Posted May 23, 201113 yr I was going to post this in the General forum but decided it sat better here. I was having a conversation with a Birmingham City fan today and commiserated with his team being relegated yesterday (I would have preferred Wigan to go down). His response brought back a dose of the 'good old days' for me and brought home to me just how far Chelsea have come (the reply may also help the new generation of fans to realise why some of us older fans are the way we are) His response was: As I’ve repeatedly said over the last 24 hrs – would I swap prem league for carling cup win? No Chance. It’s in our DNA to be promoted & relegated, but not to win major cups! That really resonated with me and took me back to the days when our hope (rather than expectation) was to just win a game. Strange though it may sound I actually found myself missing that piece of hope. Of course Roman's money has changed our outlook from one of hope to one of expectation but one thing hasn't changed - we used to have a high turnover of managers even when we were hoping rather than expecting (just not quite so often)
May 23, 201113 yr I still get giddy at the thought of winning the Community Sheild now, and it still annoys me when people slag it off, along with the carling cup. I remember how gutted I was as a kid, when Spurs hammered us in the semi's, after we were 2-1 up from the first leg.
May 24, 201113 yr This is prob strange to say , and yes its great to win things now, but i feel that back then Chelsea was a club. A club that the fans could be close to .. where the fans all knew each other. meet easily to travel away from home. great comradiery of all that was chelsea , for me has gone , yes u see faces , but u sit next to people u may or may not have a rapport with. One doesnt have control anymore of how ones day pans out...You travel to the match....you drink with old faces ..then normally u r split to various parts of the ground...see each other after the match say goodbye n off home..Till next time....I went to man city on a coach and honestly no one spoke to each other there or back..very sad..Chelsea has become a big place to be , but for me ...far too cosmopoliton...perhaps im just becoming an old grumpy bar steward
May 26, 201113 yr Way back when I was a gutter snipe two brass farthings would have been luxury. A lot of football fans were the same. I have changed, so has football, so has the "audience". Brimstone... the only way to get a bit of that feeling back is to just start talking to fellow Chelsea fans. Perhaps around your area. Perhaps of the same era. Perhaps at the match. I don't recognise anyone who goes now from the old (1960's/70's) days. They could be sat in East Stand/West Stand/MHU who knows where. Or they could well think it's a load of overpriced bolloxs and stopped going (a few of the latter I reckon). I'm not sure if I would recognise Bluebeard or if he would recognise me. Probably not. I don't look much like I used to as a lad. Just two old gits who love Chelsea. The people I go to matches with now are great. The banter on match day is superb. The piss taking/beer drinking is excellent as is the sometimes serious attempts at a discussion about football/Chelsea. There is a broad age range of us. Match going since 1960's onwards right up to someone who supported Chelsea but could only afford to go since a few seasons ago. We are all passionate about Chelsea. It was a quiet car back from Manc land the other week but we soon cheered up as someone said "JT for player/manager?". What I suggest is putting up a topic on a few Chelsea websites for other Chelsea fans in your area, swap mobile numbers and meet up at a pub/match, create a car load club of Chelsea fans. It works. Edited May 26, 201113 yr by shedhead
May 26, 201113 yr There are times in the life of a Chelsea fan when all hope appears lost and that's how I felt back in the 70s when an attempted refurbishment of the stadium nearly caused a financial meltdown and a relegation caused star players to leave Stamford Bridge. The Bridge's future was placed in the hands of property developers. A close shave with relegation to the third division occured but promotion was again secured in 1984-1985. Then a drop back to the second division happened but the club bounced back with promotion the following season. Eventually the ownership was taken over by Roman Abramovich and for that we should be most thankful. Where there's life there's hope and life is too short to be dwelling on the past!
