pleading the Heathen Child (the sympathy card) to the fact we had come in peace and really wouldn’t be any trouble. We were politely but firmly ushered away by a policeman, and we were devastated.

We repaired to a bar on the corner to plan our next move. We decided there was nothing for it but to try our luck from a tout at the ground that night, and headed back towards the Nou Camp to visit the Barca shop. TFMB and HC have a lovely photo of them standing next to the Barca coach which was in the car park outside the shop. Then we headed back towards the Black Horse for a pre-match drink, stopping off at Macdonalds to feed the HC.

By the time we returned to the Nou Camp, darkness had fallen and the area, so nondescript by day, had come alive with crowds and noise. It was 6pm by this time, and we hung about hopefully on a corner just before the turn for the ground. I decided I was going to let TFMB handle this and say and do nothing, apart from hopefully get my hands on a ticket.

We had been hanging around for about 10 minutes, and whilst I was talking to the HC, I had failed to notice TFMB engaging a young man in conversation. Something had obviously come up. TFMB made a motion to us to move further round the corner, and he was followed by the young man. This guy wasn’t strictly a tout. He was a genuine Barca fan whose three mates had decided that they weren’t going to go to the game but were willing to sell their tickets for a mark up.

The selling price was going to be €150 each. Or roughly £125.00. This was less than I had really bargained for, following the Monaco experience (see Travels with the Chels – Monaco). However TFMB wanted assurances that the tickets were kosher, so he looked at one and phoned Gianronaldo, who had had a ticket off the club, to compare various markings. And the tickets were genuine.

So, then, off to the bar next door for a celebratory drink. However, whilst on the veranda there was an almighty roar and the sound of glass being hurled from the central reservation. The Barca Ultras had arrived and were using us for target practice. “Out, out!” barked TFMB, bodily ejecting us from the bar and sweeping us around the corner to where we had bought the tickets.

At this point we decided there was no point in hanging around anymore, and made our way into the ground. And did we get a surprise. Because, instead of some rubbish seats that we were being charged an arm and a leg for, we found ourselves in the middle tier of the Nou Camp, just over the corner flag. We knew people who’d bought from ticket agencies at £300 a pop.

I’ll never ever forget the feeling of being in one of the great cathedrals of world football and that my team were soon going to be running out in front of a crowd of 90,000. Sadly, all our tickets weren’t together, and quite rightly TFMB and the HC had the two seats together, leaving me a few rows in front, surrounded by Barca fans and determined to keep my head down.

From my seat, I could see the official Chelsea support in the top tier. It looked a very long way up. The teams were roared on to the pitch and the Barca anthem played before the Zadok the Priest rip-off.

We started off well, and sitting amongst the home fans I was careful not to show too much enthusiasm, although I could hear some shouts from English voices dotted around the stand. I think when Damien Duff’s cross deflected into the Barca net off the future Chels cult hero Juliano Beletti, it was one of the hardest moments I’ve ever had as a fan.

Common sense told me not to make a move, or a sound, and when the whistle went for half-time it was a relief to meet up with TFMB and HC to express our joy. One up against Barca at half-time in the Nou Camp! Who would have believed it possible. And we were there to see it.

But the major drama of the night was to come. When Didier Drogba was sent off after 55 minutes by sunbed fan Anders Frisk, the decibel level rocketed. Believe me, I now know the meaning of the phrase “baying crowd”. I was right in the middle of one. And sadly, the rest of that night is history. Maxi Lopez equalised soon after and Eto’o put Barca ahead on 73 minutes, leaving us with little to show for a valiant performance other than a precious away goal.

We didn’t hang around as the Barca anthem rang out again and the jubilant Catalans stayed on to celebrate their team’s victory. One good thing about sitting in the home seats is the fact you get to avoid the obligatory UEFA lock-in for the away fans, and we were back in the Black Horse in time to see the end of the Sky coverage which was reporting on a comments that had been made by the Special One that cast less than a favourable light on Mr Frisky.

It was a long night in the pub, a number of friends, acquaintance and even Chelsea faces (Clive Batty, Kerry Dixon, Neil Barnett) made their way there after the game and by 2am the HC was moaning that he wanted to go to bed, so we took him off to Las Ramblas in a cab.

The next morning was dull and grey and after breakfast we popped over to a nearby hotel to see how the evening had panned out for a couple of friends, and at midday returned to the airport, where it was even greyer. Heavy fog was reported over Europe and this resulted in Iberia’s flights being delayed (I’m reliably informed that delays on Iberia are not uncommon).

