GOURLAY: CHELSEA IN ASIA ASSESSED
Posted on: Wed 03 Aug 2011
Chief executive Ron Gourlay was the man who oversaw the two weeks Chelsea spent on the other side of the globe to Stamford Bridge. At the conclusion of the summer tour 2011, he looked back with the Official Chelsea Website on how the visit had gone on all levels, and which targets had been met…
On the evidence of this tour, are Chelsea significantly more popular than the last time the team visited Asia three years ago?
If you look at the crowds then that is certainly the case. To start off, in Malaysia there were 85,000 in the stadium, a really fantastic crowd, and then when we moved to Bangkok we filled the stadium again with almost 50,000 fans. In Hong Kong there were two full stadiums again so as far as fan interest in this tour is concerned, I think we have achieved our goal. We had two goals when we came out, one was the preparation of the team and the possibility for Andre to see it in action, and the other one was our engagement with the fans off the field, and that appears to have worked very well.
The local supporters' clubs are reporting notable increases in membership just in the period of the team's visit.
We have been working with the supporters' clubs very closely over the last 12 months, since we announced we were coming to Asia, and it is very important to get them involved in everything we do in their market place. They are the people on the ground there and they spread the story very positively. It was good to see them and good to see the players give them the opportunity to get up close at signing sessions. They also had question and answer sessions with myself and Graeme Le Saux in every city. So it has gone very well and I think they appreciate it.
You mention team preparation. How well has that gone?
You have to get the balance right and it is an important two weeks for Andre and for the team. It gives him the chance to look at 26 players and he always said that at the end of the Asia trip he would have a better feel for things. He wants to give everybody an opportunity and everybody on the tour played at least once. From that point of view it has gone extremely well and we won a trophy and got through without any injuries. We had a couple of scary moments when we could have conceded a goal but it is nice to go home with a clean sheet for the whole tour and four wins.
What now for Chelsea in Asia?
The plan is now to have a full review of the two weeks because two important considerations are that we get the right facilities and the right opposition for the team. It has been very, very hot and we expected that and we planned for that. The intensity of training has been very, very good so we now sit down and look at that. The opportunity to come to Asia is in the odd-numbered years because the even-numbered yearsgive us European Championships and the World Cup. We will sit down and discuss it with Andre and decide what we are going to do but I would imagine the next time we will be out in Asia will be 2013.
Before then, will there still be Chelsea activity out there?
That has been another key part that we have been working on during this trip. Our strategy is very much working in the community, grassroots programmes, working with the kids and the youths and the vehicle to do that is Blue Pitches. The plan also is when the first team is in Asia, the youth team will be somewhere else in the world at the same time. Next year when we will probably go to the States, the youth team will come over and play in the three Asian cities that we visited this summer. That will give the youths of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong the chance to play against our youth team. So it all ties together and keeps the interaction going with our fanbase.
Do you have any personal highlights from the tour?
Apart from the football, it was when Andre and Didier Drogba and myself made a visit to pay our respects at the King of Thailand's hospital. That was a bit special and is something that will always stick with me. It was very emotional and the scale of the welcome from the fans even surprised Didier and I am sure he is used to scenes like that when he goes back home. It was very touching and shows you how far we have come as a club.
Gourlay
It was nice to finish with a trophy. A lot of hard work has gone in by a lot of people in the last two weeks and not only on the field where they have trained very hard in difficult conditions. There are a lot of people behind the scenes who don't always get a mention, the merchandising team and the communications team who have worked very hard with hardly an hour off in two weeks.
The Foundation coaches do a fantastic job. They always come ahead of the team and they do other programmes as well as coaching. They have managed to mix education and nutrition into the skill factor of the game. That is very, very good and they are just some of the unsung heroes who have helped pull the whole thing together.I am very, very happy with the way the tour has gone.
It is a special thanks to everybody who helped pull it all together and after the last tour we had, we went on and won the Double. Hopefully we can go on and do the same this season.
