With the background of Chelsea’s offer to CPO, it seems to me that there are a lot of questions about whether or not we trust Ron Gourlay, Buck et al, to do the right thing.

Most of us seem to trust Roman quite a bit (I count myself amongst those) but aren’t sure about the others. Mr Buck wants our trust – he wants us to trust the Board to do the right thing for the club – but he does not appear to want to work for it.

I am also concerned that the Board have decided to pursue this route at a time when Roman may have his attention diverted by the well-publicised court case…or am I being overly cynical? Alternatively, is this a clever piece of media manipulation the club trusts will take the limelight from said court case?

Do we trust the Board not to work behind Roman’s back? If this is the case, do we trust that Roman is savvy enough to be aware of it? If he is fully supportive of this, is our trust in Roman misplaced?

But the fact is, all of that is completely and totally irrelevant. This is not a question of trust. Nor is this about whether or not we move away from the Bridge. This is ultimately a question of good business sense.

No business can be expected to divest itself of its prime business stake, its bargaining power and its whole intrinsic value as Chelsea suggest CPO should do. To suggest that it does so, with no concrete idea of what the other party has in mind is risible. Laughable. Derisory …. quickly, get out the thesaurus, is there any word worse than derisory?

Okay, so the CPO are not a business in the normal sense of the word, but they sure as hell have performed a security function and to a great extent a good-governance function for the club in the past and continue to perform that now. The only difference with CPO now as opposed to five or ten years ago is that their function may – just may – be vital once more in safeguarding the future of the club.

I have tried to be impartial on this and tried very hard it to see it from the club’s point of view. But I can’t. Or rather I cannot see what the club hopes to achieve by saying, in effect; Let’s do a deal – you give us the rights to the real estate and the name and we will – actually we won’t give you anything. Yes, of course if you want promises we will promise you anything that is not supportable in law. But don’t be fooled, in reality, in law, we are giving you nothing…

Surely if such a proposition were mooted across a Boardroom table, the other party would assume it was either a joke or simply walk out at the insult. Either scenario begs the question as to why we – and perhaps more importantly, Roman – should trust what Chelsea’s Board say.

I am not a Chelsea Pitch Owner (nor am I totally opposed to leaving The Bridge), so I say this with the utmost respect to all concerned and knowing that this should have no impact on whatever decision anyone makes. Ultimately it is up to each individual to behave as he or she sees in the best interests of the club.

Now is the time the CPO must stand together though, even if it is against the wishes of their own “leadership”. No backing down until the proposals that are being made are concrete and transparent. Only when the Board can put something on the table that is understandable, clear, unambiguous and to the point, then the CPO can make an informed judgement.

Until then they should not even enter into dialogue with the club other than to say we appreciate your ideas but until concrete proposals are put forward we cannot discuss this now or in the future.

One last point that I dont think anyone apart from myself can answer: why should I continue to fervently support a club who have a Board that behave as cynically, or if not cynically then stupidly, as this?

While not wanting to sound like John Cleese in Monthy Python, what has Roman (Abramovich) ever done for us?

That is, apart from; paying off the large Euro-loan that was due, taking Chelsea Football Club to the next level, buying a succession of world class players (and the odd duff one – not Damien, he was great), our own training ground and one of the best in Europe or the World, three Premierships when I never thought I’d live to see one, a Champions League final (again, I would never, ever have dreamed this would happen), and so much more.

All these wondrous ‘gifts’ yet so many of those naughty, thankless irks who bought the odd £100 share seem not to trust our knight in shinning armour!

That’s fine for all those who have 100% trust in Roman, his heirs and, when the time comes (and it will come), whoever they sell Chelsea Football Club to. Some of us have slightly longer memories or heed that quotation “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Prior to the Ken Bates era, Chelsea Football and Athletic Club was founded by Gus Mears. The club remained in the same family from 1905 until the mid 1980’s when circumstances and maybe poor judgement conspired against the family owned club which was now deep in debt. The club was sold to Ken Bates, but the freehold of the land was effective sold off and traded between property developers.

Love or hate the guy (and there’s plenty in each camp), what you cannot deign is that Ken’s belligerent bull-dog spirit to save ‘our’ club and of course his investment in it, eventually saved Stamford Bridge as the home for the club and quite possibly the actual existence of Chelsea Football Club.

Like virginity, you only need to say yes once and it’s gone. You can not recoup what you had. Likewise the CPO vote. Think very hard.

Why do we need to rush into a yes in three weeks time? Why can’t we ask questions, have time to consider the answers, offer any alternative proposals and maybe decided in a few months? Why does it have to be the way Bruce Buck and Ron Gourlay want it and want it now?

