Not a complaint, but a serious question. Seems absolutely crazy that this can happen. Whats the point of home and away legs for the entire competition, then drop that concept for the final ? If the designated ground for the Final happens to become the home ground of one of the finalists, surely an alternative standby ground should come into play. Or do "away " goals score double ??? Bayern surely have an unfair advantage already. Stress this is not a complaint, I just didn't realise this could happen.
With you on this one. Seems a bit daft. Probably doesnt matter too much due to ticket allocation I would guess? Anyway... if we do win, next year's final is at our second home anyway
I suspect as it is an event of international importance and full of ceremony--things have to be planned well in advance! I'm not sure, but I suspect they get no greater ticketing allowance than us, so journeying apart I wonder if they are advantaged!
Each club gets an allocation of 17,500 tickets, however another allocation is normally given to the host club/city of the final, in this case its Munich. So in essence they could recieve 2 allocations to your one but I dont know for sure. Would you be complaining, however, if the Bridge was the chosen as the venue, would Man U have complained if they reached the 2003 final? Its just one of those small chance events that just happens to come round once in a blue moon.
It was at OT in 2003 and Utd were looking good to get there...evidently they didn't as it was Milan and Juve in one of the most boring finals ever...but it could have been Utd
CP The host city is determined a few years in advance. It is not possible to know who will be in a final 2 years in advance,even UEFA couldn't do that this time!!!! It's just the way it worked out and you can't change the venue of such a big comp in 3/4 weeks once the finalists are known. If we can do it at the Nou Camp we can do it in Munich.Anyway,I think it adds greatly to their pressure.We go in as underdogs,again,whilst the pressure is all on them.
It's perhaps a little unfair on teams like us whose stadium would never get picked for the final so we will never have the chance to play the final at our home ground. However maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I don't really see it as the same advantage as when you play the home tie in a 2 leg game; this is a one off final in front of a more even balance of fans and a fair few 'neutrals' so it wont be quite the same as playing at home. The main advantage is they will be more familiar with the pitch but there will be even more pressure on them being at home which may work to our advantage. I don't think it's right they get to play on their own pitch in the final but I can see how it is difficult to avoid.
Goes back to the issue that's been rumbling for a while now, can we keep playing at Stamford Bridge, or do we need to move/build another stadium with sufficient capacity for our long-term aims? Every-which way you turn, it appears that a move will be the only solution. I love Stamford Bridge, but at some point we have to accept that it won't be fit for purpose for years to come. We can't plan & build overnight so, unfortunate that it might seem, we need to get on with it. Might be an incentive if we win the ECL this year and offer to play the final at our place in 2 years time - first match at the new ground will be us trying to win it for the 3rd consective year
OK thanks all, I understand the difficulty of a last minute switch of Grounds. I can see that it will be a little less against us due to ticket allocations, but still think even neutral Germans are hardly likely to be in our corner. Guess we just have to try harder !!
when was the last time you won at White hart Lane? 5 lucky goals at wembley and you get all cocky.... I know I know .... only 1 was lucky but **** it I'm still hurting!!!!!
When was the last time we lost there more to the point? Chin up you weren't realistically going to win a competition as big as the FA Cup anyway. Big game for you on Sunday, let's hope you win it so it dosen't become a 2 horse race for 4th
Many UK call centres out-sourced to India. Also the best cricket league right now is in India. Chelsea have got this Asian player initiative on-going. The New Bridge should be in India, somewhere less violent than London, like Kashmir maybe.
Been thinking about this and I reckon there's another advantage for you lot. They won't like being at home but seeing so much of their ground full of your ugly mob. It's their turf. Not a huge point, but worth something. I hope you win it. Genuinely. We're gonna do you on Sunday though.
