FROM THE ENGLISH PRESS.....
People Who Like To Say 'Hmmm'
It is not a question that can be easily answered. Just why was Chelsea v Manchester United called off early on Saturday afternoon when Ipswich v Leicester was played a couple of hours later in a blizzard?
Sven-Goran Eriksson described the Portman Road farce as "very bad PR for football", but with no further snow falling on Saturday afternoon in west London, the decision to call off this weekend's Premier League's showdown event seemed equally perplexing as early as Saturday night. On a weekend when Stoke fans, only informed of Arsenal's postponement three hours before the scheduled kick-off, were stuck on gritless, gridlocked motorways until 1am, any suggestion that a postponement was made in haste can be considered untimely, but by Sunday morning it was hard not to be slightly perplexed at the decision made from Stamford Bridge.
In their ultra-brief announcement issued at around 1pm on Saturday, Chelsea declared that the postponement had been made 'following consultation with the Police and the local authority', with the club apparently deeming the words 'There has been heavy snow in London on Saturday' as sufficient explanation for the decision. It could be argued that there was nothing more to be said, but those words do not tally with the Chelsea statement issued ten days ago when another news item on their website modestly announced:
'The pitch would have to be frozen solid or completely under water to be the reason for a game to be called off, which shouldn't happen at Stamford Bridge. In this day and age, with all the modern technology, it is very rare you get a game called off.'
Hmmm.