The sale of Chelsea Stadium Ltd to the club and the effective closure of the CPO is a big issue. Do not take it lightly and do not be rushed into by the personalities involved. A no vote doesn’t mean a no never, it can be considered a ‘not sure yet’, ‘maybe later’ or a ‘yes but’ vote.

Even if you think ‘yes’ is right, why not vote no to allow better bargaining power for the shareholders trying to get the best deal for the club and the supporters?

Don’t get caught with your knickers down, hold on to your ha’penny!

With Chelsea FC making an aggressive statement of intent with regards to buying out the CPO in order to fully acquire not only the freehold to Stamford Bridge, but the name of Chelsea FC itself too, many supporters and supporters groups alike are rightly concerned.

This is your chance to tell us how you feel about this issue.

Everything’s easy with hindsight. I bought my Chelsea Pitch Owners share on the 30th January 1985 on my way to Hillsborough for the quarter final replay of the then Milk Cup.

At that point I’d only ever seen Chelsea win one trophy, the 1970 FA cup … I was only four then and it’s still the earliest memory I have of my life.

So imagine standing on the terraces at Hillsborough at half time that evening … 3-0 down … gutted. The rest of that night is, as they say, history.

Yes Liverpool, history … “3-0 down, 4-3 up, then old Dougie fcked it up.” A hundred pounds was a lot of money for me then but I bought the share as we were fighting a battle to save Stamford Bridge.

It was only really thanks to the property crash in the late eighties that we ended up keeping our home … we we’re that close to ground sharing with Palace. If you’d told me that 25 years later, we would regularly get crowds of over 40,000 I’d have said you were clinically insane.

Remember those days of struggling to get 12,000 and against Cambridge at home if my memory serves me right, less than 7000 in Stamford Bridge ? My point is that a lot happens in 25 years. Will Abravomich still be our owner then ? Probably not.

Having 16,000 fans own the freehold to Stamford Bridge and the name of Chelsea Football Club gives us total protection forever. The offer from Chelsea is insulting. If they don’t build a new ground by 2020 they have complete control over where we play.

I don’t trust Bruce Buck … his last interview on Radio 5 made me cringe … an American stating his life long passion for Chelsea … where was he when we were shit?

Vote no at the AGM … it might seem trivial now but in 25 years time you could look back on it as the decision that saved our club.

A bitterly cold, snowy, winter.  An indifferent summer.  A Royal Wedding.  1986 has a lot in common with 2011.

It was in 1986 that the Battle for the Bridge was at its height.  The words “super stadium on the M25” were enough to strike fear into the heart of any true blue.

Ken Bates finally reached agreement with the banks representing the now-defunct Marler/Cabra Estates in 1992, and in 1993 Chelsea Pitch Owners was formed to safeguard the future of football at Stamford Bridge.

Twenty five years later, we appear to have come full circle.

The club’s announcement yesterday of their “proposal” to CPO shareholders is a defining day in our history, and there are serious matters to take into consideration.  I attended the last CPO meeting in the Vialli Suite at the Bridge, and reported on that meeting for TheChels.net.  I now quote directly from that article with regard to the moribund nature of share sales:-

“I expressed my concern, which is that we simply don’t seem to be paying off the loan, and why the developing overseas markets weren’t being targeted.  Mr King advised that it was his opinion that the market is saturated and he felt we were unlikely to sell many more shares.

I countered this by asking how did he know this?  There must be many Chelsea fans in place like America, India and Russia who weren’t aware of the organisation, and that a comment on an internet forum indicated there were fans in Britain who’d never heard of CPO.  Mr King said that CPO didn’t have a marketing budget and that a considerable amount money might have to be spent on such a campaign.  He advised he would look into it.”

No wonder Mr King swept the suggestion aside.  It would appear that answers given at last year’s AGM were nothing more than a subterfuge for the “buyback” proposal.  CPO had no intention of marketing themselves actively.  It is worth remembering that this was enshrined in the aims of CPO and trumpeted in the FAQs in the CPO section of Chelsea’s website:-

“What are the responsibilities and aims of CPO in the ‘Roman era’?

Nothing has changed, the objective remains the same – to actively market and sell shares to raise money in order to pay off the loan used to purchase the freehold of the pitch.”

It appears that there is a prima facie case that the Directors of CPO have failed in this.  One hesitates to ask why this might be.

I bought my share in CPO to ensure that football remains played at the Bridge, regardless of owner.  Roman Abramovich might love the club, but what if his children, or grandchildren grow tired of it?  Even if we move to, for argument’s sake, White City, the club formerly known Chelsea FC – the ramifications of the name ownership connected with CPO being a lit firework waiting to go off – will still be sitting on a piece of desirable real estate, and the “super stadium on the M25” will remain a spectre at the feast.

