‘Blueco Out’ – Strasbourg fans protest against the main club of Chelsea
Blueco’s influence was enormous. Strasbourg has the younger average age in Ligue 1 this season at 21.3 years.
After half of the bass ends in three of the last four seasons from the promotion from Ligue 2, they are dreaming of Europe under the former head of Hull City Liam Rosenior.
But despite the fact that theirs was stronger in a generation, it was not worth what some supporters believe are a loss of identity.
“Strasbourg does not exist from a sporty point of view. We are only the Chelsea B team,” says Alexandre Hummel, member of the Strasburg supporters club, Alexandre Hummel at BBC Sport. “I don’t understand why they would buy Strasbourg.
“Strasbourg is the only professional club in Alsace. There is a strong connection with the local identity, a mix of French and Germanic culture.
“In 2011, we went back to the bases, we fought for our club and the Alsazian roots. It didn’t matter what the championship is, there was a local local link with the club.
“It worked very well, we beat every record of appearances in the fifth, fourth and third level. You would see regularly crazy of 10,000 or 20,000.”
An 11.9 million pound agreement to take the defender Mamadou Sarr at Stamford Bridge has been agreed for July and Hummel says he expects these transfers to become a regular event.
“It was slow to emerge, but for me it was clear from the beginning,” he adds. “They use Strasbourg so that they can buy a player first of what they would otherwise have and pay a lower transfer commission.
“When Blueco arrived, Keller was saying that we would be two different entities, with our sports policies. It was clear for 18 months that it is not so.”
In the meantime, goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic and the wing Andrey Santos – on loan from Chelsea – have become crucial members of Rosenior’s team this season, with the twenty year old from Brazilian Santos who reached nine involvement for the goal in 24 games of Ligue 1.
