I feel sorry for Chelsea!

[sloth]

Reading through their CFC-Net boards as we all have these last few days, you see loads of old-school support bemoaning the new glory-seeking brigade which have attached themselves to the club. Amongst the hundreds of examples this one makes the point best...

I agree with alot of the sentiments on here, reasons are many and varied but personally I,ve felt different since the day we won the prem for the 1st time. Standing on the kings road watching the parade go by I was in tears (I'm 41). The mates that I go with were all the same.We WERE at Bolton,at Sunderland,at Oldham,Shrewsbury etc,etc. On that day something left me though. That deep gut wrenching longing to see what I had just wittnessed no longer exsisted. I imagine its like summiting Everest,what next?. I'm sure this seems strange to many of you but I still feel the same.
Yes I still care and get upset when we lose, shut people up when they slag off MY team, but that gut wrenching ache has never returned.

The point being a conversation I had with a Chelsea supporting mate a couple of years back, where I said I felt sorry for the real Chelsea fan because they've had their club stolen from them by Abramovich. My argument was that whatever you think of Arsenal, Utd or Liverpool what they've achieved they've achieved off the back of their support and the quality of their structures. They're proper clubs who've pulled their way up the hard way and even if you hate them they deserve to be where they are (if you forget the 1920s shennanigans in L'Arse's case). Chelsea don't. They've bought their success and the support have nothing to do with it, they've been relegated to mere onlookers, they're spectators not fans, their support is incidental to the club rather than at its core.

You see glory's never been much about winning or at least never solely been about it. It's as much about how you do it as doing it. Ask Ben Johnson about that, Marion Jones or Dwaine Chambers. That's what that Chelsea fan is expressing. All those years of dreaming and then it's handed to you on a plate and it tastes good at first but after a while you realise it's a candifloss, it's not real and it doesn't count.

Now my chelsea mate didn't accept it at the time and probably still wouldn't, but that's what I reckon the guy quoted above is expressing, he's feeling hollow because of his club which was stolen from him. And I gotta say I feel sorry for him, because it isn't right.

Anyway, that's all, but just to say to all those who wish we'd get bought out by a Russian billionaire, be careful what you wish for.

 

[Legend10]

good post

 

[Kendall]

I agree, I'm happy with our setup, i'm happy with our progress & I'm also happy we're not giving in to the market by throwing £100k+ at players, we're developing what we've got and doing a pretty good job.

 

[thfcsuperyid]

top post

 

[TheChosenOne]

crocodile tears - maybe.

ps Ar5ena1 may be going the same way soon.

 

[KentuckyYid]

Still... It couldn't have happened to a better club

 

[robbiesavagehasbreasts]

Great post.

Slightly different from the topic. I was wondering the other day how quickly success can go away. Look at Chelsea. Sure, they are fighting in all three competitions but it's a possibility they won't win anything this season. Just last season they won both cups and before that two PL titles. Arsenal haven't won anything for two or three years. A better example is Leeds.

I guess I'm saying fans should appreciate when their club is on a high, winning titles. And us Spurs fans, we really do appreciate when our team does something, as witnessed last sunday. ManU fans, for an example, are one of the most annoying fans around. They've been winning things for many many years and all the fans are cocky and arrogant, and don't know the feeling of being fourteenth at the end of the season or having a team full of nobodies. Man United fans are like a bunch of spoiled kids raised up on candy and gifts. The same can be said of the new Chelsea fans, the ones that started following the club when Roman came and they started winning things. These fans expect to win every game and win all the titles, and I've sometimes read Chelsea forums, and there's always one or two old school guys, guys like your mate, that have been with the club forever, that are throwing out "you guys should've seen us fifteen years ago" at the new boys.

 

[oohaahedgar]

You have a chelsea mate.

 

[chinaman]

The old chelsea was good at producing their own stars. Our Jimmy Greaves and Venables came from them. Other superstars that came through included Bobby Tambling, Peter Osgood, Peter Bonetti and Alan Hudson.

 

[SpurSince57]

The old chelsea was good at producing their own stars. Our Jimmy Greaves and Venables came from them. Other superstars that came through included Bobby Tambling, Peter Osgood, Peter Bonetti and Alan Hudson.

And Smithy and Les Allen.