Chelsea have withdrawn a request for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors after causing exasperation and disbelief in the sport and in Downing Street with their desperate push for permission to sell tickets.
There was widespread incredulity after the European champions, blocked from taking up their full allocation of 4,500 tickets at the Riverside Stadium, said they were asking the FA board “to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity”. Middlesbrough said the suggestion was “bizarre and without any merit” and it drew a furious response from the government, who accused Chelsea of blurring their priorities with the club up for sale and Friday’s deadline for bidders to submit proposals drawing closer.
