First of apologies if I have put this in the wrong category but feeling a bit nostalgic at the moment and I was just wondering how everyone came to support the Blues.

I live in Merton, which as the more local fans on here will know is pretty much all Chelsea but my Dad was never really into football before I was born and had "supported" Man U. My Dads best friend and his family were all Chelsea though and I was and still am very close to their family. They grew up on the Fulham Court Estate so they were the ones that really got me into Chelsea, got me my first season review of the 94/95 season (which was my first as a fan) and then years later got Zola, Gudjohnsen, JFH etc to sign Birthday Cards for me and then I never looked back. My older cousin who I am very close to is a die hard Gooner and used to try and brainwash me into supporting them but to no avail.

My dad is a Chelsea fan, so that's pretty much it. A family friend who passed away in 2005 (far too early, was in his early 40's) made me hardcore though - took me to games, bought me the football shirts, match programes... pretty much anything CFC related. But my dad stood in the Shed as a youngster with his uncle so it dates back to the 60s, no one else in our family is interested in football.

On a side note, I am getting the friend who passed away a plaque on the mamorial wall in the Shed End. He took me to my first game (1-0 Aston Villa win if I remember correctly, 1997/98) and when I stood there last year when we won the league I cried coz he should have been there too :( so a plaque seemed right.

Sorry for the tangent...

My dad is a Chelsea fan, so that's pretty much it. A family friend who passed away in 2005 (far too early, was in his early 40's) made me hardcore though - took me to games, bought me the football shirts, match programes... pretty much anything CFC related. But my dad stood in the Shed as a youngster with his uncle so it dates back to the 60s, no one else in our family is interested in football.

On a side note, I am getting the friend who passed away a plaque on the mamorial wall in the Shed End. He took me to my first game (1-0 Aston Villa win if I remember correctly, 1997/98) and when I stood there last year when we won the league I cried coz he should have been there too :( so a plaque seemed right.

Sorry for the tangent...

I am sorry to here that Gem. I am sure your friend would be proved of everything we have achieved.

My dad supported Chelsea, he's been going since the late fifties, he grew up in Morden and later Wimbledon (near railway lines half way between Wimbledon Park & Wimbledon tube stations). I was born in Merton when it was in Surrey way back when,.

Long story we moved to Cheltenham when I was a kid and in 1976 a mate at school got me to go to see Chelsea at Hereford away, my old man drove us to the ground god bless him. It was at the mad mid 70s time and I loved it, was a 13 year old lad and the 'atmosphere' the game and the coppers hats bobbing up and down in the Chelsea end got me well and truly hooked.

Never looked back, was tough when I 1st got over to Los Angeles in 88 very little coverage but my old man kept me up to date. Now I get about 8 + prem games a weekend over here.

Through my dad really, he was in London with his class in the late 70s and they visited stamford bridge back then, since then hes always been Chelsea.. when I was younger we watched the premiership together every weekend and cheered for Chelsea, good times..

Was a bit of a bonus that his 50th birthday was on the same day we watched Chelsea v WBA at home, good birthday present for him to return after 40 or so years where it all started for him!

I have a Samsung Smartphone... and its quite good.

I remember being about 5 years old trying to watch the BBC but the screen being very blurry, it was a crap aerial signal. I must have liked the name or the colour or something because whenever the next match started, i would ask if the team in blue were Chelsea.

I think when I really got into it was a couple years later I thought Zola was immense, I was playing football but I was really atrocious even for that age, but I just thought he was a little magician and seeing a guy who looked so different to the rest of the footballers beating them all really inspired me and kept me going. I also remember Chelsea having managers who actually played and thinking that Ferguson and Wenger knew nothing as they wouldn't put on a kit and run out on the pitch.

My family would have traditionally been a Rugby family and they had no soccer allegiances, I still remember getting the first Fly Emirates sponsored jersey , the first football jersey I ever had, for Christmas.

I really don't think I could pinpoint to one precise moment when I knew that I'd always love Chelsea, I never met anyone else who supported Chelsea until into the Abramovich days. I suppose the fact that everyone else supported Arsenal, Liverpool and United and were such absolute know-all cocks lead me to dislike those teams intensely too.

Well I don't come from a traditional Chelsea family, but I did grow up in West London, and one of my uncles was a regular match-goer, so the influence was there. I can still clearly remember watching the 1967 FA Cup Final on TV when I was 10, and my mother who very rarely took the slightest interest in football, telling me that she wanted Chelsea to win but she thought Tottenham would win. Her reasons as far as I recall being that Chelsea had the better looking players (Tottenham's players were all ugly and looked like thugs!) and that nice Peter Osgood was out injured.

So although I was already calling myself a Chelsea supporter in 1967, the first time I went to the Bridge was in 1971, when I went along with my uncle to the 3-3 draw against Coventry. From that moment on I was hooked and it wasn't long at all till I moved round to The Shed.

In 1967 i lived in hloborn london..I liked spurs..(let me just whip myself again)..My next door neighbour, who i am eternally gratefull to,was a chelsea fan..He took me in 67 to spunk v chelsea..67 into 68 he took me to chelsea v man ciy...I think we won 2 0..I was smitten.Smitten with the whole ambiance of the GOOD OLD SHED END (R I P)..After having our local italian church priest excorcise any remnants of spurs evil from me..I WAS A BORN AGAIN BLUE.....They have given me anguish, pain, fun n euphoria..Experiences i shall probably get mixed up , but will never ever forget....

