By dixon9
October 19 2011

We “welcome” Belgian side Genk to the Bridge for tonight’s “corrupt cup” encounter.  Torres should be back, we are playing nice football, and by all accounts, there may well be a few goals - but there is a sour atmosphere around SW6 at the moment.

Supporters v Chelsea FC

Besides the reported anxiety over the future of our much loved ground, with the CPO and the club set to go toe-to-toe next week (should a certain vote go against resolutions the club have put to them), there has been an organised boycott of the encounter organised by members of the Chelsea Supporters Group (CSG).

The club have increased the price of tickets for tonight’s match by around 30% despite agreeing not to tinker (according to the CSG) with Champions League group stage pricing this season.  The CSG and other sections of fans are irked to say the least, and have been openly encouraging supporters to stay away explaining that attending the game and giving in to the new price structure will only encourage or ensure current and future ticket prices to be increased.

The CSG do have a point, although it has to be said that the current price structure still compares quite favourably with other clubs.  Nevertheless, there is a principle at stake.

Underhand tactics

To make matters worse, some CSG members suspect the club have been using dirty tricks to scupper the boycott:

“We are led to believe from a number of sources that the club have given away a significant number of tickets to give the illusion that the boycott is not as widespread as many of us feel it is”, said Trizia Fiorellino, chairwoman of the Chelsea Supporters Group

The club do admit to giving away “around a thousand", although this consists of club players across the board and special groups, exactly as they did for the Leverkusen match.  A lot of clubs do give tickets away in this manner although I would doubt the quantity would typically add up to a thousand.  The club have  certainly pulled all the stops out to offset the effects of the boycott, including giving away a whopping 8 loyalty points for season ticket holders and members who purchase tickets for tonight’s game (to put this in perspective most games are set between 1 and 3 loyalty points).

Gloom and hypocritical media

All a bit depressing really, although a slightly amusing side issue is the media’s acknowledgement finally that many fans stayed away for a match against Rosenborg (Mourinho's last match in charge) due to ticket pricing - even though they used it at the time as yet another anti-Chelsea stick to bash us with.

Oh well...  "Up the Chels!" anyway.