After a summer break, Chelsea star and Newtonian ROSS TURNBULL continues his exclusive blog on Aycliffe Today…
The close-season break never seems to last that long, and it’s been a busy few weeks after returning to training in early July.
After the euphoria of winning the FA Cup and Champions League finals, in what was a whirlwind end to the season, it all seems to have calmed down now.
I think the summer break gives everyone a chance to reflect and chill out, and recharge the batteries, but instead of still basking in the glory of it all, everyone wants to repeat the success of last season this year.
We were back in training for 10 days before we flew out to the US for a two-week pre-season tour, and it turned out to be some tour!
We started off in Seattle, where we were based for a week and played Seattle Sounders at their CenturyLink Field stadium, winning 4-2, although I was unable to feature with a slight back injury I’d picked up back home.
We were based at Seattle Seahawks’ training ground during our stay (an American Football team) and the facilities were unbelievable.
During our stay in the far North-West of the States, we also bumped into Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis (from the Hangover), who were promoting their new film The Campaign. Will is a big Chelsea fan, as you can see from my picture above!
Click here to see a selection of pictures from our USA Tour
We then travelled across the States to New York on the East Coast and, although brief, we managed to get to see a few sights.
We played Paris Saint-Germain on 22nd July, drawing 1-1, in the first-ever soccer game to be played in the new Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball side the New York Yankees, and I got the last 30 minutes, so there’s a nice little piece of history for you.
After the game we made the relatively short journey down to Philadelphia, where we played against an MLS All-Stars team including David Beckham and Thierry Henry, on 25th July. I got the second half of that game, which we lost 3-2.
We did manage to get a brief sight-seeing trip in while at Philadelphia and we couldn’t leave without visiting the Rocky Steps and Monument, where some of the lads (including myself) had some pictures taken.
The tour finished with a trip to Miami, and we played against AC Milan at the 75,000-capacity Sun Life Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins, on 28th July, losing 1-0.
It was a hectic tour, but very enjoyable. Chelsea is an international brand and have fans across the world, and they have a big following in the States, so it was a great opportunity to meet a lot of them and play over there.
A lot of hard work has been put into our pre-season preparations and our season starts with the Community Shield against Manchester City this Sunday (12th August) followed by the Premier League kick-off a week on Sunday, at Wigan.
For me, I’m just keeping my head down and working hard. Of course I want to be playing more games, but it’s my job to keep Petr Cech on his toes and just make sure I’m ready when or if called upon.
I’ll be keeping one eye on Newton Aycliffe this weekend as they begin their season in the FA Cup, and wish them all my very best wishes for another great season.
Mind, I’m told my pal Sean Tarling now has a regular column in Aycliffe’s match programme. I’m not sure how exciting that’s going to be, but he’s currently following every Chelsea player on Twitter at present, so it might just be about Chelsea and how many tickets he’s on the blag for this season!
Anyway, that’s it from me, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog, catch you next time.
Cheers
Ross