Edited September 3, 201114 yr by brimstone

I was born in Parsons Green, Fulham and Stamford Bridge was the nearest ground to me.

My Dad is a Fulham fan and used to take me and my brother to watch them from the age of four. When he brought me to Stamford Bridge for the first time in the early 70's to a Chelsea v Fulham match I loved the ground so much as it seemed so big and I loved Chelsea's blue kit.

Going to school, all my friends and my brother were Chelsea fans. So we all used to go to Stamford Bridge together - standing at the front in the old shed end. It wasn't the best time to be supporting them as we were going through one of the worst times in our history. But it was now MY club.

Supporting them through the tough times of the 70's & 80's makes you appreciate any success you have now. Today's Chelsea seems a million miles away from the club I first started supporting as a boy.

Players may come and go, managers may come and go...even owners. The only people who never leave are the supporters!

Edited September 3, 201114 yr by DELBY

My Dad and my Uncle decided to support Chelsea when they were in school a good 30+ years ago and I've grown up with it, and I'm so glad I did grow up with it. Saw my first game in 2001 when I was 9, seeing Chelsea smash Bolton 5-1 at the Bridge, and since that day I've never, ever looked back.

Just found a report on my first game (it was 1-0 Villa & not the 1-1 I thought I remembered :( ) and saw the attendance was 33,018. As someone who only went to 2 matches prior to the West Upper, I forget how new that part of the stadium is.

I didn't go to a Chelsea game till 99. We beat Newcastle 1-0 and Frank Lebouef scored a pen, that was pretty much it. I picked the wrong game to go to because the following week we smashed United 5-0, I was out in Wimbledon at the time and thought it was a joke until I read the then teletext.

As much as I bemoan the mid 90s and the ups and downs in the early 00s, I appreciate just how lucky I am. I remember a time when all of us Chelsea lot used to get teased at school by Gooners and look how the tables have turned

I was at Upton Park when we lost 1-0 to the Pikeys and I remember thinking this is it for us, we won't make CL now and get the investment we need and will go bust, thankfully we got that much needed boost and beat Liverpool the following week after their shock home loss to City. I couldn't believe it when we won the league the first time, never really sunk in!

My dad was born and raised in Worcester Park and his dad started taking him to watch Chelsea. So even though I'm born and bred in Stockport I was raised a Chelsea fan. My first match was a 1-1 home draw with Rotherham in '83 when I was 7. My second game was the game at Bolton when Clive Walker scored to avoid a visit to the third division! I'm quite proud of that.

It was a lot of fun (most of the time) going through school supporting a team that nobody else did. It made me very partizan and pretty well known. But I think that it had a negative affect on my studies.

Coming from just outside Manchester and with a hatred of anything red or blue from there. Chelsea beat United at OT in 1968 4-0 just after they had been crowned european champions , they became my team when i was aged 9.

My Dad is a big fan and living on the street didnt seem an exciting prospect at the time!

My dad is a chelsea fan so i followed him along with it. My step dad is a liverpool fan which is another reason to support the blues, just to add a bit more spice to Chelsea vs Liverpool matches.

I never would have been allowed to support another team i dont think, not that I would have wanted to as my favourite colour is blue!

As with a lot of other posters, i followed my old man who in turn followed my grandad. I got bought a chelsea rucksack as a 5 year old lad and was taken to my first game during the 87-88 season (3v0 win at home to Luton if my memory serves me correctly). After relegation and a drop in st prices my dad shelled out for my first season ticket, and i have been lucky enough to keep it until now (unfortunately he stopped paying when i started working!). I have worked overseas since for the last 4 years but shall be back at the bridge from Dec 2012. Counting the days!

My aunties taste in men is the reason why I became a Chelsea fan. She met my ex-uncle (They're not married anymore) when I was about 4 and they married when I was 7. He was a born and bred Londoner but having lived near Portsmouth his son had decided to be a Pompey fan instead of following his dad. I guess I was kind of the substitute and he tried many times to convince my mum during the 80s that it was perfectly safe at Stamford Bridge, but she wasn't having any of it. She finally relented by letting me go on 31st December 1988 (I celebrate the anniversary of my first game every year ) against West Brom, the game finished 1-1. I was 11 at the time and he continued to take me to games every so often until he and my auntie split up when I was about 14. I found other Chelsea fans in the local area (Worcester) and have continued going to games ever since.

John Barnes.

John Barnes.

His rap had that much of an influence on you?

My dad told me I did, and that was that.

I've given reasons for why I support Chelsea many times before but if I have to sum it up in one line:

I support Chelsea because I refused to conform with the glory hunting southerner masses who decided upon the Liverpools and ManUres when I was growing up.

Good lad. You know it makes sense!

sorry, that was in reply to dkw, but Geezer got there before me!

Edited September 4, 201114 yr by moi

Because I grew up less than a mile from Highbury and I have always been something on a contrary motherf**ker!