West Ham get Chelsea green light after a government intervention to amend the licence restricting activity at London rivals.
West Ham were set to be the first club truly impacted by the Chelsea ticket sale ban for what promises to be a crucial London derby at Stamford Bridge next month.
Chelsea were prohibited from making any new financial transactions after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government.
And West Ham were going to be the first team to be affected by the situation, as reported by Hammers News earlier this month.
The Russian oligarch has had his assets frozen because of his links with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
Attempts to sell West Ham’s London rivals Chelsea – which were hastily announced after the sanctions – have been under the control of the government and remain ongoing with prospective buyers from around the world submitting bids.
Fans who have already purchased match tickets or season tickets will see those honoured, but Chelsea were banned from selling tickets for upcoming games.
Chelsea’s next two home games are against Brentford and West Ham.
But many tickets in the 3,000 allocation Stamford Bridge away end for the Brentford game had already been sold (Brentford FC).
Given that tickets already purchased will be honoured – as was the case with Chelsea’s last home game against Newcastle – it meant Brentford would always have had at least some fans at their derby against their west London rivals.
West Ham will be first club impacted by Chelsea ticket sale ban for crucial London derby at Stamford Bridge
West Ham, though, looked set to be the first club who would not have any away fans at Stamford Bridge given tickets had not yet gone on sale for the match.
The clash is huge for West Ham in the race for a European place.
And it seems seriously unfair that David Moyes’s side would not be allowed supporters cheering them on in such a vital match through no fault of their own.
Chelsea only have 28,000 season ticket holders meaning the attendance for West Ham’s visit to Chelsea on April 23rd would be restricted to those supporters.
The Evening Standard previously claimed the Premier League were trying to work with the government on a solution to allow away fans to attend games at Stamford Bridge, with questions over the integrity of the competition should fans from both sides not be in attendance.
Now West Ham will get a Chelsea green light after government intervention to amend the licence.
Under the new licence, supporters will be able to purchase tickets to away matches, with visiting fans also able to attend matches at Stamford Bridge. However, the club cannot sell tickets to Premier League home games, with only season-ticket holders able to attend those fixtures.
A Premier League statement said: “The revised licence allows fans to attend Chelsea FC games; Chelsea fans to travel to away Premier League fixtures and Chelsea fans to attend the FA Cup, UEFA Champions League and WSL games.
“The Premier League will receive and hold any revenue from the sale of these tickets that would normally have gone to Chelsea. Chelsea FC have requested and the Premier League agreed that this revenue will be donated to charity to benefit victims of the war in Ukraine. The beneficiary charities will be announced in due course after consultation with the club.”
It was essential West Ham fans were allowed to attend Stamford Bridge or else it could clearly have negatively impacted West Ham and benefitted Chelsea with every point crucial during the run-in.
Hammers News suggested money from ticket sales should go to charity or to be filtered down the football pyramid as part of any solution.
And that’s exactly what the amended government licence permits.
It seems common sense has, for once, prevailed.
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