By Andrew Warshaw at the International Football Arena in Zurich
November 13 – Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay has launched a staunch defence of the club’s image insisting the vilification the European champions have suffered in recent weeks over the racism-fuelled John Terry and Mark Clattenburg cases has unfairly overshadowed what they have achieved on the field and in supporting local communities across the world.
For all their new-found attacking and entertaining style of play – in stark contrast to last season’s safety first approach – Chelsea’s reputation has taken a battering in the wake of skipper Terry (pictured top) being banned for racial abuse.
The club are now embroiled in a second controversial episode after accusing referee Clattenburg (pictured below, centre) of using “inappropriate language” towards midfielder John Obi Mikel (pictured below, right) in a league match against Manchester United on October 28.
But in a wide-ranging interview with insideworldfootball, Gourlay says all the negative publicity is an unfair reflection of what they stand for.
“Obviously we are concerned about the image of the football club but we’ve taken what we have achieved to another level, even while the off-the-field activity was taking place,” Gourlay said here.
“We were able to remain focused and our sponsors are well aware of the values we hold and are very supportive.
“We do a lot of comprehensive work in communities round the world.
“People write stories that sell newspapers.
“There is no other club that attracts media more than us.”
Gourlay denied that the club had brought their recent problems on themselves.
“We are under the microscope all the time; we have taken some bullet hits to our armour but we move on and get back to what we are good at.”
Yet he gave a stark assessment of what might have happened if Chelsea had not won the greatest prize in European club football last May to qualify for the competition again.
Without the title, which reportedly netted them around £100 million ($160 million/€125 million), Chelsea’s whole commercial strategy would have been under threat like never before, having come sixth in the Premier League.
Instead, because they ended up winning the trophy, Chelsea recently posted their first profit – £1.4 million ($2.2 million/€1.8 million) – since Roman Abramovich took over the club nine years ago.
“You don’t budget to win the Champions League every year and we were looking down the barrel of the Europa League,” Gourlay admitted.
“We don’t ever want to find ourselves in that situation again.
“The financial difference between the two competitions is vast.
“It would have put a lot more pressure on the commercial side of the business.
“You could still be successful in the Premiership but the monies that come from the Europa League are nowhere near.”
Gourlay admitted that without the Champions League revenue, the club would have found it far tougher to post those profits and start meeting UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.
“We’d have still got reasonably close to achieving our goal but we’d have fallen short,” he said.
Nevertheless, said Gourlay, being the fifth biggest club in Europe in terms of turnover gave the club a vital head’s start over some of their rivals – if only the Stamford Bridge stadium (pictured above) issue could be resolved in terms of either extending the ground or moving in the vicinity.
“We have the smallest stadium of everyone in front of us,” he explained.
“A club with a capacity of 75,000 or 80,000 drives a hell of a lot of revenue that we can’t.
“If we continue to be successful on the field we can get by but it puts huge demands in terms of growing the commercial side.”
Three quarters of Chelsea’s 40,000 capacity are season ticket holders and Gourlay recognises this is not ideal.
“It’s not just about the financial side,” he said.
“It’s about getting the fans of the future into the ground.
“The only way you can do that is increase the size, however that is done.”
Chelsea’s average squad age has come down from 29 to 23 and Gourlay is proud of the fact that more home-grown youngsters are getting first-team opportunities, partly as a result of Financial Fair Play.
He also insists Abramovich (pictured above, with flag) is more committed than ever and has no intention of leaving the club in the lurch.
“He’s more into the club now than he’s even been,” Gourlay said.
“When Roman came into Chelsea, he changed the face of the Premiership and deserves a lot of credit for where this league is today.”
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