Snow joke: Why was Chelsea v Manchester United called off... but Ipswich managed to beat the freezing conditions?
Off: Stamford Bridge, pictured at 2pm on Saturday afternoon
Chelsea invited fresh controversy by postponing today’s titanic Premier League match with Manchester United more than 24 hours before kick off.
While clubs across the country, from Sunderland to Exeter, managed to stage matches in the Premier League and Championship on Saturday afternoon, Chelsea informed United officials before lunchtime yesterday that the most eagerly-anticipated game of the season would not be played.
Incredibly, Chelsea justified their decision, delivered with unusual haste, by claiming the game had to be called off ‘following consultation with police and the local authority’.
A brief statement on the club’s website read: ‘There has been heavy snow in London on Saturday.’
United fear the postponement will present both clubs with an unwanted fixture pile-up as their expected rivalry for the title enters the critical post-Christmas period.
‘This could give us a real problem,’ said United spokesman Phil Townsend yesterday.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp perhaps captured the mood of most football fans when he expressed his astonishment that Chelsea had acted so swiftly to halt the game with United.
‘Tomorrow’s another day and who knows what the weather will be like in the morning?’ said Redknapp, who learned that Tottenham’s match at Blackpool at lunchtime today had been postponed while he waited with his players for a flight north from Stanstead Airport yesterday.
‘I have to say, I couldn’t believe it when I heard Chelsea against United was already off. You’d have thought the Stamford Bridge pitch, which has under-soil heating, would have been playable, so there must be other reasons for the game to be postponed that we don’t know about.
'At Blackpool, the pitch was frozen because they don’t have under-soil heating and that was always going to be a problem. At Chelsea, they must be worried about the surrounding areas to the ground. Even so, it is still a surprise that the game was called off so early.’
Chelsea’s rush to postpone the match has come when the club are dealing with the fall-out from a poor sequence of results. It also follows a rash of bad publicity and speculation over the future of manager, Carlo Ancelotti.
Was this Stamford Bridge on Saturday? It was according to a webcam sited at the club, appearing to show that the heaters had done their job
Chelsea have won only one of their last seven matches and while Frank Lampard was supposed to start his first match in five months against United this afternoon, there remain concerns over his fitness. Star striker Didier Drogba is another doubt after a bout of malaria.
As well as attracting criticism for sacking coach Ray Wilkins against the wishes of Ancelotti, the club have also received the resignation of director of football Frank Arnesen.
Critics of the club will be keen to point these out as they consider Chelsea’s willingness to get the game with United postponed early, rather than waiting until late morning today to inspect the weather and conditions at Stamford Bridge.
Only a fortnight ago, Chelsea publicly argued on their own website: ‘In this day and age, with all the modern technology, it is very rare you get a game called off. The pitch would have to be frozen solid or completely under water to be called off, which shouldn’t happen at Stamford Bridge.’
Head groundsman Jason Griffin said: ‘At Stamford Bridge, we have a water pipe system. It’s like a big radiator pumping hot water under the pitch to keep it warm. You set the temperature to go up and down, depending on the weather forecast. It’s usually between 15 and 20 degrees Centigrade. If the temperature ever gets too high, I get an alert on my phone and I would know there was a problem.’
Across London, Arsenal did not postpone yesterday’s match with Stoke until less than three hours before the game.
An Arsenal statement read: ‘Further to a huge deluge of snow in North London, starting over the Emirates Stadium at 11.38am, match referee Lee Mason made the decision at 12.07pm to postpone today’s match. Approximately three inches of snow fell over this half-hour period and there continues to be heavy snowfall with no apparent let-up.’
In contrast, Manchester United secretary John Alexander informed Sir Alex Ferguson at 12.50pm yesterday that Chelsea had declared the game could not be played today.
Ferguson and his players were at United’s Carrington training ground and had seats booked on the 2.34pm train from Manchester Piccadilly to London.
United and Chelsea must now unravel heavy fixture congestion to try to arrive at a mutually convenient day to rearrange the match ahead of the London club’s visit to Old Trafford on May 7.
Townsend explained the difficulties when he said: ‘We have rearranged our recently postponed match with Blackpool for January 25, but it’s hard to see a new date for Chelsea. Although we have a Carling Cup semi-final date free, on January 11 or 12, I don’t think we will want to play then as we have Liverpool in the FA Cup third round on January 9; and Tottenham away on January 16.
‘Then, in February and March, we play our Champions League matches against Marseille in weeks two and four, while Chelsea play theirs against FC Copenhagen in weeks one and three. Of course, the longer both teams are in the FA Cup, the more difficult it will be to rearrange the match.’
Yesterday, Premier League matches at Sunderland and Blackburn were played without incident, while games in the Championship at Leeds, Sheffield United, Hull, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, Derby and Ipswich all went ahead as planned, as did Exeter's League One fixture against Sheffield Wednesday.
Sheffield United, relying on the under-soil heating at Bramall Lane, won three vital points with a 1-0 win over Swansea to ease themselves away from the relegation zone.
Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers was unable to explain how more Championship matches than in the Premier League had survived the snowy conditions.
‘I don’t know why more Championship matches have gone ahead maybe we think there are fewer dates that we can fit them back in,’ said Rodgers. ‘When you look at the pitch here, the groundstaff have done a fantastic job.’
Chelsea’s groundstaff were denied the chance to receive any such tributes from Ferguson today, thanks to a decision taken before lunchtime yesterday.
