Eagle Owl

I'm thinking of going to this match as well, but only if there's a good chance to get tickets. Do group stage matches usually go on general sale? I wouldn't mind Genk either, if that's an easier one.

Well, as a foreigner, I haven't been able to attend games as a kid. I started following football intensely at about 7 years old, especially the English second tier (the Premiership is only shown on pay channels). Many Finns played there, but at some point players started dropping in to the Premiership as well, which had always been a soft spot for me. I was nuts about CM and Premier Manager, so I was always very up to date with the players in England. I also read all the magazines about football I could get in Finnish and Swedish. I guess I was more of a Palace sympathizer at first, especially when Mikael Forssell joined them on loan from Chelsea and Aki Riihilahti already played there. Later on, I somehow built up an interest for the Royal Blue, and when Forssell returned and played in the UCL for Chelsea, I watched the game on telly. I guess it was in 2003. Since then it's been more or less Chelsea abroad for me, with my interest in the club growing stronger around the time Chelsea got the back to back titles. I caught my first game at the Bridge against Bolton in 2010, and I'm planning on making a trip this autumn to see another one. I also support a club in Finland and am a ST-holder of the Finnish NT.

Cheers, mironesco! I hope Bayer 04 will keep all three points in Leverkusen today. I went to watch your match against Metalist Kharkiv last season, hoping to catch Sami Hyypiä in action as well, but unfortunately he didn't play. A cosy little city with a phenomenal stadium!

Crystal, I'm sorry, but it seems to me that you're not very familiar with the supporter scene in France and Germany. There are good and less good movements everywhere, but both Germany and France have quite large right wing followings at football, as well. E.g. PSG is well known for its largely racist fanbase, even though that's by no means the case with everyone involved with the club. Racism isn't non-existent in Germany either, e.g. Dynamo Berlin is well known for its racist supporters and they're obviously not alone with it. Particularly strong right wing clubs can be found in the northern and eastern parts of Germany It's very common still today in many parts of Europe, but I don't think that's a reason not to make a football trip over here. I guess it's a constant process for the better. At least I hope so. The reason I started this thread, was the fact that I wasn't familiar with how widespread racism used to be at Chelsea, even though I'm familiar with the club's reputation back in the day.

Now that football fans across England seem to be getting together to stop the absurdity going about in the streets, I came to think of this. Are there any English clubs that Chelsea are linked with or have a good relationship with (not thinking of Rangers and Linfield now)? I remember when attending a Kingstonian match, that there was a bunch of people in Chelsea kits, cheering for the Blues in the clubhouse after the Kings' game. In other words, Kingstonian seems very Chelsea-friendly. Is there anything similar going on in the actual football league, with a bigger club? As a foreigner I haven't heard about it, anyway. We've obviously got Barnet and Arsenal, West Ham and Dag&Red etc. where people attend games of both clubs.

Wow, it's a nice day to be a supporter of this great club! We've managed to sign the best young talent in Europe, who fits perfectly in Chelsea, monitored by the eyes of AVB and Didier Drogba. In addition to that, Sturridge is stepping up his game, and proved that he's capable of scoring goals against a strong opponent even on a bad day. I can't see any other club in the Premiership with an offense as great as Chelsea's, especially when it comes to the young prospects. If Lukaku and Sturridge are capable of keeping on developing the way they have the past few years, it's hard to even imagine how hot of a pair they'll be in a couple of seasons. Absolutely splendid! It's also great to see how enthusiastic Romelu is about this move, since he's a true blue through and through. That is quite rare nowadays, and will for sure be appreciated by the fans! Welkom bij Chelsea, Romelu!

"The CPO also owns the name Chelsea Football Club Ltd, which is licenced back to the club on condition that the first team play their home matches at Stamford Bridge. This means that should Chelsea move to another stadium in the future, they would not be able to use the name Chelsea Football Club without permission from 75% of CPO shareholders." What about this? Could it end up being a problem? Personally, I never like it when clubs move about to plastic stadiums, with no connection to their origins. Chelsea somewhere else than at SB sounds very strange to me.

To clarify things further, I'm not referring to hooliganism, which is and has been a part of almost all footballing nations' cultures. I'm only referring to right wing racism, which Chelsea used to be associated with. This is why I'm asking to get a picture of how things used to be, since I support Chelsea (the most stylish club in England) but am pretty much as far from a racist as you can be. In the end of the day, all clubs are mixes of different people, some just get different reputations from others. E.g. the most famous Finnish Chelsea supporter is Paavo Arhinmäki, who's minister of culture and sports, representing the Left Alliance.

Apology accepted. I'm only trying to understand some aspects of football culture I've never been a part of myself, since I don't share those values.

Wow, some really interesting and horrendous stories here. Thanks for sharing them, it helps me to get a better view of what the situation was like! Isn't kind of a taboo to speak of the old days, when it comes to Chelsea fans? Everyone knows of the club's (or in this case mostly the supporters') history, but one don't want to mention it. I guess these lads who glorify Jason Marriner & C.o. still exist too (with their deeply racist beliefs). e. And yes, I'm familiar with the fact that he's trying to wash his hands from that, and in a way I believe in it. Like it has been said here as well, the world has come a long way, and people are allowed to change the way they think.