The promise of a move no more than a 3 mile radius from the Bridge before 2020 without CPO’s agreement is disingenuous.  In truth, there is little likelihood of the club being able to move before that date – a mere nine years away.

And then there’s the “inducement” being offered to shareholders by the club.  A place on a “Walk of Honour” (more properly “Walk of Shame”) and preferential season tickets is nothing more than a poor attempt at a bribe.

And there’s the matter of the timing.  Fourteen days notice has been given of this meeting, the minimum at law.  That’s very little time to marshal an effective campaign against buyback.  I salute those who have already rallied to the cause.

Let us be absolutely truthful about this.  I adore my club.  This is why I’ve spent the best part of the last 24 hours thinking about little else that this indecent proposal.  But there is an elephant in the room.  We couldn’t even fill the Bridge for a game against Bayer Leverkusen at a (albeit slightly) discounted rate.

In fact, having been a critic of Boycott Genk, in the bigger picture, this could help the fight to save the Bridge. How are we going to fill a 55,000 seater stadium? We will always sell out the big European nights, the premium Premier League games, the domestic Semi-Finals.

What happened to our much-vaunted, carefully cultivated, season-ticket waiting list?  To quote Blackadder, “vanished, like an old oak table”.  And let’s be honest about another aspect.  Some supporters pin their hopes on a move to a bigger ground resulting in lower ticket prices.  This simply will not happen.  I would expect ticket prices to be broadly the same, and increases smaller, and at longer periods.   The days of “cheap” football have gone forever.  The corporate areas will expand.  There’ll be more prawn sandwich eaters.  And tourists.

If you are a CPO shareholder, you can help us Save the Bridge.  Attend the meeting on 27^th October.  If you can’t attend in person, send back your proxy form.  All it takes it a first class stamp and five minutes of your time to complete the form and vote against the proposal.

I cannot stress how important it is to return the proxy form – any votes not returned will revert to the Chair, with the result that you may unwittingly vote for relocation.

Finally, given the events of the past 24 hours, perhaps it’s time to re-write an old favourite:-

Our Chelsea flag is deepest blue

It’s covered heroes old and new

From Fatty Foulke to AVB

It’s part of our great history

So keep the blue flag flying high,

As it’s done in days gone by

You’ll never take our heritage

We’ll keep the blue flag at the Bridge

Follow me @BlueBaby67 on Twitter

There are very few things that transcend following your club. There are even fewer that transcend following Chelsea.

But when personal disaster strikes people, you have to take a step back and think; “Well, what can I do?”

In time the full reasons for the terrible tragedy at Gleision Collery will become known. Hopefully then, if there are lessons to be learned, they will be made public in time to prevent anything similar happening in the future.

In the meantime, though, those of us who have not been directly affected by the tragedy can only offer our sympathy and perhaps our money to help those who have had their lives so cruelly ripped apart.

And that is why I have no problem in lifting the following item word for word direct from the Chelsea website. It’s also why I am proud to be Chelsea.

MINERS FUND COLLECTION AT THE BRIDGE

Chelsea Football Club extends our sympathies to all those affected by the recent Gleision Colliery tragedy, in which four miners lost their lives and a fifth was hospitalised.

Bucket collections will be taking place around Stamford Bridge before today’s game against Swansea City and all proceeds from today’s matchday raffle, which is held in the hospitality areas at every home game, will be donated to the Swansea Valley Miners Appeal Fund. The club has also pledged to match the total figure raised with a second donation.

MP for Neath Peter Hain, who set up the fund, said: ‘The tragedy has cast a terrible dark cloud over the whole community, but the response has been absolutely overwhelming and given real comfort to the families.

‘The aim of the fund is to provide support, because the men were due to be paid next week. Now there’s no salary coming into the families.

‘I hope people will be generous and, as a long-standing Chelsea fan of 46 years, I’m extremely grateful for what the club is doing.

‘I’m sure everybody will have been moved by the tragedy and any money you can spare will help the families in the future.’

Donations can also be made by emailing donate@minersappealfund.org

For more information visit www.minersappealfund.org

I’m prompted to write this little off-the-cuff rant as a result of (this morning) catching up reading some of the stuff (for “stuff” read “criticism of the team”) I’ve read on other websites.

Usually I can ignore such criticism (even from Chelsea so-called “supporters” – who do nothing but criticise negatively and offer no constructive comment). Usually, it’s like water off a ducks back.

