Security gaffe leaves BlueCo red-faced as Chelsea owners face new protests

Chelsea‘s owners are still being targeted by protests from the supporters of sister club Strasbourg, with fans managing to get a ‘BlueCo out’ banner past stadium security on Sunday.

Strasbourg are flying high in Ligue 1 and currently sit third in the standings, level on points with Marseille and just one point behind league leaders PSG. On Sunday, the Alsatians thrashed Angers 5-0 at their home ground, the Stade de la Meinau.

However, the Ligue 1 side’s good start to the season is being overshadowed by vocal sections of the club’s fanbase. In 2023, Chelsea owners BlueCo acquired control of Strasbourg, which sparked widespread protests.

Since then, the French outfit have experienced unprecedented levels of investment, which has led to good on-pitch performances, but this has come at the cost of the club’s independence.

The anti-BlueCo protests reached a new level of escalation when Chelsea announced the signing of Strasbourg captain Emanuel Emegha in early September. The Dutchman was branded a ‘BlueCo pawn,’ which prompted his club to enforce a strict security policy regarding banners.

Strasbourg’s ‘repression’ criticised

Strasbourg have informed supporters that they will only be able to display banners in the stadium if they are approved by security and not deemed ‘offensive, discriminatory, sexist or vexatious.’

These new measures recently provoked Strasbourg’s four biggest supporter groups to essentially go on ‘strike’ and refuse to vocally support their team, as they did not want to ‘legitimise censorship.’

Despite Strasbourg’s strict policy, supporters managed to bring a ‘BlueCo out!’ banner into the ground on Sunday. A social media video shows that the banner had been approved by security beforehand, but Strasbourg nevertheless forced the fans to take it down during the game.

The supporters in question left the stadium 15 minutes later as an act of protest. The Strasbourg supporters federation then argued on social media that the banner ‘falls under freedom of expression.’

“It passed the security check at the entrance to the stadium, in accordance with the measures established by the club, as did our evening banner (”Management: no to repression! We are open to dialogue… and you?”) announced in our press release,” a statement read.

“We remind you that this banner falls under freedom of expression, it respected the terms and conditions and internal regulations, and was deployed in a calm, peaceful and respectful manner, without provocation.”

Strasbourg confirmed to L’Equipe that a ‘security error’ was to blame for this banner making it into the stadium. The club insist that they are ‘open to dialogue,’ but this situation is clearly getting increasingly ugly.

While not every Strasbourg fan is against BlueCo, far from it, it is not a good look for the club to openly wage war on their biggest supporter groups.

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