Parade plans were in chaos

Last updated : 23 May 2008 By Paul Lagan

Chelsea would not have had an open-top parade had they won the Champions League on Wednesday.
Relations between the club and Hammersmith and Chelsea council were so sour that the Blues were planning to hold the parade in Cobham, the site of the training ground.
The council had offered mega-bucks Chelsea this Sunday or Bank Holiday Monday as the most suitable dates for the parade.
Chelsea wanted yesterday evening.
Understandably the council and the police rejected that plan on safety and congestion concerns.

Chelsea wanted it yesterday as it would have been less inconvienient to them and the players who had up-coming international matches to prepare for.
The stand-off meant that Chelsea were planning on upping sticks and moving out of Chelsea to the leafy environs of their training ground area of Cobham.
The local council were obliging, but again the police were not happy.
As it turned out there was no need for a parade but it's fair to conclude that there would not have been a parade at all.
Thousands of Chelsea fans - many of them kids would then have missed the chance to show their support to their team and eyed the cup with the big ears for the first time.
Had Chelsea won then history would have viewed their greatest day marred by their greated PR cock-up.
Chelsea's top brass must be heaving a giant sigh of relief that the Blues failed to bring home the trophy.
Quite how this ridiculous state of affairs can be left to such a late stage with no prospect of solution is beyond belief.
Chelsea will be in the final again. They will most almost certainly win domestic titles too. This shambles must be sorted out well in advance.