Ron Gourlay delighted with Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Asia

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay has revealed he was delighted with club’s pre-season tour of Asia.

The Blues played four matches on the continent and won all of them, including a victory over Aston Villa, as they secured the Asia Trophy.

Gourlay is happy with how the tour went for the club as he believes it has helped new manager Andre Villas-Boas settle in with the team as well as the commercial success it has had for the Blues.

He told the club’s official website: “If you look at the crowds then that is certainly the case. To start off, in Malaysia there were 85,000 in the stadium, a really fantastic crowd, and then when we moved to Bangkok we filled the stadium again with almost 50,000 fans.

“In Hong Kong there were two full stadiums again so as far as fan interest in this tour is concerned, I think we have achieved our goal. We had two goals when we came out, one was the preparation of the team and the possibility for Andre to see it in action, and the other one was our engagement with the fans off the field, and that appears to have worked very well.

“You have to get the balance right and it is an important two weeks for Andre and for the team. It gives him the chance to look at 26 players and he always said that at the end of the Asia trip he would have a better feel for things.

“He wants to give everybody an opportunity and everybody on the tour played at least once. From that point of view it has gone extremely well and we won a trophy and got through without any injuries.

“We had a couple of scary moments when we could have conceded a goal but it is nice to go home with a clean sheet for the whole tour and four wins.”