THOMAS TUCHEL says no-one at Chelsea owes him an apology for the Super League shambles – and claimed football fans should actually be thankful of what the Big Six has done for the English game.
Tuchel insists there is nothing Roman Abramovich or chairman Bruce Buck should say sorry for even though their decision to sign up for a breakaway league sent shockwaves through the world game.
And the German claimed it is important supporters remember what the under-fire owners have all done for the Premier League.
Asked if they needed to regain trust, Tuchel – who revealed he has not spoken to Abramovich since taking the job – said: “No, because I think that the people and the fans know very much that it’s also the credit from the owners who improve their clubs and made big strong clubs, and build a strong and maybe the most competitive league in the world
“So I think they appreciate that very well and I think that the people can read very clearly and can divide things from another and they express their opinion on this decision.
“They were absolutely not happy, the fans and supporters obviously but I don’t think it affects in general the opinion on what for example the owner did for this club, for the community, for the women’s team, the academy and the first team. It’s a lot, a lot of positive things.
“Nobody needs to apologise and I have not spoken to the owner since I arrived which is absolutely not a problem.
“I was in dialogue with the club before and after the match so I was informed that we were pulling out and that was pretty much all I needed to prepare the next match against West Ham.”
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Chelsea fans turned out in force before the Brighton draw in midweek – a protest which Tuchel and the Blues squad could not escape from as they arrived late for the match.
He added: “It was not against the club, it was not against the team, we didn’t feel it like this. It was against the decision that the club made and this decision is off.
“They express themselves, it’s their right to express themselves. They were hurt in this situation and in this decision, they were heard and the club is pulling off and changed the decision.
“But in general, I’m very sure that everybody sees what our owner and clearly the other owners of the Big Six teams do for this league.
“I mean they’re a big, big, big part of this competition.
“This is the competition, where everybody in all Europe envies us to be in it, and to have a competition like this, and this is the solid basis, the big six teams and all the other teams.
“With so many strong managers, so many strong players in there, and so many big clubs. This is what they did for the clubs.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
