Both had hero and villain Status. Whatever happened to the Mears Family after their exceedingly long association with Chelsea?

Don't know what happened to David Mears but I did managed to have a chat with Brian Mears a couple of years before he died and he blamed a lot on the board voting to sell ossie Hudson and others and the steel strike and the cost of the east stand repayments etc I do know that brain mears son is on Facebook so some one could ask him he's in take I think he goes to Chelsea games as well https://m.facebook.com/cjmears?ref=bookmark. Me myself I never blamed Brian seeing that Chelsea was in he's blood unlike that c**t bates

Bates may have been a c**t but he was our c**t. 

I cant see how anyone can say Bates was a villain, he was the only one to come in take on our debts & save us, not forgetting for twenty years fighting off property developers, i didnt agree with everything he said or done but without him we wouldnt be here now, there wasnt exactly a queue of business men trying to buy us in 82 was there. 

 

Now he gets slated for making money from selling us to Roman, lets not forget that so called die hard Chelsea fan Matthew Harding(R.I.P) also made money from us, at a time when we didnt have any money as well.

 

I'd say the Mears family f**ked the club up even if they did mean well, but to try & sell the Bridge under our noses is unforgivable, f**k em.

horses for courses glad to to some of you like him but personally cant stand the prick, mind you seeing what he has done to leeds I quite like him now

Regrettably, in many ways, have to agree with Carshalton's points re Uncle Ken.

In my view, our beloved CFC could have died without Ken's intervention (not something you could say about MH's financial input). Agreed, Ken made money, wasn't someone you wanted to dinner, had bad breath BUT he kept Chelsea alive AND at Stamford Bridge.

When MH came along (and I worked in the insurance market with him) the situation was not so dire. No one doubts that MH was blue to the core but he did love his populist image. If, as a director of a visiting club, you are invited to a boardroom, is it polite/clever to ignore dress codes and arrive in a players shirt and jeans? Would MH have worn the same to a business meeting in EC3? My information is that MH never GAVE Chelsea any money (in the sense that Jack Walker gave Blackburn millions). What MH did do was to lend Chelsea money (admittedly at possibly good terms for Chelsea) in order for the club to progress both on the pitch and off.

My points are:-

It was never as simple as Ken v Mathew.

We all owe a massive debt to Ken.

Whilst I miss Mathew hugely (and a very good mate of mine could have been on that chopper that awful night), he was a very shrewd businessman and his involvement was not as life and death as Ken's.

I know who we'd probably rather have a pint with in the Imperial but that's not the point!

Regrettably, in many ways, have to agree with Carshalton's points re Uncle Ken.

In my view, our beloved CFC could have died without Ken's intervention (not something you could say about MH's financial input). Agreed, Ken made money, wasn't someone you wanted to dinner, had bad breath BUT he kept Chelsea alive AND at Stamford Bridge.

When MH came along (and I worked in the insurance market with him) the situation was not so dire. No one doubts that MH was blue to the core but he did love his populist image. If, as a director of a visiting club, you are invited to a boardroom, is it polite/clever to ignore dress codes and arrive in a players shirt and jeans? Would MH have worn the same to a business meeting in EC3? My information is that MH never GAVE Chelsea any money (in the sense that Jack Walker gave Blackburn millions). What MH did do was to lend Chelsea money (admittedly at possibly good terms for Chelsea) in order for the club to progress both on the pitch and off.

My points are:-

It was never as simple as Ken v Mathew.

We all owe a massive debt to Ken.

Whilst I miss Mathew hugely (and a very good mate of mine could have been on that chopper that awful night), he was a very shrewd businessman and his involvement was not as life and death as Ken's.

I know who we'd probably rather have a pint with in the Imperial but that's not the point!

I used to drink with a son of Matthew Harding in the late 90s early 00s, lovely lad, id never slag MH off after all he was a fellow Chelsea fan, but my view is similier to yours mate, if i had his sort of wealth there's no way id LOAN the club money id give them it, it just doesnt seem right that a fan would make money out of the club, lets not forget he loaned us £6m i think it was for the MH stand, not exactly to strengthen the team, i could be way of the mark here but thats how i remember it.

 

As for Bates he also stuck up for us fans against the plod & the FA at times, Luton away 30 or so Chelsea locked out during the no away fans ban, Bates gave them all directors tickets so they could get in, not forgetting he also stuck up for us when it'd have been easier to ban everyone for the trouble down at Portsmouth for example.

Like i said i didnt agree with everything he said or done like changing our badge, the Chelsea Collection kit, the prices ect.

Quite agree mate. V easy for the guy on the terrace to see MH as one of their own and Uncle Ken as the corporate bad guy. The truth is always somewhere in between.

By the way, does anyone remember (and miss) the old FOUL magazine in the old days. Bit like a Private Eye of football, half jokey (foul of the month etc which normally won by R Harris!) and half investigative journalism into boardroom skulduggery etc. Had great writers like Chris Lightbown et al. If anyone has any old copies I'd love to see em.

Mears nearly killed the club,and was happy to sell the bridge to do so.Bates took on the debts, saved the ground, and eventually sold to the russian fella.Harding RIP was never there when we were riddled with debt. Bit of a glory boy tbh.IMO Bates was very generous to name the north stand after Harding. Bates name would have been more fitting. So what if he made a bit of dosh out of it and left us with a sh*t hotel.He invested 20 years in the club and when he took over football and its fans had a very different profile.

How refreshing that I'm not the only old b****r who thinks that we owe Bates. Mind you, it was a long time ago...... Aaa argh those were the days!!!