Ours was only 90 minutes late, but friends on subsequent flights experienced delays of up to 3 hours. It’s really the last thing you want at the end of a European trip. Added to which the airline had failed to stock up with food adequately for the flight due to the delay, and by this time the HC was starting to get hungry as we hadn’t dared move from the departure lounge.

TFMB is the world’s sweetest, kindest man, when he’s not at the football or breaking my heart, but he tore a strip off the unfortunate stewardess. Luckily I’d bought a bag of crisps at the game the previous night as they came in a bag that was basically the Barca badge. I’d meant to keep them as a souvenir, but surrendered them to the nipper to alleviate his hunger.

That was my last European away that season. The next would also be in Spain, at Real Betis later in the year, but was such a disastrous trip (a mugging; two deaths in the differing families of those travelling; one of the worst rows it has ever been my misfortune to be involved in; a truly bizarre encounter with some very VIPs; and, finally, my tearing a cartilage on the way home) that even at this distance I can’t write about it. To protect everyone involved.

And if you’re wondering about that mysterious rash, in the end it turned out to be eczema. All gone now.

Next week I’ll be back on my Travels with The Chels, so if you are in Copenhagen, and you can guess what I look like, say hello!

I am a Season Ticket holder in the MHU and also an away season ticket holder.

Having taken early retirement, this matter is less of a problem for me than others in terms of time and other commitments, but I feel strongly that it needs to be addressed.

This note attempts to build on a passionate piece @daspecial_1 (Sam) wrote on ‘Vital Chelsea’ after hearing the Blackpool game was today moved from a Saturday to the following Monday, and also the Twitter inputs of @chelsea_vicar, @TheChelsOrg, @bryanjones63, @PMOve and others.

This is designed to provoke comment/ideas, not necessarily solve the problem.

Problem:

Rearranged games have meant that Chelsea are in the middle of a glut of midweek away games outside London. Four (Wolves, Bolton, Sunderland and Blackpool) are scheduled in the nine weeks between 5th January and 7th March (in addition to Fulham away which is usefully scheduled on Valentines Night, also a Monday).

Chelsea have no weekend away games between Spurs on 12th December and Stoke on 2nd April, though even that could be moved.

Impacts:

Midweek away games outside London throw up a number of problems;

Travel restrictions.

• For games north of Birmingham there are rarely regularly scheduled return trains back to London after the game, which means for non-drivers a night in a hotel.
• Re-arranged games such as Sunderland and Bolton involve driving 200+ miles each way, including a late night return journey. 4 in 10 road accidents happen at night, despite the fact that 60% less driving is done then. The Premier League is actively putting fans in danger by arranging long, night time, road journeys.
• Chelsea run a couple of coaches but these already leave very early and get back in the small hours. Fans also have to get to Stamford Bridge to get the coach in the first place.
• Club trains are occasionally organised, but sometimes cancelled. This is ostensibly due to lack of interest, but both cfcuk and Chelsea Supporters Group have raised with Chelsea their belief that the club deliberately don’t advertise the trains. When properly promoted and organised with the fans, these trains have been a success.

Taking time off work.

• A half day of leave often needs to be taken from work to travel to night away games. The 4-6 weeks notice of re-arranged fixtures is rarely enough notioce.
• Anyone due into work at a normal time the day after a distance midweek away game inevitably suffers as a result – or is forced to take more leave. Many fans (including students) cannot take leave at relatively short notice, and, given the finite amount of time off most people get, many have other considerations to make when taking leave from work.
• With most Chelsea fans travelling from London, a city where time is at a particular premium, taking leave at short notice is often not possible.

Family & other commitments.

• Football fans may be loyal but most of them also have families as well. Rescheduled games inevitably impact on some fans who simply can’t go away in midweek for family/relationship reasons or because they have other social/personal commitments.

Cost.

• Overnight stays inevitably push up costs and this, coupled with the factors detailed above means less demand for tickets.
• The price of both public transport and petrol has risen dramatically over the last few years. Often fans try to combat this by booking train tickets well in advance in order to get cheap deals. These train tickets are nearly always non-refundable. Many Chelsea fans had already booked travel and accommodation for the Blackpool away game.

Weekends away already arranged.

