Shirt spotting

[Zeta]

When out and about, I always used to see tonnes of Man utd shirts, with Arsenal & SPurs being the next most common. But I've noticed in the last year or so, that I'm seeing at least 2 or 3 times as many Chelsea shirts than any other club nowadays.

Anyone else noticed a massive increase?

One would assume it must be largely to do with recent success, having "aquired" us more fans. But you never know, maybe they were all already Chelsea fans but now we're doing well have more of a reason to boast and show off the shirts?!

[blizeH]

I've certainly noticed this too, mixed feelings tbh - always glad to see another Chelsea fan, but it won't help with regards to ticket pricing and availability...

[Guest RFC_CFC]

_{When I'm in Scotland it's always Chelsea shirts I see, hardly any other tbh. Especially in and around Glasgow.}

_{Out with Celtic and Rangers of course.}

Edited June 14, 2012 by RFC_CFC

[stevo]

Always been Chels in my manor.

[The Moos]

I'm going to buy a shirt for my nieces baby when he's a bit older. Got to make someone in my family like football and, more importantly, Chelsea.

[Zeta]

I did that a while ago, sent a miniture chelsea kit over to australia for my 5 year old cousin...years later and he's a big chelsea fan now.

You're welcome.

[The Moos]

I did that a while ago, sent a miniture chelsea kit over to australia for my 5 year old cousin...years later and he's a big chelsea fan now.

You're welcome.

Nice!

The only bad thing is that people will call him plastic because he started supporting Chelsea after Roman came here. Apparently you can't be a devoted fan if you you're post-Roman. Messed up, I know.

But he knows (and we do as well) that he's a real supporter and that's all that matters.

[Peckham Blue]

We won't have made it until you see a tooled up militia man in some civil war ravaged African country wearing one. That's still the domain of Arsenal I'm afraid.

[Granticus]

I currently live in Gloucester, which is a rubgy city, more than anything so football support is more mixed. Chelsea shirts are a very common sight around here though.

[TheWestwayWonder]

I started noticing a few years back when I was visiting London or the ROI that Chelsea shirts were starting to become a more common sight when I was out and about.

But being an American my perspective is a bit different. For a long time I only had a few friends that followed football, and among them I was the only one who followed Chelsea. Its still the case that when I see a Chelsea top on a stranger in public, I will stop and ask them about it, or at least give them a little COYB shout.

I guess since the final my feelings about it have changed somewhat. I spent the final in a local bar (the "home of the beltway blues" they claimed so they were promoting themselves as a magnet for local blues) with about 100-150 folks all wearing blue. Cant tell how many were just there to show support or actually cared, but I was chanting with them for a good 2 hours, and rest assured they went nuts at the right moment. Since I wore the same shirt for about the next two day, I lost count of the number of congratulatory comments I got from kids, adults, attendants at the corner store, people on the street, etc, giving me congratulations or just wanting to talk about how awesome the game was, or how they were rooting for us. That was a pretty fantastic feeling.

Even before that, wearing a Chelsea shirt in America elicits the occasional comment or some good natured taunting. But its certainly noticeable here in America how Chelsea has certainly made their way into relevance among the elites of the world in just the last few years. (Keep in mind, this is in an international city like Washington DC, cant say how it would be in a smaller town.)