one week in Asia

There is no busier time in the club’s schedule than a pre-season tour, so Old Blue Eyes decided to keep a diary to give an idea of the level of activity out in Asia.

Below is a catch-up with events from the first week away, starting with departure from Gatwick until boarding the plane in Bangkok on Monday morning.

SUNDAY JULY 17 – MONDAY JULY 18It is tour time, and a rare free morning in pre-season is followed by a 12-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur where the travelling party (26 players including four yet to make competitive debuts but minus Copa America competing Ramires and David Luiz) arrive shortly after midday and are greeted by a frenzied few hundred Malaysian fans at the hotel.

It is far from the low-key entrances made for domestic games, and surpasses even the Champions League Final in Moscow in 2008.

Andre Villas-Boas, Branislav Ivanovic and Frank Lampard are ushered almost straight away into a press conference for local media plus travelling reporters from England held at the team’s hotel. Villas-Boas confirms Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is undergoing a medical in England although he is unlikely to join the tour.

Other players are allowed to rest before a training session at the Shah Alam Stadium, venue for our game in this city three years ago.

The heat and humidity, even in early evening, are widely felt, though spirits are raised by the presence of 45 members of the Malaysian supporters’ club.

TUESDAY JULY 19The first training session, bang in the middle of morning amid 30-degree heat. The playing surface is not impressive and there is relief the game will be played on the other side of the city at the larger Bukit Jalil Stadium.

A 10am start means the kitmen must leave the hotel sometime before 8am – a tour takes it out on them as much as anyone.

Goalkeeper coach Christophe Lollichon has his men, including Petr Cech who is on his way back from a small injury, sprinting up the stadium steps. The general consensus is that it is too hot for intense work, but the players are still pushed hard.

In the afternoon John Terry and Josh McEachran visit the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation with chief executive Ron Gourlay and Graeme Le Saux, who is also on the trip as an ambassador, while the rest of the squad meet fans and sign autographs at the hotel.
In the evening there is another workout, this time at the Bukit Jalil, where thousands of fans are waiting to give the players a tremendous welcome.

Chelsea TV’s travelling crew are set a challenge in feeding material back to Stamford Bridge, such is the unpredictability of Kuala Lumpur’s wifi, but sheer persistence sees enough footage sent for Blues News.

WEDNESDAY JULY 20Two more training sessions take place as the kit team go into overdrive, while between sessions at the Bukit Jalil four players plus Le Saux take a look at the newly-opened Kuala Lumpur Blue Pitch.

All are impressed with the facility which is for use by local young players long after the team has gone. Under a hangar-like roof are a 3G turf surface and a hard court playing area, as well as outside space. Today we are under cover, and the heat outside makes life inside almost unbearable, though the players’ stay to coach some kids and they are well watered while there.

Having started the week joining in with the rest of the squad, injured Alex is once again working alone. He is at least buoyed by still being a part of the tour, and not back at Cobham on his own.

Ron Gourlay announces in a Q & A session with the local supporters’ club that tomorrow’s game is now an 85,000 sellout – which would mean more fans in the stadium than had seen Liverpool a week earlier.

THURSDAY JULY 21Match day one on tour. That means no community or media commitments, and a day of focus for the squad.

It begins with a 9am breakfast and a walk and stretch at 10am, followed by lunch and an afternoon of strict rest.

The kit truck departs at 5pm, nearly four hours before kick-off, and arrives at a stadium awash with Chelsea flags after staff and supporters have spent hours distributing them, the work increased when the authorities insisted the flag poles had to be removed.

Amid more crazy scenes at the hotel, the team coach leaves at 6.45 and arrives in plenty of time thanks to a slick police escort operation.

When they walk out at the stadium, the players are taken aback with the reception, and Drogba films much on his camera phone.

A 1-0 win thanks to a Drogba-induced own goal sees John Terry awarded a trophy, though most players are not smiling, instead trying to dry off from the sweat and catch breath. They arrive back at the hotel shortly before midnight, eat, and head to bed.

FRIDAY JULY 22Departure for Bangkok means an early start. Having played the second half of last night’s game, losing a lot of fluid, Terry has slept for under an hour, but still joins his team-mates in signing autographs for the final time in Malaysia.

It is a two-hour flight to Thailand, where almost everybody sleeps, bar Chelsea TV’s producer who is doing some editing, and Salomon Kalou, who has agreed to do some filming of his team-mates for the channel.

Creating the alter-ego David Cameroon, the winger has players and staff in fits of laughter as he conducts his documentary-style work, work which will attract more than 250,000 views in a couple of days when it is uploaded to YouTube.

The greeting from Thai fans is much like those in KL, only possibly louder. After lunch, Didier Drogba, Andre Villas-Boas and Ron Gourlay go to pay their respects to the King of Thailand, and are utterly mobbed by thousands of supporters. Members of the accompanying Chelsea media team are overwhelmed by their reception too, and once more Drogba has his camera phone out.

Back at the hotel there is an autograph session and a charity auction with the rest of the squad split between two ballrooms.

An evening training session planned for the Rajamangala Stadium is cancelled, and the players are allowed a night off.

SATURDAY JULY 23At a press conference, also attended by Drogba and Paulo Ferreira (who has his own fan club in Bangkok who make themselves visible throughout the stay), Villas-Boas reveals his desire to sign Barcelona’s holding midfielder Oriol Romeu. The two clubs do a deal but the Under 20 World Cup is in the way of transfer completion.

Florent Malouda, Alex, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah accompany the Foundation coaches to a Samsung coaching event in mid-afternoon, and even Malouda, who claims to be well-adapted to such conditions, sweats heavily in the sunshine. All of the players seem to enjoy their involvement though, helping local schoolkids with their skills.

The weather goes from one extreme to another for open training in the evening, as players and fans are subjected to a heavy downpour at the Rajamangala, the national stadium. Supporters try to hide at the back of the main stand, the only part that is covered, while Drogba and Ivanovic embrace the conditions with a full-on slide along the grass. Drogba also tricks new doctor Paco Biosca into a soaking. It is almost a pleasant break from the intense heat.

SUNDAY JULY 24Another match day, so another day of rest for the players. An earlier kick-off than in Malaysia could prove difficult, and the first-half performance looks a little laboured until Frank Lampard’s goal.

The pitch is watered at half-time though and suddenly there is good football, as three more goals follow to put a gloss on another successful day in front of a full house.

Ten of the players play an hour or more rather than the previous 45 minutes.

Once again the captain lifts a trophy, the Coke Super Cup, before travelling back to the hotel. Bangkok’s police are less efficient than their Malaysian counterparts, but the team is still back in time for an early night ahead of another day of travel.