• Fans plan weekends away that have to be rescheduled. Again, Blackpool away is a classic case in point – many people have booked weekends away only to find that the game is not until Monday night. Understandably they are less than happy at this needless expense.

Away ST holders.

• Because of the level of demand for away tickets, Chelsea FC operate an away season ticket scheme. Members of this scheme are automatically charged for and sent tickets to every away game. Away ST holders have long got used to midweek away games, but four at such distance in the space of nine weeks is unprecedented. They are stuck with the tickets for games which they may not be able to attend, simply because of their re-arrangement.

All The factors above contribute to a reduced number of people able to attend games. Wolves was not sold out and turnout at Bolton and Sunderland is likely to be significantly less than this.

This is not due to lack of interest – last season’s Wolves away game was at 3pm on Saturday and sold out quickly. Similarly, Blackpool was a game expected to be sold on a ‘loyalty points’ basis due to its popularity. At the start of the season Chelsea sold almost 5,000 tickets for a televised game away to Wigan, but Bolton away, arguably a more attractive game, will likely sell less than 1,000.

On top of the factors above, the Champions League starts again soon, with an expensive trip to Copenhagen coming up for many, as well as a home leg for which ticket prices have risen dramatically this season. With the FA Cup now underway, Chelsea also have a trip to Everton sandwiched in between the Bolton and Sunderland games.

This reduction in travelling fans impacts on the atmosphere at games, which is, ironically, something Sky and the Premier League stress is one of the great selling points about the Premier League.

Cause:

Sky can reschedule any PL game, at (I believe) six weeks notice. This, added to a couple of games scheduled for midweek from the start of the season, has led to the current glut of midweek away games.

Moving Forwards:

Letters / E-mails

• Football bodies – Sky, PL, Chelsea (via forum), FA
• Football Media – Sports pages of national & local papers, When Saturday Comes, CFC Fanzine, any others
• The above information could be drafted into a press release under the banner of the Chelsea Supporter Group, theChels.org, the FSF or, preferably, all of the above. Many Chelsea fans have strong contacts in the media who they could send this on to.

Web

• Web – Chelsea fan sites, Twitter, Facebook, blogs. Other clubs with strong support bases may also be interested.
• Representations to: Chelsea Fans Forum.

Other

• Football Supporters Federation (already contact has been made), FA, Parliamentary Football Group etc.
• Leaflet outside away game (or handout in fanzine) encouraging fans to contact ???? to state their views
• Call to 6-0-6 and other football phone-ins.

Protest

• Blackpool away has been mooted as an opportunity to visibly and audibly protest against Sky’s moving of games.
• The away end at Blackpool faces TV cameras, so any banners would be easily visible. With enough preparation and notice Chelsea fans attending the game could be asked to make their own banners and songs. Leaflets could be produced to be handed out outside the ground.
• Crucially, the planning of this would need to be kept quiet until close to the game in order to achieve the right impact. If certain areas of the media were tipped off they would comment on the protest, as they have done in the past for Manchester United and Liverpool protests against their owners.

Possible Targets

The impact on away fans of midweek fixtures needs to be taken into account both at the start of the season and, critically, when rescheduling takes place. Ideally a limit (100-150 miles?) for travel to midweek away PL games could be unless repeated postponements (or similar). Similarly, in an ideal world, there could be a limit on the number of midweek away games any PL team should have to play.

I guess, via the FSF, there is a possibility of working with other clubs to see whether this could be made into a wider campaign

Who?

Whoever is interested in helping! I am happy to get involved but am not looking to take any lead.

Chance of Success.

Realistically, not that high in terms of getting short-term changes, but it is important the views of fans are communicated to the powers that be (Sky, PL) so that when developing the 2011/12 Fixture List they at least take it into account.

It is also important to win over the minds of fans, both Chelsea and beyond, and to bring these issues to a wider forum.

We will follow the The Chels(ea) Over Land and Sea … and Leicester… and Fulham… and Blackpool… and Copenhagen…or maybe not.

Financially, this is not a good week to be a Chelsea fan. Hot on the heels of a demand of money with menaces yesterday to stand in a cow shed in Fulham came the news that the much anticipated away game at Blackpool had been switched to a Monday night, and has today been followed by the announcement that tickets for the CL away game in Copenhagen are weighing in at a princely £66.

