The year was 1967. I was a boy of 12..Back then i thought spurs n tottenham were 2 different teams..i lived in leather lane ec1...my next door neighbour john wake,much older took me to chelsea v man city...As a 12 yr old i was reborn a chelsea shed boy...plus....i think i was born to eventually hate spurs.

 

2 hours ago, DumbYank said:

There is a prominent American on the team.  

Matt Miazga?

The guy next to Drogba in my pic. Also born in London, East London mind you but still London.

My big brother would've beat me up if I was a Spuds fan, so I didn't really have much of a choice.

A mate of mine at Primary school got me to follow Chelsea back in the late sixties. Must be about then as I fondly remember the 1970 FA Cup Final. My Dad was a Rangers fan and so are many of my relations so have always had a soft spot for them. As some of you may have realised! 

39 minutes ago, Boyne said:

A mate of mine at Primary school got me to follow Chelsea back in the late sixties. Must be about then as I fondly remember the 1970 FA Cup Final. My Dad was a Rangers fan and so are many of my relations so have always had a soft spot for them. As some of you may have realised! 

One of the best Cup Finals and replays ever....a war of attrition.  If that game was played today, we'd have 22 players out injured  and 22 red cards

1 minute ago, CFCCAN said:

One of the best Cup Finals and replays ever....a war of attrition.  If that game was played today, we'd have 22 players out injured  and 22 red cards

And VAR in meltdown !?

Just now, erskblue said:

And VAR in meltdown !?

They would have had to rewind the 'tape' if it didn't break...quick where's the Sellotape! 

59 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

They would have had to rewind the 'tape' if it didn't break...quick where's the Sellotape! 

Brilliant!?

The film showed no ‘foul’ by Eddie Mac on Billy Bremner...?

Edited January 30, 20215 yr by erskblue

 

 

?

As a 7 year old in 1968 my mum took me to the Dell as we lived just outside Southampton Chelsea best the saints 5_3, I remember I loved the atmosphere ,it was my mum's way to try and get me to support saints that backfired the next thing Chelsea won the f.a cup which was a massive thing back then and here I am today nearly 60 & still Chelsea mad.

just like to add my grandparents brought me up as my mum was young around the same time my mum and her mates were skinheads and she later went on to get banned from the Dell for causing bovver

Afternoon lads, 

May as well do a doubler and make this my intro as well as answering the question. 

Being born and raised in Scotland I found myself surrounded by the big two up here. I could never really take to the goldfish bowl mentality  so I usually got my football from England or Italy in the 90s. My family on my fathers side is mainly Rangers/Hearts but it wasn't until a chance meeting with Ray Wilkins that I was introduced to Chelsea. I think this was around 1997 when he was at Hibs where he was attending a function of some sort, maybe a fundraiser? I remember being impressed by how much of a gentleman he was and I noticed his accent being very different from those in Glasgow. 

So I started looking out for Chelsea and came across Zola, from there it was a one way street. I have followed Chelsea ever since. It's a bit surreal being a Chelsea fan in the midst of the Old Firm but that didn't stop me from being a moderator on one of the Rangers forums for 12 years so I know the score. 

Hopefully when this virus gets put back in it's cage and everyone can return to normality I can move closer to the stadium so I can take in more games at the bridge. 

20 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Matt Miazga?

Roy wegerle surely...

Im in Montreal (Canada).

My mom started dating this guy from Ivory Coast (who still a good friend of the familly) when i was around 10, i wasnt much into Football, no really a popular sport here at that time (I know right). Drogba was on fire at Marseille and my step father kept talking about how great he was. He moved in with my mom and me and he said we MUST have cable and he will pay for it so he could watch Drogba at Chelsea, so i knew it was a really big deal since we never had cable and he wanted to pay 50$ just to watch Drogba play, i remember waking up early in the morning with him to watch Chelsea games instead of the Cartoons, started watching the Champions League game when i would come back from school and he even bought me a Chelsea shirt (the black and gray one). So i started playing football, wanted to be a midfield because i liked Frank so much and the passion kept getting stronger about the sport and the team. I felt in love with Stamford Bridge also, the fans are so close and the games at night were just magnificent. So that's why im a Chelsea fan.

My username  is also a mix of this video and lala is a slang here in Quebec that means a bunch of different sh*t.

 

Edited January 31, 20215 yr by DidierDrogbalala

At the age of about 8 or so, I was scavenging for free stuff for my tree house on the local rubbish dump, and found some football player cards - Hollins, Houseman, Hutchinson, Bonetti, which ended up pinned to one of the tree trunks. That got me started on the road as a Chelsea fan. It was the year we got relegated (74/75), but they became my team anyway. Then a couple of seasons later we played swashbuckling stuff in the old division two, and probably should have won it, but gained promotion as the runners up. That's the first team I can reel off 1-11. I have a hazy recollection that we were featured a lot on The Big Match with Brian Moore, pretty good for a side in what is now the Championship  ?

I had grandfathers who supported Leyton Orient and Brentford, but my dad absolutely hated football (still does) so absolutely no family ties to Chelsea at all. The Brentford grandad took me to my first game in 1976/77 at home to Wolves, which finished 1-1. Ray Wilkins was booked for shirt pulling and I remember being distraught that my hero was caught doing that LOL. We sat in the old West Stand, which was brand new at the time and had pretty much bankrupted the club.

Born and bred in the hardcore Hammers territory of Barking. Brother was 11 years older than me and stipulated I was a Chelsea supporter from the day I was born. He took me regularly in the 70s as a nipper  before I was old enough to go alone as well in the early 80s.

Many tube journeys almost  the length of the district line for home games made for a fun time when we played the Spammers. 
why my brother supported Chelsea I don’t know as my Dad was a gooner! 