Haha, indeed. The site didn't accept forward slashes either, that's why.

Can we expect something like this, considering which players are currently available? Lukaku seems to be a primary target again, since Anderlecht's GM German van Hoolsbeck is heading to London this weekend, according to Graeme Bailey on Twitter. Where would he fit in? And what about Sturridge, is it a waste of a good striker to feature him on the wing? I'm sorry there's no capital letters in the formation, but the site didn't accept them while I created it. Kalou is obviously more than a question mark, but I have a hard time figuring out who we'd play on the right flank otherwise. I don't even know if this is what AVB prefers, so please let me know if it's all rubbish.

I've had a go at Kristen Stewart's recent and older work, recently. I watched "Welcome to the Rileys" and "The Runaways", which both were really good. She's such a talented actress (and beautiful). Doesn't seem able to make a bad picture, even though I haven't seen the Twilights. "Adventureland" is also an amazing movie by her. I guess I've got a good old fashioned celebrity crush...

Not really saying you ought to be a big fan of your national team and local football, but I don't understand people who aren't. It's more than a little silly to shout abuse at a player from your local club wearing a foreign team's colours. I remember back in the day when Liverpool played FC Haka in Finland. Liverpool is very well supported in Finland, always has and always will, which is quite natural considering that both Litmanen and Hyypiä played there. However, when Liverpool met Haka in Europe, the whole Olympic Stadium in Helsinki was packed with Finns wearing their Liverpool jerseys, commenting about how s**t Finnish football is and chanting in a fake scouse accent. Embarrasing and stupid, to say the least.

Man, that's too sad... It's a real shame it has come to this.

You're saying American (probably Californians?) Chelsea supporters were taunting Beckham and Galaxians? That's pathetic to do as an American, even if one doing it is a Chelsea supporter. You should be proud of your local team, too. I love our NT and I'm a big follower of Finnish football.

That's some interesting, and in many ways purely disgusting stuff. I was actually about to ask who the first black player at Chelsea was, and how he was welcomed by the home support. After all, we've got Google, so I had a read of my own instead. The shocking revelations of Chelsea's first black player Paul Canoville "They intimidated me, screamed vile racist abuse and threw bananas... and that was my own club's fans." Do you remember this, older followers of Chelsea? That must've been a really rough time in the club's history - personally, I would probably not have been able to attend games in a crowd like that. At what point did the racial abuse disappear? I mean, I can't see anything like this happen in a Chelsea section nowadays, or in that case the person responsible would probably get a load of s**t thrown at him (rightfully so).

Cheers, mate! It's actually the former mascot of the Finnish NT (that unfortunately passed away). The NT is still called the Eagle Owls, though. :)

Why was he actually taken out? Just because of the Blackpool scarf?

Since I'm only 20 years old, I haven't experienced the extremely rough times of football in England, when racist chants were more than common to be heard at grounds. Chelsea has obviously had its fair share of racist support back in the day, with the Headhunters gloryfying the SS and the Holocaust and the team being pretty much all white. This seems quite interesting to me, since there is no room for that in the stands anymore. Football has gone international in every European country, with black, Asian and Jewish players in clubs they would never have been able to represent back in the day. Chelsea is to this date often seen as a far right club, with loads of supporters with racist ideologies in e.g. Eastern Europe. At the same time, it fields a team with African, Jewish and Latino players. How does this go hand in hand? When I went to see Sparta Prague play last year, I bought my ticket to their ultras section, which is known for being pretty extreme. Taunting of their opponents with racist chants are common, especially when they face Slavia Prague, which is pretty much like the Spurs of the Czech Rep. Chelsea is also extremely popular among Sparta fans, for some reason. The weird thing is, that even though 80 % of the ultras are bald wearing their Lonsdale and Adidas superstars, their support of a team with a few African players is passionate. E.g. when Wilfried Bony scored (now at Vitesse), the whole crowd went crazy for the Ivorian, chanting his name. This feels quite strange to me. So in a nutshell, what's the situation like at Chelsea today? How do hard core fans look at this issue, and where did it all start, considering that Chelsea has had a black skinhead following ever since the 60s and 70s too?

Drogba leaving. Nuff said.

So do I, but that would be in a couple of years, if it is to happen. Like I said, Chelsea are being complete morons if they actually want to let go of him right now, especially when we might be on the verge of signing Lukaku.There's no better master of the art of scoring for Lukaku than Drogba. I really, really hope to see Lukaku and Drogba at the same time on the field in their royal blue.

Letting go of Drogba would be absolutely ridiculous. He's a club legend with lots to give whenever he's fit, so I can't really see a transfer happening. If Chelsea really is trying to get rid of DD, I reckon they're making a HUGE mistake! Personally, I'd put DD up there with Lampard and Terry, i.e. players who are true blue through and through.

Wow, this came straight out of the bushes. Hiddink seemed like something of a done deal, but apparently that isn't the case. It'll be interesting to see if it's true. Falcao is also a transfer targer, according to "A Bola" newspaper.

Agreed. Especially a few years back when Toni Kallio kicked the s**t out of Arsenal and was named player of the match. Good times. Edit. Yes, it's terribly annoying and gives you the impression that one hasn't even finished elementary school.