Let’s start with our neighbours. Yes, historically it has always been more expensive to attend matches in London. However, there’s a big difference between the relative luxury of a purpose-built stand that’s less than 15 years old and something with a roof that had seats installed following the Taylor report and actually shakes when you do The Bouncy. Plus the toilets are portakabins and if you’re sitting at the front and it’s raining, bring a pac-a-mac. £49.00 plus the traditional £1.50 CFC breathing charge is frankly not acceptable.

Moving on to Blackpool, once the Seasiders gained promotion last season, many people had marked this down as a “must do” away game – probably the highlight of the season. And to that end many people had booked rooms for a weekend in Blackpool, looking for bargains that invariably were non-refundable.

My sole reason for not doing so was a fear that the ticket allocation wouldn’t be big enough to cope – indeed I did mention to a couple of well-placed people the possibility of getting Blackpool allocated on loyalty point through the Fans Forum – combined with an opportunity to visit Florence for my birthday the following week.

However, the announcement that the match is now rescheduled for a working weekday is going to inevitably end in some fans incurring charges for cancelled hotels, or in the case of the lucky ones, re-arranging accommodation or having to accept they won’t make it to the match (As an aside, I have never been to Blackpool. Old Mother Baby and my father had heard horror stories of poor hotels, skanky beaches and terrible food, so it was on the verboten list along with Butlins. Oh well, maybe next season…)

I am aware that The Chels have taken the Blackpool issue up with the Football Supporters Federation, but anyone expecting any action over a series of matches being switched to midweek shouldn’t hold their collective breath. I’ve viewed a number of forums today and read talk of campaigns for mass cancellations of Sky subscriptions. This is a pipe dream. The clubs need Murdoch’s millions because the gate money won’t pay the wage bill.

The wage bills are massive because players are paid ridiculous sums of money. Until a Europe-wide salary cap is brought in, with players paid £50k a week max, which means that clubs are less reliant on TV money, which means the Premier League can tell Murdoch to go and —- himself, football will remain in thrall to the small screen.

Finally, the long-awaited ticket news for Copenhagen was released today. I’d undertaken some research by visiting the Copenhagen FC website and was stunned to see the general admission prices were KR595. Or £67. Surely, I thought to myself, our tickets won’t cost that much? And they don’t, falling a precious pound short.

I know that this is the first time that Copenhagen have made this stage of the competition and they realistically don’t expect to progress. But bearing in mind that Barcelona tickets in 2005 were something like £43, and even given that Denmark is an expensive country, £66 is an awful lot for fans who are repeatedly financial under the cosh.

I had a really lucky break in that I was holding a hotel that I didn’t have to pay for until check-out, and then managed to find a better, cheaper, one in an online sale, the saving for which will cover the cost of my match ticket. Incidentally, CFC appear to have launched a retaliatory action, with the cost to the Danes of attending the match in London being exactly the same.

And talking of 2nd leg at the Bridge, by that time we’ll have probably had our season ticket renewals, or at least been told what they will cost. Many people are walking a fiscal tightrope at the moment.

An increase in season tickets next year may lead to some of them falling off (into Murdoch’s net, probably).

Chelsea travelled to Marseilles hoping to break the winless run in the league and thereby becoming the first English club to win every game in group phases of the Champions League. But, as our recent form suggested, this was going to be no easy task, and so the case prove to be, as Olympique de Marseilles registered a 1-0 win through a late Brandao strike.

Carlo Ancelotti stated in his pre-match interview that he was looking for a performance from his team and three points weren’t that important, considering we are already assured of top place finish this sounded like a logical demand from the Italian. His team selection also justified this, with McEachran being the only youngster to start the game. His counterpart, Didier Deschamps, was facing his former side for the first time since his Monaco side knocked us out back in 2004.

Chelsea began the game like a team that had won the group and were casual in their play, but Marseilles looked like a team that had a point to prove and this was also evident in a packed Stade Vélodrome. The French side made a quick start and caught Chelsea on the back foot.

The French side made a quick start and caught Chelsea on the back foot, with Valbuena’s shot coming off the bar and then Remy went close, as the Blues were forced to sustain the early pressure. Instead, it was Chelsea who could have had the first goal when Malouda was fouled by Diawara, the Referee Vladislav Bezborov pointed to the spot, but then changed his mind after consultation with his Assistant.

As game went on Chelsea tried to improve the tempo but without much success. Gabriel Heinze put the ball into the net just after the half hour mark, but was ruled offside. As the half wore to a close, the combination of Bezborov and Diawara was again at work, this time Kalou was fouled from behind, but again the Russian Referee, who was officiating in his first game in the Champions League, didn’t gave a penalty.

