Tickets, bots & touts – is Chelsea relationship with fans turning sour?

Things should be looking forward for Chelsea’s ownership and supporters, who are just two wins away from winning the Club World Cup, a win in the Conference League, a return to Champions League football, and unprecedented investment in the squad.

However, after a month into the season, relations between the club’s leadership and the fan base have deteriorated.

The main concerns are with the sale of tickets, particularly the resale of tickets and the promotion of in-demand games.

Chelsea’s decision to raise the price of Champions League tickets is a source of annoyance.

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) noted that the Benfica game’s ticket prices increased by 77.5% from the previous year’s Conference League semi-final against Djurgarden.

It expressed concern over reduced concessions for seniors and children and criticized the club’s lack of transparency when it announced price increases so soon.

The CST expressed “deep concern” with the club’s approach to upcoming Champions League games.

Recent decisions have been characterized by poor communication, unreasonable price increases, and supporter silence. Stop tarnishing our loyalty, we are told.

Many people have raised concerns about the Stamford Bridge atmosphere, including former manager Enzo Maresca, who frequently made comments about it last season.

Maresca shares Jose Mourinho’s provocative 2014 statement that playing at Stamford Bridge was “like playing inside an empty stadium.”

Fans will soon be able to enjoy a 500-person singing section at Champions League games this year to help them revive the atmosphere.

Multiple fans told BBC Sport that the high prices, limited ticket sales, and touting continue to detract from the matchday experience when questioned about their opinions.

Young supporters have trouble getting tickets, with Chelsea’s fanbase reaching 59 years old, which is the oldest in the Premier League.

I understand the disconnect between supply and demand, according to CST chair Mark Meehan. A Chelsea ticket has never been more difficult to obtain. Something is obviously not working.

The issue of touting is a Premier League wide issue, but Chelsea’s position on it is actually one that is significant. Last season, out-of-town gangs snared the ticket market.

Up to 2, 000 tickets are said to be sold at Chelsea each game. That frees up tickets for young members if you make a dent in that.

For their Champions League four-game bundle, Chelsea recently discovered 2, 000 tickets that had been purchased in violation of the rules and have since been canceled.

For the first game of the season, the Blues also received 350, 000 attempted bot purchases.

On policies that address touts, the club and CST are in general agreement.

If a touted fan enters the stadium with the exact seat number, Meehan added, “We need supporters in the stadium to email the club rather than complain on social media.” In this area, we must collaborate with the club.

Members and non-members were the only ones who purchased the cheapest adult tickets for this week’s Benfica Champions League game, which cost $ 66. For Category A games, Arsenal must charge a minimum of £78, while Tottenham must charge £71.

Sources at Chelsea said their price increases reflected English football trends, according to BBC Sport.

The elected fan advisory board, which includes supporters’ group members, was consulted before the ticketing policy was made public, and fans can get a cheaper rate by purchasing a bundle for all four home games against Benfica, Ajax, Barcelona, and Pafos.

In addition to expanding their 40, 000-seat stadium, Chelsea are special because they have a particularly high demand for matches under the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership.

The dugout club, which charges (possibly a Premier League record) £12, 500 for a single seat behind the home and away benches for big games last year, has about 28 000 season ticket holders, of which between 4 000 and 5 000 are available to members and about 3 000 are available for away supporters.

In 2024 and 2025, there were reportedly 90,000 members, but it’s not known how many of those were touts.

We are all fighting the same battle over ticket prices, according to Duncan Drasdo, CEO of Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, in a report on the overall cost of playing football last season. Fans are united in saying enough is enough, and clubs are exploiting loyalty.

Before the 2024-2019 season, 19 of the 20 Premier League clubs raised ticket prices, which prompted the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) to launch a campaign called “Stop Exploiting Loyalty.”

Safety had been “repeatedly compromised” at the Conference League semi-final second leg against Djurgarden last year, according to a report from the CST that was released this week.

It discovered that thousands of Swedish national team supporters purchased tickets from resale websites or touts, creating issues with overcrowding and inadequate police and stewards.

Fans speculated that more tickets on the black market were going to be available because Chelsea had won the first leg 4-1, resulting in lower interest among home fans.

The night’s events were described as “the most serious security lapse in recent memory” according to the report.

In order to explain how this happened, Chelsea issued a statement in the matchday program that read, “The club committed to and has conducted a full and independent review of all ticketing processes.

The fan advisory board received the findings, and we got in touch with the affected people on the night directly.

The events that occurred had a number of contributing factors that had an impact on our standard procedures for ticketing, security, and matchday operations.