Posted on: Wed 03 Aug 2011
Chief executive Ron Gourlay was the man who oversaw the two weeks Chelsea spent on the other side of the globe to Stamford Bridge. At the conclusion of the summer tour 2011, he looked back with the Official Chelsea Website on how the visit had gone on all levels, and which targets had been met…
On the evidence of this tour, are Chelsea significantly more popular than the last time the team visited Asia three years ago?
If you look at the crowds then that is certainly the case. To start off, in Malaysia there were 85,000 in the stadium, a really fantastic crowd, and then when we moved to Bangkok we filled the stadium again with almost 50,000 fans. In Hong Kong there were two full stadiums again so as far as fan interest in this tour is concerned, I think we have achieved our goal. We had two goals when we came out, one was the preparation of the team and the possibility for Andre to see it in action, and the other one was our engagement with the fans off the field, and that appears to have worked very well.
The local supporters' clubs are reporting notable increases in membership just in the period of the team's visit.
We have been working with the supporters' clubs very closely over the last 12 months, since we announced we were coming to Asia, and it is very important to get them involved in everything we do in their market place. They are the people on the ground there and they spread the story very positively. It was good to see them and good to see the players give them the opportunity to get up close at signing sessions. They also had question and answer sessions with myself and Graeme Le Saux in every city. So it has gone very well and I think they appreciate it.
You mention team preparation. How well has that gone?
You have to get the balance right and it is an important two weeks for Andre and for the team. It gives him the chance to look at 26 players and he always said that at the end of the Asia trip he would have a better feel for things. He wants to give everybody an opportunity and everybody on the tour played at least once. From that point of view it has gone extremely well and we won a trophy and got through without any injuries. We had a couple of scary moments when we could have conceded a goal but it is nice to go home with a clean sheet for the whole tour and four wins.
What now for Chelsea in Asia?
The plan is now to have a full review of the two weeks because two important considerations are that we get the right facilities and the right opposition for the team. It has been very, very hot and we expected that and we planned for that. The intensity of training has been very, very good so we now sit down and look at that. The opportunity to come to Asia is in the odd-numbered years because the even-numbered yearsgive us European Championships and the World Cup. We will sit down and discuss it with Andre and decide what we are going to do but I would imagine the next time we will be out in Asia will be 2013.
Before then, will there still be Chelsea activity out there?
That has been another key part that we have been working on during this trip. Our strategy is very much working in the community, grassroots programmes, working with the kids and the youths and the vehicle to do that is Blue Pitches. The plan also is when the first team is in Asia, the youth team will be somewhere else in the world at the same time. Next year when we will probably go to the States, the youth team will come over and play in the three Asian cities that we visited this summer. That will give the youths of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong the chance to play against our youth team. So it all ties together and keeps the interaction going with our fanbase.
Do you have any personal highlights from the tour?
Apart from the football, it was when Andre and Didier Drogba and myself made a visit to pay our respects at the King of Thailand's hospital. That was a bit special and is something that will always stick with me. It was very emotional and the scale of the welcome from the fans even surprised Didier and I am sure he is used to scenes like that when he goes back home. It was very touching and shows you how far we have come as a club.
Gourlay
It was nice to finish with a trophy. A lot of hard work has gone in by a lot of people in the last two weeks and not only on the field where they have trained very hard in difficult conditions. There are a lot of people behind the scenes who don't always get a mention, the merchandising team and the communications team who have worked very hard with hardly an hour off in two weeks.
The Foundation coaches do a fantastic job. They always come ahead of the team and they do other programmes as well as coaching. They have managed to mix education and nutrition into the skill factor of the game. That is very, very good and they are just some of the unsung heroes who have helped pull the whole thing together.I am very, very happy with the way the tour has gone.
It is a special thanks to everybody who helped pull it all together and after the last tour we had, we went on and won the Double. Hopefully we can go on and do the same this season.
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