With key decisions going against us, we went into half-time level with Marseilles. Those decisions could have lifted the team who were clearly second-best in the opening 45 minutes.

The second half begin with Carlo Ancelotti making a tactical change to his team, McEachran took a more advanced role and Essien reverted to a more defensive position.

Even with that change our performance didn’t improve much. Carlo Ancelotti cut an anxious figure as he saw his side again failing to live up the expectations.

Didier Drogba, who spent a season in Marseilles before joining Chelsea, was cheered throughout the game and the standing ovation he received on his substitution would have left some of the neutrals amused. John Terry was the next to be substituted as the game looked destined for a draw. Paulo Ferreira was given the Captain’s armband as first Sturridge, and then Bruma came on.

Chelsea’s quest to remain unbeaten in the group stages looked on course, up until when Brandao struck on the 81st minute, poor defending let Taiwo in from the right and his shot was deflected to Brandao, thereby giving Cech no chance.

Chelsea were dealt another blow when Bosignwa had to be taken off due to a hamstring injury as we looked for an unlikely equaliser in the dying moment of the game but to no avail, with Sturridge going the closest.

It was another uninspiring performance from the Blues, who looked short of confidence at the moment and are not being helped by key decisions going against them in this wretched run, but will buoyed by the performance of Josh McEachran, who played the whole game, and impressed everyone with his calmness and maturity, something which is not expected from players of his age.

Carlo Ancelotti was searching for answers after the Newcastle result and I’m sure he didn’t find any after this performance. He needs his key players to stand up and deliver for him in the next fortnight, but till then he can only look for positives as he seeks to improve his team’s performance. He said; “Not 100 per cent, but some things were good. The first half was good,”

“Defensively we did well, I think. We lost the possibility to counter-attack. We could have had a penalty in the first half.

“Defensively there was tactical discipline and I asked for this from my players. We didn’t have a lot of opportunities to shoot and score, we need to be more clear with the final ball.”

It’s not often that a dead rubber ends up as one of the most important matches of the season.

For Chelsea, however, the trip to Marseille to round off the Champions League Group Stages presents the chance to right some recent wrongs and pick up a first win since beating MSK Zilina in late November.

With both teams already through to the last sixteen, neither can change position, and the opportunity to rotate and rest some weary legs will strike a chord with both Carlo Ancelotti and Didier Deschamps.

Ashley Cole and Nicolas Anelka are not part of the travelling party, and Blues supporters should expect to see more from Patrick van Aanholt, Josh McEachran and Daniel Sturridge. Jeffrey Bruma and Gael Kakuta will be hoping for involvement.

However, many have made the point that by playing a strong team in a meaningless fixture, a rare opportunity to play without pressure or expectation could be just the tonic to improve morale and steady the ship ahead of three make-or-break fixtures to see out 2010.

To that end, John Terry will be expected to lead the side as he continues his return from injury, whilst Didier Drogba is guaranteed a start as he makes an emotional return to the Stade Velodrome.

A lifelong OM fan, the Ivorian spent just one season in Southern France, but scored 32 goals en route to the UEFA Cup Final and is as revered today as he was in the 2003-04 season.

He is sure to receive a fantastic ovation and will ideally find his scoring form once again, for whilst he has scored eight goals so far this season, only four have come from open play.

Results so far mean that, as group winners, Chelsea will meet one of Inter Milan, Lyon, Valencia, FC Kobenhavn, Roma or AC Milan in the knockout rounds, with either Shakhtar Donetsk or SC Braga a possibility depending on how Group H finishes.

Despite the weather and additional expense at this time of year, a healthy Blues following has headed over land and sea to back the boys. Hopefully things go a lot more smoothly than they did in 1999, when a single goal from Robert Pires consigned the Londoners to defeat.

Ah, the glamorous South of France. Casinos. Blue sky. Azure coastline. A terrifying approach to Nice Airport during which you think you will be landing in the Med.

I have given this article some thought in the weeks prior to sitting down to the writing of it. As your local friendly Chels features writer, using a pseudonym, how much of oneself does one give away?

