Some thoughts about this final and especially the rumours / counter rumours about daytrip bubbles for 12,000 fans . To declare firstly im a Chelsea fan .. but I go everywhere same as alot of you lot do . I met loads of good City lads on England trips over the years . That was back in the day when both our clubs were not so much in Europe ... so England trips you would see loads if City and Chelsea fans ... but now in recent years with both teams in Europe most of us find it hard to do both ... so the big groups of City and Chelsea fans at England aways have dwindled a bit . Porto should be fantastic .. loads of union jacks and st georges flags ... alot of us get on . I think we could all think of clubs we could be playing where there would be alot more animosity and tension between fans!! So is playing City seems ok to me.
Around the time of the quarter finals We started hearing rumours about travel companies hatching plans with brokers and airlines and encouraging clubs and uefa to force fans of clubs reaching the final to travel on in/out daytrips ... all under the cover of Covid . A great earner for them and even if clubs subsidise trips which they can afford to do ... the airlines , brokers and official travel firms still earn their money. .. lovely for them ... but who wants to sit in a car park all day with a hot dog and a warm beer and portable toilets .
A few things happened since this plan was hatched .
The ESL disaster has shown clubs that fans do have power and wont stand for being treated like shit. Also the game has been moved from Turkey to Portugal.. a Green list country that now welcomes tourists from the UK . Also the purpose of moving it was so fans could attend.
After days of rumour the game was finally confirmed as Porto on Thursday morning. Since that time it is quite clear that thousands of fans have booked to travel to any airport in Portugal and the head to Porto . The clubs and uefa would be well aware of this as we all know they look at sites like this . Furthermore they would be well aware that many( but not all) fans of both clubs who have booked are those who have the highest numbers of loyalty points( the type who do Southampton away on a Tuesday night etc ) and would normally be guaranteed a ticket whether they travel independently or officially . Its not hard to work out ... 6,000 tickets is now more than any of us get for away games in England . The horse effectively bolted when the game was confirmed on Thursday morning... thousands are now already booked. If clubs and uefa were going to try and force this restrictive bubble on people then they should have announced it at the same time as announcing the game. Thousands of people have already forked out hundreds of pounds to go to Portugal .
So do Uefa or the clubs seriously think they have any chance of going to supporters and saying the only way you get a ticket is to cancel what you already booked and book on with us ? Do they think we would stand for it ? After the ESL announcement we tried to stop the team bus getting to our home game.. we pulled back when we were told Chelsea had withdrawn .
Have these clubs and uefa really got the bottle to tell us that we are gonna lose all the money we already paid out because we now got to book with them and stay in a fukin bubble ..?. while they and their vips sit in 5 star hotels and cocktail bars in the same city ? Remember it was us that saved them from the threat of ESL .
The logistics of flying everyone in a bubble maybe possible but people aint gonna stand for it . Not when it a green listed country and they welcome tourists.
So Chelsea , City , Uefa.... come on then... shit ( and face the consequences ) or get off the pot. Tell us whats happening.. but if you think your loyal fans will stand for being treated like cattle after they just saved your bacon you better think again.
Looking forward to catching up with a few old faces in Porto and having a Super Bok or two. All the best lads
