Middlesbrough hits out at Chelsea request to play FA Cup quarter-final behind closed doors. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has responded with disgust following the request from Chelsea to play the quarter-final of the FA Cup behind closed doors. Earlier, the Blues had expressed their intentions through a statement that they released on their official website.
Thomas Tuchel‘s side are not allowed to sell tickets anymore after the UK Government had imposed sanctions on Roman Abramovich. That means only season-ticket holders and people who have pre-sold tickets can attend the home matches from now on. Moreover, none of their fans can be present in away games prompting the club to take this stance.
Speaking in an interview with The Athletic (Subscription Required), Gibson has expressed his displeasure with the West London club for their request to play behind closed doors. He then questioned whether they intend to play all away games in a similar manner or not. That’s not all, as he did not hold back while hitting out at Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck.
“Chelsea and sporting integrity do not belong in the same sentence. Where is the intellect of Bruce Buck, the chairman of Chelsea, who has been an apologist for his owner, where the trophies won over 19 years have come from the corrupt money provided by Abramovich? Where is the intellect of the chairman of Chelsea when it comes to playing his games at home in front of his season ticket holders? Does he want to play all his away games at empty stadiums?”
It is really difficult to understand why the Boro chief even needed to issue a response with this tone in the first place. After all, it was simply a request from our side to play behind closed doors since our own fans are unable to attend the cup fixture. It would have been understandable if he simply had refused in a mild manner.
The Championship club released a statement later expressing that they should not suffer for something that has to do with Tuchel’s team. That is a fair stance to take, and had Gibson done the same, no one would have had any issue with his response. Instead, he somehow needed to disrespect the club and Buck with his words for no apparent reason.
Now we have some matters to take care of when we face off against the Championship side in the cup tie. We have been even more motivated to get the better of them following their chairman’s words. Let’s hope that the players respond with a strong performance on the pitch to make our case against them.
That being said, Boro cannot be taken lightly in any case since they have already shown this season that they can cause an upset on the day. We must make sure that a repeat would not happen when we travel to face them on Saturday.
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