GOURLAY ON FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY
...Below is what was said in the interview, but first Gourlay gives the official Chelsea website his reaction to reaching this season's Champions League Final.
Ron, what does it mean to you and the club to make it past Barcelona and into the Final of the Champions League?
"For the club it is a phenomenal performance because not many people gave us a chance. It was a fantastic result for us at Stamford Bridge, we rode our luck at times, but we still had to come through 90 minutes at the Nou Camp. Going 2-0 down it made it seem as if things were not going our way but the guys dug in fantastically well and I am very proud of the performances.
Now our season keeps going until the very last game and we always gear ourselves up to going as far we can in every competition. We set our sights on the Champions League as well as the Premier League at the start of the season. To find ourselves in the Final has given the club a fabulous lift, and the fans as well. They support us up and down the country and in Europe and now we are asking them to take the extra game on board and join us in Germany, but I am sure they will be very happy to do so.
Financially as well it is a big boost for the club. It helps us continue our investment in the team as we go forward but we still have the challenge of making sure we are in this competition next year, and that is very important. It is the old cliché, we take one game at a time, but that is what we have done in the last couple of months, tried to focus on the game ahead, and the aim now is not to start focusing on Germany, let's just think about the match against Queens Park Rangers at the weekend and then take things from there."
With Chelsea striving to qualify for the Champions League next season, we should talk about Financial Fair Play. Is it a complex or a simple issue?
"It is not too complex at all. The simple thing is we have to get the club to break even. We have to balance our football outgoings with our income generated by football activities and there are opportunities around that. It also takes into account any expenditure on academies or extending stadiums, getting more seats in, or building new stadiums. That doesn't contribute to outgoings."
If we look at English clubs, we own our grounds but in Spain and Italy for example it is different. Is it a fair system?
"There are different ways of looking at whether it is fair or not but what it certainly does is focus us clearly on how we run our business. But getting it fair across different countries around Europe will be very challenging for UEFA. We knew Financial Fair Play was coming in and we have been planning our business that way for the last two or three years."
We have benefitted so much in the last nine years from Roman Abramovich's investment, does this mean he can no longer invest in the way he has or can that be worked into the structure in Financial Fair Play?
"It restricts in certain ways how the investment is put into the football club. The fantastic investment that Roman put in when he took over the club has allowed us to build the foundation and that has set us up to take the club forward as well. We are more geared up now to tackle it than we would have been eight or nine years ago."
What it has done also is allow to us to challenge Barcelona on a level playing field despite them having a 98,000 capacity stadium and their history. Will we still be able to do that?
"We certainly have to be aware of what the other elite teams are doing across Europe. We are conscious of understanding how they run their business off the field as well as on it. The way Chelsea has geared ourselves up the last few years puts us in a good position to take the club forward but at the same time, remaining in the elite teams in the future is a challenge because it is no secret that while we are the fifth or sixth biggest club in Europe from a financial point of view, our stadium is outside the top 30 at this present time. The money generated from matchday through the stadiums is considerable. If we are not able to take the money on matchday then we have to look at other parts of the business to generate the revenues and allow us to continue the circle of success to invest into the team to give the results or entice sponsors to come to the club."
The Champions League has been so unchanging down the years - Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool for many seasons from England, but Liverpool have dropped down and Newcastle are battling to get into it. If you look at Europe, APOEL from Cyprus have made such a brilliant run this year and other clubs have made good runs. Is it changing slightly, is Europe evolving?
"It is developing and we have to always be aware of what the smaller clubs are doing and conscious of what is happening around Europe. But the investment in the game doesn't seem to be dropping off so it is every bit as competitive as it was. Nobody can be complacent. As we can see across Europe there are a number of teams who have got into the Champions League for the first time in the last few years which wasn't happening four or five years ago. Nobody has a given right to be in the Champions League and we have to make sure we position ourselves every year to ensure that we are there, and we still have a difficult challenge ahead of us in the current season."
If someone sits next to the average fan in the Nou Camp, that fan would be shouting and screaming. If they sit next to the chief executive, what kind of experience would they have in the Nou Camp?
"Exactly the same, screaming, shouting, pulling what hair I have got left out. It is the same for me, I am as passionate as anyone and it is very difficult sitting there. It was a huge game for the club and the way the players and backroom staff have risen to the challenge in the last few weeks has been phenomenal. We couldn't have asked much more from them and hopefully we can continue to deliver over the next few weeks and end what could be a very successful season."