Reading all of this makes me think how us international supporters, even though we are miles away from London, still share the same passion. That is the beauty of football for me.

So my story might not be as interesting as those posted above because not only am I an international supporter, but also probably one of the youngest posters in this forum.

I am from Montenegro, where the majority of people (maybe apart from the capital city) support two Belgrade clubs. It is also not uncommon that someone supports a Belgrade club, and another club from Italy, England, Spain etc. One of the main reasons for this is the general state of our football which is currently going through its darkest days since independence.

Some time in 2004 I got a Chelsea jacket as a present and that is where pure love started. A couple of years later when my parents bought me a jersey with Super Frank's name on it I was the happiest child in the world.

When I was at primary school everyone in my class was divided between the two Belgrade clubs, and then there was me, the weirdo who was crazy about Chelsea and wore Chelsea shirts to school. And some still refer to me as 'the guy who supports Chelsea'. 

Needless to say, I am dreaming about watching a game at the Bridge. Can't express in words what would that mean to me.

I'm from Romania so basically I fell in love with the club back in 2003. When Adrian Mutu was signed. A now defunct TV channel immediately took the PL rights and Chelsea was pretty much in the spotlight. I was 12 back then and of course my main occupation was school and spending as much time as I could on the streets of my neighbourhood in Bucharest, I was not that much into playing video games, nor watching football on TV all day. But when I did watch some, Chelsea was either live, or on the news. Plus back then Bucharest was filled with market bazaars full of fake football kits and the beautiful Fly Emirates, Umbro kit was everywhere.

Been a fan since and I rarely miss a match on TV, I've come to the point where I basically read no news for a couple of days after a loss, especially against a rival club.

 

I’ve been wracking my brain all day trying to find the answer, and being from the US, it is not a territorial thing.  The answer is ‘I just don’t know why’, except for the fact that I have never followed teams that have done well and thus I cannot be a fan of the NY Yankees and the LA Lakers , and so I could not root for ManU and Liverpool.  I grew up watching ‘Soccer Made in Germany’ on Saturday mornings, with Tony Charles the moderator (he was a gem, a Scotsman living in Germany, not sure if he is still alive), and so I grew up loving the Bundesliga which was in its heyday in the 70s and 80s. Fortuna Düsseldorf, Bochum, Koln, Schalke (Klaus Fischer was a God), but definitely not Bayern. There also was a one hour show every Saturday Called ‘All Star Soccer’ hosted by Mario Machado, which showed highlights of that week’s English first division matches (this was before the premier league started), but I was never into the English teams then. Maybe I will have an epiphany before I croak and I will remember why I follow Chelsea, but then again I kind of like not remembering why.

Dad forced me into it. First baby picture of me in ‘95 is in a Chelsea woolly hat my dad stuck on me because he thought it would be funny. Think he started following them late 60’s/ early 70’s when him and a few others from around Derby would travel down to London every other weekend.

I think the first game I can properly remember watching at the bridge was Chelsea v Sc**thorpe in the FA cup around 2004ish? Now me and my brother tend to just go to away days and European games, last one before COVID being Ajax away. Can’t wait to get back to it.

Dutch tv used to show FA Cup football, and back in 1994 I thought those guys in the blue kit were playing nice scrappy, passionate football. Never looked back. In the pre-internet days it could be a struggle to keep up to date with the results. Also, it took me 6 years to finally go to a match, it was against Everton (1-1).

My hatred for Man U originates from the 1994 final of course. But I've expanded that to all football teams wearing red, so I've grown as a person. 

I was born in North London, so The Arse and the Spuds were my nearest sides, but I just never felt any connection with them (thank god).

But, when I was ten, I watched the Leeds-Chels final and that was it, I knew I had found my home for life.

It's been a rollercoaster at times, but never boring, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

I must admit, these days, I don't feel so involved as the old days, but I think that is just football in general.

I will always support the Blues whatever, I could never turn away, the club will always be a big part of my life.

Went to my first football match in 1999 as part of a community integration program for Kids & watched Chelsea completely dismantle Manchester United 5-0 at the Bridge & I've been a blue ever since.

Edited February 1, 20215 yr by Imran_CFC

I had always liked sports and was reasonably good yet had too many injuries.

Talking to a work friend he suggested coming to Chelsea so I did and was intrigued.

My friend was a bit subdued at matches yet once I started talking to others at my new work word spread and it was like I had joined the Masons either everyone wanted to come or hear the stories from the matches.

I even had people coming up to me at away matches that used to know me from a decade or more before..

So it did my work prospects no harm just hurt my wallet.

Looking back I like the fact that I remember the old standing terraces and not just the all seater ones of today.

 

16 hours ago, Phillip said:

I’ve been wracking my brain all day trying to find the answer, and being from the US, it is not a territorial thing.  The answer is ‘I just don’t know why’, except for the fact that I have never followed teams that have done well and thus I cannot be a fan of the NY Yankees and the LA Lakers , and so I could not root for ManU and Liverpool.  I grew up watching ‘Soccer Made in Germany’ on Saturday mornings, with Tony Charles the moderator (he was a gem, a Scotsman living in Germany, not sure if he is still alive), and so I grew up loving the Bundesliga which was in its heyday in the 70s and 80s. Fortuna Düsseldorf, Bochum, Koln, Schalke (Klaus Fischer was a God), but definitely not Bayern. There also was a one hour show every Saturday Called ‘All Star Soccer’ hosted by Mario Machado, which showed highlights of that week’s English first division matches (this was before the premier league started), but I was never into the English teams then. Maybe I will have an epiphany before I croak and I will remember why I follow Chelsea, but then again I kind of like not remembering why.

I picked an American Football team to follow about 20 years ago when it came on UK tv, my criteria was simple, pick a team in the middle of the country, i looked at the map at Kansas City was chosen.