Chelsea told to scrap 'London Cup'

Chelsea have been forced to scrap plans to launch their Centenary season with a tournament involving Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham because of police worries about crowd trouble, it was revealed today.

Standard Sport understands that both the police and local authorities in Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea were against the idea of a "London Cup" being staged at Stamford Bridge at the end of July.

A police spokeswoman confirmed today that there were concerns about "potential public disorder and disruption" around the tournament, which had been pencilled in for the weekend of 30-31 July.

Chelsea felt the project would have been a fitting way to start their season of Centenary celebrations, given that leading clubs in the capital used to play in a prestigious "London Seniors Cup" 100 years ago.

The competition would also have attracted huge interest from broadcasters.

Stamford Bridge officials, however, have accepted the advice that the four-team tournament is a nonstarter because of security reasons.

They are now working on replacing the July event with a friendly against a high-profile foreign club, with talks already taking place with Real Madrid and Argentina's Boca Juniors.

The club are expected to play several "Centenary" fixtures before and during next season and it is believed that other prestigious foreign clubs have offered to take part in the friendlies.

It has also emerged that Jose Mourinho is considering taking his side on another pre-season tour to the United States in the summer.

Given that the club have just paid out £24.5million to end their sponsorship deal with kit-manufacturer Umbro, the tour will fuel speculation that Chelsea are on the verge of a lucrative deal with American sportswear firm Nike.

It is expected that chief executive Peter Kenyon will announce a major deal in the next few months.