Well, I think it fair at this stage to warn readers of a nervous disposition that I am, in fact, what Herr Flick of the Gestapo would describe as “a female of the opposite sex”. Yes, whisper it quietly, but I’m a girl(ish). Hence my choice of a rather softer nom-de-guerre than you’d get from your average Chelsea blogger. And being a girl was in fact one of the reasons I ended up in Monaco.

Just before our previous away European trip to Stuttgart, I’d started going out with a guy who was a Chelsea fan. No names, no pack drill, but for the purposes of this column I’ll refer to him as The Former Mr Baby (TFMB). And shortly after the draw for the semi final was made, he phoned me up and said he was going to Monaco, and did I fancy going with him? I certainly did.

However, there was as usual the issue of funds to meet the extortionate airfare and the tickets we could lay our hands on. I simply didn’t have the cash, and I don’t ponce on men. So I did what any self-respecting Chelsea fan did at that time and borrowed it from the Bank.

Thus it was we set off from London City Airport for Nice via Zurich. I don’t know how familiar readers are with LCY, but the runway is so short that the take-off is practically vertical; it’s virtually a jump start. And readers will recall that I’m bad at taking off and landing so ended up with TFMB’s hand in a vice-like grip. Lovely flight though.

The weather was exceptionally fine for mid-April and we flew over Paris, where the skies were so clear we could see the Champs-Elysee. Unfortunately we’d taken off slightly late, so on arrival at Zurich we literally had about 5 minutes to make our connecting flight, resulting in history’s fastest loo stop (not the same loo, of course).

After negotiating the hairy decent into Nice Cote d’Azur, the first thing that hit us when we got off the plane was the heat. It must have been about 25°C. The next thing we had to do was meet our man with the tickets outside. Let’s be honest, this was on the old marché noir, as were half of the Chels fans on that trip. We handed over a staggering amount of money and promised our associate we’d see him in Monte.

After that it was a quick taxi ride into town to check into our Ibis-ish hotel, not far away from the railway station. Then we went into the Old Town and had dinner in a lovely cheap Italian restaurant and spent the rest of the evening in the Irish bar opposite.

After the world’s worst hotel breakfast (TFMB doesn’t really do breakfast) we headed off to the railway station to catch the train to Monte Carlo, stopping off en route to drop one of the extortionately priced tickets to a mate staying in another hotel.

At the train station we ended up stuck in a huge queue of people none of whom were capable of asking for what they wanted (“deux allez-retour” is a phrase which might come in handy for some of you in Marseille) and we made the train by the skin of our teeth. I hadn’t really realised until that point that you could get double-decker trains, and although the upper deck was 1st class only, I was still thrilled by the novelty.

The train route from Nice to Monaco hugs the Cote D’Azur, and the spring sun sparkled on the Med as we passed. The journey only takes about an hour, and once off the train we found a little local bus which took us down to the harbour, where we were meeting a mate who was coming in on the day trip.

By this time TFMB was starting to feel a bit hungry, so we went to a café on the harbour, just where all the boats were parked. Croque Monsieur for me, a pizza with an egg in the middle for him (he was so charmed by this that subsequently he got into the habit of frying up an egg and bunging it on his pizza at home).

I was facing the harbour, and whilst we were eating, two men appeared, and sat down at the table in front of us. One of them I didn’t recognise, but the other was none other than Carlo Cudicini, who had made the trip to Monaco in spite of being doubtful with injury. This was an opportunity to get the low-down on whether he’d be playing, and an autograph too.

Carlo was very charming, introducing me to Stewart Bannister, who had taken over as kit-man from the legendary Terry Byrne, and signed a couple of autographs. I asked him if he was going to be able to play, and his little face nearly crumpled as he said no. He wasn’t the only one gutted, this meant we’d have to play the less than reliable Marco Ambrosio.

He’d obviously been given the rest of the day off until it was time to watch the game. Whilst it’s always lovely to meet a player, it’s important not too intrude too much, so I thanked them and said bye and went back to TFMB, autographs in hand.

Carlo and Stewart departed after their coffee, and after TFMB and I finished our meal, we went off to meet our friend, just down by the start line for the Grand Prix. As we were walking along, we bumped into our ticket associate, who had had an unfortunate evening at the Casino, losing £2,000 (probably ours amongst it). We had a quick chat with him, met our friend on the daytrip and repaired to a pretty local bar to catch up on our respective trips. We then decided to wend our way up the hill to have a look at the Casino, passing many designer shops along the way. “Pop in there and get yourself something!” urged our friend. Not at those prices, I demurred.

