The games of the Londoners will take place under strict government regulations until further notice. The club is only allowed to spend a little more than one million euros per game at their home Stamford Bridge for catering, security and other staff on the day of the game. The travel expenses for away games are limited to just under 24,000 euros. Under these conditions, trips abroad in the Champions League with a charter flight and luxury hotel for a delegation of around 50 people are impossible. Coach Thomas Tuchel just joked that he was the team “if necessary also in a seven-seater bus” would be transported to the venue.
Tuchel manages the crisis
Because sports directors and managers operate practically invisibly in English football, Tuchel is the face and voice of Chelsea FC in public. He is currently having to maneuver through a maze of questions that do not concern his territory – football – but ownership in the Premier League, the war in Ukraine or planning travel to away games.
Unintentionally, Tuchel has become the main person responsible for Chelsea’s crisis PR, and he’s doing a remarkable job overall. He answers questions as best he can, admitting the limits of his knowledge and letting humor shine through when appropriate. With last year’s Champions League victory, Tuchel gained respect as a coach in England, and the English public is learning to appreciate him as a personality at the moment.
Fans and club are unhappy
In any case, it is not his fault that Chelsea has received little goodwill from the public. The fans are more to blame for this, and they continue to sing about Abramovich. The recent home game against Newcastle United (1-0 through a Havertz goal) still featured a banner with the oligarch’s face and the pun “Roman Empire”. The club itself has just made a fool of itself by applying to the English association, the FA, to hold the cup quarter-finals on Saturday at second division club Middlesbrough behind closed doors.