Mears nearly killed the club,and was happy to sell the bridge to do so.Bates took on the debts, saved the ground, and eventually sold to the russian fella.Harding RIP was never there when we were riddled with debt. Bit of a glory boy tbh.IMO Bates was very generous to name the north stand after Harding. Bates name would have been more fitting. So what if he made a bit of dosh out of it and left us with a sh*t hotel.He invested 20 years in the club and when he took over football and its fans had a very different profile.

Have to agree with that Mears left a mess (whether he totally caused it is another issue) Harding did donate the stand but Im sure if he had lived Chelsea had to pay it back in the form of a loan. Never met him so cant comment on what he was like but his arrival as a famous fan did coincide with the gentrification of football but he may have been there during the crap years, Bates is first of all a tight old sod who liked football but more so making money, He sorted Chelsea out and could easily have left it at that but went further by buying the ground  and investing in the team at the right time. Then he made his wedge by selling to the russian.

Also not forgetting Bates introduced the CPO scheme which was genius looking back, how to stop any future property developers raping the club? i know i'll let the fans own a part of the ground. Legend.

Mears family doesn't necessarily has to be all about Brian or David let not forget Henry Augustus Mears no Gus no Chelsea period.........Sorry for short reply not very good at writing long winded letters

Edited February 5, 201412 yr by rumpole

And it was on this day yesterday 4 February 102 years ago that's Henry Augustus Mears was buried in Brompton Cemetery lets hope when Ken Bates shuffles off this mortal planet someone on this forum takes time to do a little write-up on Ken saying what a great job He done saving Chelsea FC that will have Matthew Harding turning in his grave

Edited February 5, 201412 yr by rumpole

Well he died on the 4th not sure when he was buried as I was far too young to attend:)

Uncle Ken was viewed as a villain by the property speculators that he saw off:-

Uncle Ken was a legend, as many others have said without him there would be no Chelsea. For me he's the most important individual in our histroy, it would be great to welcome him back to the bridge one day.

As for the comment about when he dies.... Ken Bates won't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing his time come to an end!

Oh and as for the comments on MH, I thought it was only me that felt that way about him. Helped us out but not as dramatically as the press would have you believe.

Well now I can advise who should receive one off DH specially made Xmas card for this coming Christmas if you never got one off the man himself Christmas gone all I can say is. Tough :) lol

I havent read one valid reason why Bates gets grief? 

 

Like i said he was a c**t at times but also done a lot of good.

I'll happily put myself down as another 'fan' of Batesy. Maybe fan is not the right word though. His politics and outlook on life and mine would likely be very different, if it wasn't for his CFC connection I wouldn't ever want to invite him over for a dinner party or chat with him in a pub.

 

Be that as it may I prefer to deal in facts not 'might have beens'. Batesy fought the battle to save the club. No one else did. He might have done it for selfish reasons, he might have been the only one who could see the potential of the club in the early 80s and figured he could do well out of it in the long term. Frankly I don't really care. He was there when no one else was and he fought like the bar steward he was to keep the club going. Sure, a different owner with more money and a more likeable personality would have been nice. But there wasn't one. And that's a fact.

 

Moving on to some conjecture. Had he not been our chairman/owner at that time, how many of you could see CFC existing in the way we knew it then and the way we know it now? Would we still be at the Bridge? Would we even be called Chelsea FC? Yes, that's conjecture, we don't know for certain who might have stepped in had Batesy not done so and they might have been more successful in saving us earlier and done it with a smile on their face and a great rapport with the media. But, again, what I know for a fact is that Batesy did the job and, all things considered, did it pretty well.

I'll happily put myself down as another 'fan' of Batesy. Maybe fan is not the right word though. His politics and outlook on life and mine would likely be very different, if it wasn't for his CFC connection I wouldn't ever want to invite him over for a dinner party or chat with him in a pub.

 

Be that as it may I prefer to deal in facts not 'might have beens'. Batesy fought the battle to save the club. No one else did. He might have done it for selfish reasons, he might have been the only one who could see the potential of the club in the early 80s and figured he could do well out of it in the long term. Frankly I don't really care. He was there when no one else was and he fought like the bar steward he was to keep the club going. Sure, a different owner with more money and a more likeable personality would have been nice. But there wasn't one. And that's a fact.

 

Moving on to some conjecture. Had he not been our chairman/owner at that time, how many of you could see CFC existing in the way we knew it then and the way we know it now? Would we still be at the Bridge? Would we even be called Chelsea FC? Yes, that's conjecture, we don't know for certain who might have stepped in had Batesy not done so and they might have been more successful in saving us earlier and done it with a smile on their face and a great rapport with the media. But, again, what I know for a fact is that Batesy did the job and, all things considered, did it pretty well.

Bates says on the London Programme from 1982 that Chelsea are far to big a club to be where it is, he also says in 20 years i'll have the club in Europe, he nearly made it in 84/85 with us just missing out but then the scousers went on a murdering rampage so it was irrelevant anyway, but then he was proved right albeit a bit later with us in Europe in 94/95.

Quite agree mate. V easy for the guy on the terrace to see MH as one of their own and Uncle Ken as the corporate bad guy. The truth is always somewhere in between.

By the way, does anyone remember (and miss) the old FOUL magazine in the old days. Bit like a Private Eye of football, half jokey (foul of the month etc which normally won by R Harris!) and half investigative journalism into boardroom skulduggery etc. Had great writers like Chris Lightbown et al. If anyone has any old copies I'd love to see em.

I used to own the 'Best of FOUL', which was superb. As you say, a mix of hilarious stuff and investigative features. Sadly, I lent to a mate back in my college days and he never gave it back :-(

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foul-Football-Andrew-Editors-Nickolds/dp/095046550X