For much of yesterday afternoon Stamford Bridge was engulfed by a strange fusion of grief, defiance and anxiety. The football felt secondary and even Kai Havertz’s late piece of magic to break Newcastle United’s resistance provided nothing more than fleeting distraction and relief from the bleak reality. Yet by the end it felt like a line had been drawn, that at least some supporters were coming to terms with an unprecedented week of upheaval, beginning to comprehend the need to move forward.
Fears of Roman Abramovich's name being chanted persistently by a significant proportion of the 40,000 in attendance proved unfounded, with one chorus quickly drowned out midway through the second half. And while a flag with the disqualified owner's face remained despite a request from at least one fan group for its removal there was a sense of this being a club taking its first ginger steps into a world full of uncertainty.
There are, as Petr Cech said before kick-off, more questions than answers right now but equally there are a couple of certainties to focus on, dates in the calendar when the future will become clearer. The next few days are pivotal, headlined by the soft deadline of Friday for new owners to submit bids to Raine Group, the US firm that had been entrusted with looking after the auction before Abramovich was sanctioned last Thursday.
