Why Chelsea are chasing the cash

Posted Wednesday, July 31, 2013 by The Sun

ALL AROUND THE WORLD ... Jose Mourinho has led Chelsea across the globe this summer

IF IT is Tuesday, it must be Indianapolis — or should that be Jakarta, Melbourne, Durban or maybe even the Bahamas?

Just three days after returning from a three-country tour of the Far East, Chelsea fly to the United States today for the next leg of their pre-season marathon, crossing 14 time zones in the process.

By the time they launch their new Premier League campaign at home to Hull on August 18, they will have participated in 10 GAMES during the so-called close season.

And that comes on top of the 69 competitive matches they played in eight different competitions last season.

In the past 12 months, Chelsea’s superstars have played in 14 different countries outside of England, flying more than 75,000 miles or the equivalent of three times around the planet.

Yet the threat of player burnout appears to be a price which our top clubs are prepared to pay in return for the huge financial rewards now on offer for these global summer friendlies.

And Chelsea are by no means the only culprits here.

These past few weeks it has seemed as though the entire Premier League has located to the Far East.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Sunderland have also been sweltering in the Orient, while Everton, Fulham, Norwich and Stoke are playing in the States.

Talking to a promoter during Arsenal’s recent 17-day trip to Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan, he reckoned the Gunners were getting about £1.1million per game and would generate around £6m in total from the tour.

But he also claimed that Chelsea receive around £2.5m per game and this summer alone can expect to bank £25m from all their travels.

That’s just about the equivalent of Champions League qualification, so maybe it’s little wonder that they are prepared to play any time, any place, anywhere.

It was not so long ago that Arsene Wenger flatly refused to take his players on these globetrotting jaunts and would set up an annual training camp in the middle of Austria, far away from all prying eyes.

Yet even a manager as meticulous as Wenger no longer calls the shots when it comes to deciding how his team spend the summer.

So instead of concentrating on getting into the best possible physical shape for the long season ahead, today’s top stars are compelled to participate in a non-stop blizzard of promotional activity interrupted by the occasional training session.

The commercial directors will claim it is all about raising the club’s profile and increasing their share of the global market.

In reality, it’s about flogging more replica shirts and finding new countries to exploit before any of their competitors can move in.

For the past five years, Chelsea and Manchester United have given serious consideration to touring India and cashing in on the booming economy on the sub-continent.

Both have backed off so far because of the logistical nightmare such a trip would a present, as well as the near-impossible playing conditions in India in July.

But it is probably only a matter of time before one of our teams grasps the mettle and catches the flight to Delhi.

And then there is the Middle East, holiday destination of choice for our footballers and the controversial hosts of the 2022 World Cup.

If Qatar is rich enough for FIFA, surely their petrodollars can persuade Europe’s biggest clubs to spend the hottest month of the year in their air-conditioned stadiums?

This summer’s friendly frenzy is partly explained by the fact that the 2014 World Cup will restrict opportunities for clubs next year, so they are cashing in while they can.

But when England’s weary stars fail to deliver in Brazil, as they inevitably will, please spare us the hand-wringing inquests into where it all went wrong.