Chelsea blasted by fans for removing £10 coach subsidy for ‘financial reasons’

Big-spending Chelsea have been slammed by their own fans for cutting an away travel subsidy which costs the club just £250,000.

The Blues have announced the "difficult decision to remove the coach subsidy for domestic away travel". The subsidy had been worth £10 per person, with the tab being picked up by the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) in the short term.

That comes despite the Stamford Bridge outfit taking their spending over the last 12 months to almost £900m. The £53m signing of Romeo Lavia from Southampton means they have now splurged £850m under owner Todd Boehly, with more new additions potentially on the way ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline.

CST has condemned the decision in a stinging statement which accused the club of “penny-pinching.”

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“The appalling decision will force those who rely on the service to pay significantly more to travel to away fixtures,” read the statement. “Despite representations from The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) and coach users, CFC has unfortunately decided that maintaining the £10 subsidy is not ‘financially sustainable’.

“It is important to note that this decision was made in the same year that the club broke the transfer record twice. It is widely rumoured that the coach subsidy budget was approximately 250k.

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“Earlier this month, the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust met with club officials in response to online rumours that the coach subsidy would be removed for the 23/24 season. CFC clarified that at the time a decision had not been made but confirmed that they were evaluating the subsidy budget.”

During the meeting, the Trust stated that numerous groups of fans would be adversely affected, including young, elderly and disabled supporters.

The hard-hitting statement added: “It appears that during a cost-of-living crisis, Chelsea FC are happy to increase the financial burden on many supporters by penny-pinching.”

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