The Casino in Monte Carlo is a huge baroque-style building, in the same square as the legendary Hotel de Paris, with its nearby café, and the gorgeous Jardin Exotique. We entered the Casino to be met by a sign advising there was an €8 entrance fee and decided not to bother.

However, our friend experienced a wish to visit the (free) lavatories to see what they were like, so he and TFMB popped to what they described as very lavish “Gents”, and I visited the disappointingly mundane “Ladies’”. It happened to be my brother’s 40th birthday that day, so I telephoned him from the steps of the Casino to wish him a happy birthday, and then we decided to have a drink in the Café de Paris.

Two beers for the boys and a coke for me. €24. But at least they threw in some nibbles. And we got to meet England cricket legend Alec Stewart, who was passing by.

After the civilised drinkies, we had a wander round the lovely (and thankfully free) Gardens and had an ice-cream. By this time it was nearly 4pm, and we found an English bar called Flashmans. I’d been a good girl all day, only drinking Coke, but TFMB now decided to put his foot down. “Darling, it’s four o’clock. You’re having a drink”. So I had a drink. And another. And another…

And then it was six o’clock and I’d appeared to have had rather a lot of drink (the Continental Measure strikes again). And besides, it was nearly time for the football. So we had the bar call us a taxi, which thrillingly drove us through probably the most famous part of the Grand Prix circuit, down the hairpin and through the tunnel, out by the swimming pool (I have a vague recollection of sticking my head out the car window at this point, it was certainly quite dark in there).

The taxi driver dropped us near the ground and we had another little drink outside a bar with other friends. We were getting a bit nervous by this stage about our not-quite-kosher tickets, and decided to make our way round to the designated gate. The Police started waving us round towards another gate and I explained in my schoolgirl French that no, the tickets were definitely for this gate, but they were most insistent. We thought “oh well, better do as they say”, and you can imagine how delighted we were when we discovered that what we had been told were tickets for the “neutral” area were in fact next to our away support!

Unfortunately the game that followed will live long in the memories of those of us who were there, and probably everyone watching at home too. A goal down after a poor start, we clawed our way back into the game with a first half equaliser from Crespo, and Frank Lampard gave what was probably the best 45 minutes of his Chelsea career thus far. In the second half, two inexplicable Ranieri substitutions, with Robert Huth playing up front, completely threw the rhythm of the team, and Ambrosio’s disastrous error resulted in a 3-1 loss.

To add insult to injury Makalele’s booking ruled him out of the second leg. Most of us stood there during the lock-in, too stunned to do anything except talk quietly amongst ourselves. To be fair, they didn’t keep us back long, and we faced the trek back to the railway station, with the train to Nice not due until just before midnight. TFMB was distraught. He really, really loves Chelsea (indeed a number of our friends maintain that he remembers the 1905-1906 season), and the joyful beeping of Monegasque car horns was too much for him. With some decidedly off-colour language he started threatening to kick their rear lights in. I told him bluntly that such behaviour would end in him returning to the hotel on his own.

We eventually reached the train station, and there were some really hideously sun-burnt fellow Chels fans lying on the ground – one acquaintance, a redhead known as Kiwi Paul, was literally the colour of a carrot. We’d been lucky – a girl will usually have a little bit of sunblock on a sunny day, and the boys had made good use of it. It was a very long wait, and the train was 15 minutes late.

Everyone simply pushed on and TFMB and I managed to get upstairs into first class where there was one seat left. So he sat on the seat and I sat in his lap. Happily, he was in a slightly better mood by this time, having got over the initial disappointment of the game. And I can’t remember how it was he ended up singing “Jilted John” quietly to me in his melodious voice on the train as we passed the coast again.

We ended up back in the Irish bar in Nice till they closed at 2am and didn’t get to bed till late.

The journey back to London was uneventful, except that in what can only be described as a taste of security checks to come, TFMB got absolutely turned over by Customs at Nice. Bovver boots off, the lot. He wasn’t a happy bunny. I thought they were going to unpick his jumper at one point. The good thing about flying back through Zurich was this time we had a chance to visit the excellent duty free.

The South of France is absolutely fantastic. A really beautiful place. You don’t have to stay in Monaco, and if you can get a cheap no-frills flight, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. And I would really like to go back, albeit this time it wouldn’t be with TFMB. And I know that there’s a window of opportunity.

We just have to win the Champions League first…

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