Off: Stamford Bridge, pictured at 2pm on
Saturday afternoon
Chelsea invited fresh controversy by postponing
today’s titanic Premier League match with Manchester United more
than 24 hours before kick off.
While clubs across the country, from Sunderland to Exeter,
managed to stage matches in the Premier League and Championship on
Saturday afternoon, Chelsea informed United officials before
lunchtime yesterday that the most eagerly-anticipated game of the
season would not be played.
Incredibly, Chelsea justified their decision, delivered
with unusual haste, by claiming the game had to be called off
‘following consultation with police and the local
authority’.
A brief statement on the club’s website read: ‘There has
been heavy snow in London on Saturday.’
United fear the postponement will present both clubs with
an unwanted fixture pile-up as their expected rivalry for the title
enters the critical post-Christmas period.
‘This could give us a real problem,’ said United spokesman
Phil Townsend yesterday.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp perhaps captured the mood
of most football fans when he expressed his astonishment that
Chelsea had acted so swiftly to halt the game with
United.
‘Tomorrow’s another day and who knows what the weather
will be like in the morning?’ said Redknapp, who learned that
Tottenham’s match at Blackpool at lunchtime today had been
postponed while he waited with his players for a flight north from
Stanstead Airport yesterday.
‘I have to say, I couldn’t believe it when I heard Chelsea
against United was already off. You’d have thought the Stamford
Bridge pitch, which has under-soil heating, would have been
playable, so there must be other reasons for the game to be
postponed that we don’t know about.
'At Blackpool, the pitch was frozen because they don’t
have under-soil heating and that was always going to be a problem.
At Chelsea, they must be worried about the surrounding areas to the
ground. Even so, it is still a surprise that the game was called
off so early.’
Chelsea’s rush to postpone the match has come when the
club are dealing with the fall-out from a poor sequence of results.
It also follows a rash of bad publicity and speculation over the
future of manager, Carlo Ancelotti.
Was this Stamford Bridge on Saturday? It was
according to a webcam sited at the club, appearing to show that the
heaters had done their job
Chelsea have won only one of their last seven matches
and while Frank Lampard was supposed to start his first match in
five months against United this afternoon, there remain concerns
over his fitness. Star striker Didier Drogba is another doubt after
a bout of malaria.
As well as attracting criticism for sacking coach Ray Wilkins
against the wishes of Ancelotti, the club have also received the
resignation of director of football Frank Arnesen.
Critics of the club will be keen to point these out as they
consider Chelsea’s willingness to get the game with United
postponed early, rather than waiting until late morning today to
inspect the weather and conditions at Stamford Bridge.
Only a fortnight ago, Chelsea publicly argued on their own
website: ‘In this day and age, with all the modern technology, it
is very rare you get a game called off. The pitch would have to be
frozen solid or completely under water to be called off, which
shouldn’t happen at Stamford Bridge.’
Head groundsman Jason Griffin said: ‘At Stamford Bridge, we have
a water pipe system. It’s like a big radiator pumping hot water
under the pitch to keep it warm. You set the temperature to go up
and down, depending on the weather forecast. It’s usually between
15 and 20 degrees Centigrade. If the temperature ever gets too
high, I get an alert on my phone and I would know there was a
problem.’
Across London, Arsenal did not postpone yesterday’s match with
Stoke until less than three hours before the game.
An Arsenal statement read: ‘Further to a huge deluge of snow in
North London, starting over the Emirates Stadium at 11.38am, match
referee Lee Mason made the decision at 12.07pm to postpone today’s
match. Approximately three inches of snow fell over this half-hour
period and there continues to be heavy snowfall with no apparent
let-up.’
In contrast, Manchester United secretary John Alexander informed
Sir Alex Ferguson at 12.50pm yesterday that Chelsea had declared
the game could not be played today.
Ferguson and his players were at United’s Carrington training
ground and had seats booked on the 2.34pm train from Manchester
Piccadilly to London.
United and Chelsea must now unravel heavy fixture congestion to
try to arrive at a mutually convenient day to rearrange the match
ahead of the London club’s visit to Old Trafford on May 7.
Townsend explained the difficulties when he said: ‘We have
rearranged our recently postponed match with Blackpool for January
25, but it’s hard to see a new date for Chelsea. Although we have a
Carling Cup semi-final date free, on January 11 or 12, I don’t
think we will want to play then as we have Liverpool in the FA Cup
third round on January 9; and Tottenham away on January 16.
‘Then, in February and March, we play our Champions League
matches against Marseille in weeks two and four, while Chelsea play
theirs against FC Copenhagen in weeks one and three. Of course, the
longer both teams are in the FA Cup, the more difficult it will be
to rearrange the match.’
Yesterday, Premier League matches at Sunderland and Blackburn
were played without incident, while games in the Championship at
Leeds, Sheffield United, Hull, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, Derby
and Ipswich all went ahead as planned, as did Exeter's League One
fixture against Sheffield Wednesday.
Sheffield United, relying on the under-soil heating at Bramall
Lane, won three vital points with a 1-0 win over Swansea to ease
themselves away from the relegation zone.
Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers was unable to explain how more
Championship matches than in the Premier League had survived the
snowy conditions.
‘I don’t know why more Championship matches have gone ahead
maybe we think there are fewer dates that we can fit them back in,’
said Rodgers. ‘When you look at the pitch here, the groundstaff
have done a fantastic job.’
Chelsea’s groundstaff were denied the chance to receive any such
tributes from Ferguson today, thanks to a decision taken before
lunchtime yesterday.