Thomas Tuchel will not be required to drive the bus tomorrow night — but that is as far as the guarantees go for Chelsea.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has agreed to ease the £20,000 limit the European champions can spend on away travel for one night only, so the prospect of a 10-hour round trip to Middlesbrough for their FA Cup quarter-final has been avoided.
Yet the terms of the special licence granted by the Government to allow Chelsea to continue football operations despite the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich are still be amended. And that means Tuchel’s side continue to operate under a cloud of uncertainty.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is still to be convinced the current travel budget is unworkable. It is no exaggeration to say it could cost three times that amount for a journey to the other end of the country, let alone a continental trip in the Champions League.
The decision to ease restrictions tomorrow is a positive for Chelsea, but it also points to a game-by-game approach that only adds to the disruption being felt within the club.
A £500,000 budget for fixtures at Stamford Bridge was hastily increased to £900,000 just days after the original terms of the licence were published; in no small part, due to the fact Chelsea were hosting Newcastle 24 hours later. It is impossible to imagine the £20,000 limit being enforced for the remainder of the Champions League, other than for all-English ties.
But that ad-hoc way of handling the situation will do Tuchel few favours. The upcoming international break provides a window for the Government to take a proper look at the terms, with Chelsea hopeful they will be permitted to sell tickets again.
Conversely, the concern will be that the pause of club football will see the licence pushed further down the Government’s list of priorities. There is a real fear they will face financial ruin if forced to operate under such stringent measures going forward.
Meanwhile, the lack of clarity is having a real impact on the day-to-day running of the club. It was not until Wednesday that they discovered they had clearance to fly to Boro. A day earlier, they requested the game be played behind closed doors after they were blocked in their attempts to have the ban of tickets sales lifted.
It is not a sufficient excuse for such a lamentable move that even Tuchel publicly criticised, but it does point to the pressure being felt.
Boro have taken big scalps in the past two rounds, but a third is surely a step too far — especially without the potentially levelling effect of an exhausting road trip that Chelsea have been spared.
