Middlesbrough chairman, Steve Gibson, has slammed Chelsea, insisting that corrupt money has fueled the Blues’ success for 19 years.
Gibson, who branded Chelsea as pathetic, said this after the West London club requested this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final be played behind closed doors.
Middlesbrough will host Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-final tie at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday.
Chelsea has been blocked from selling further tickets for the match against Middlesbrough following the UK government’s ban after Russian owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned and had his assets.
The reigning Champions League holders had only sold around 500 tickets of their 4,500 allocations prior to the ban, and on Tuesday, they wrote to the FA requesting that the match against Middlesbrough be played without any fans from either team in the interests of ‘sporting integrity’.
Speaking on the development, Gibson told The Times: “I can’t believe it. Sporting integrity and Chelsea do not belong in the same sentence. For 19 years, corrupt money has fuelled Chelsea’s success.
“If they were to beat us in the FA Cup, with no fans there, what would that do to the integrity of the competition? Are they going to play all their Premier League games behind closed doors too? This is pathetic by Chelsea.”