When you lose, particularly to a direct rival, as we did last weekend, you expect to read criticism from the press; from fans; from the grumpy; from the stupid; from the mischief-makers.

But today I’m in a bit of a bad mood because I missed AVB’s press conference, so I’m going to react to the argument that we are a poor side incapable of winning anything because we attack like we do.

Let’s face it, above all I want trophy wins. Sure, I’m happy to forego winning lots so long as we win fairly often: in other words I’m happy to forego winning cabinets full of trophies in a short space of time a la Mourinho if it means we win a few things once in a while AND play good, exciting, attacking football.

What I dont want is to end every season being classed as an Arsenal – mostly lovely one-touch attacking football, which makes for good dvd’s, but no trophies, which merely provides pointless football.

What we saw at Man U was a step on the way towards attacking football AND winning, I’m very happy to say. Yes, we were the better team – in my opinion, the better team over the whole of the game. But no, we were not perfect, we were not ruthless and we could not turn our dominance into goals. Neither could we shore up a defence that was often exposed, particularly after we went 2-0 down.

But at 2-0 we have to attack and we have to push people forward – and in doing that we raised a few questions about whether we have the players and the organisation to cope with that defensive vulnerability.

Put simply, in that game we certainly did not have the organisation, and as for the players, well, without the organisation in place it’s too difficult to tell whether the players are up to standard or not.

And there’s the main point – it really is far too soon to tell whether we have the players to be able to play fine attacking football. We create chances, we spurn chances, we leave ourselves open.

But – and this is the important point – we are a work in progress.

There is no doubt in my mind that we have the players to take the title this season. There is also no doubt that managers anywhere need time to bed in; similarly, new players need time, as do new systems and their accompanying on-field organisation.

Time is important: if we can improve and if we can gel quickly we have every chance of being up there with a chance of the title in May.

So, how quickly do we need to improve?

Balancing the positives and the negatives from that OT defeat, the positives came out on top. In fact there were more positives out of that defeat than came out of the win at Sunderland… which in turn provided more positives than the win against West Brom…. which in turn provided more than the creditable 0-0 against Stoke.

Sorry if I am being a bit on the pedantic side here, but there is a pattern emerging: we ARE improving. And not just by small amounts each game, the improvements are seen in significant areas. I believe that we are improving quickly and we will continue to improve, hopefully exponentially.

It will only be a matter of time before we see those improvements in the areas that even the mischief-makers, the grumpy and the press can appreciate.

I’m quite convinced that in another five games we will be playing football that is more assured in both attack and defence. And maybe then those who have little or nothing constructive to say can look elsewhere for the targets of their bile.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the emergence of a new style, because I for one am sure that there are some superb displays ahead.

An occasional series of open discussions with opposition fans. They can say what they like about Chelsea and I promise not to be rude back to them.

Number 2:  Joking with a Jack

Introducing Noel “Once A Jack Always A Jack”, who has supported Swansea through thick and thin, man and boy for over forty years. He gives us his views on all things Swansea and Chelsea and also proves the rule that once you start a Welshman talking, there’s no stopping him…

First, congratulations on Swansea City achieving promotion to the Premiership. You did it the hard way, but you did it in some style…

Thank you! Last season produced some of the most amazing football and saw individual players show real potential. Any game that was being televised “live” seemed to bring out the best in us and from being tipped by the bookies as one of the teams to be relegated it was an even better season than anyone could have predicted!

Remember, it had been after our second successive close season in the Championship to have our manager “poached” off us – firstly Wigan took Roberto Martinez then Leicester took Paulo Sousa and all their back room staff too. So our 3rd season in the Championship saw us kicking off with our 3rd different manager – but what a revelation Brendan Rodgers turned out to be.

At one stage, automatic promotion seemed achievable, then it looked more and more like the dreaded play offs and a potential final at Wembley against Cardiff!

We duly got through a thrilling encounter with Forest (good side) drawing 0-0 away with our full back Taylor sent off in the 2nd minute. The home leg was exciting and we got through 3-1. Cardiff City, having also drawn 0-0 away at Reading faced the 2nd leg the next night knowing we were already there but lost 3-0 to send Reading to meet us at Wembley.

After that winning experience at Wembley, who wanted automatic promotion anyway? 3-0 up at half-time we just knew it wasn’t all over and Reading got it back to 3-2 before Scott Sinclair got his hat-trick to make it 4-2. Final score: 43,000 Swansea fans went delirious.

When did you start supporting Swansea?

Probably 1967/68 I think, I remember it cost 2 shillings (10p) to get in and it was the greatest thing ever!

Why Swansea?

Well, home town club etc and that famous saying “Once a Jack Always a Jack” makes you realise that supporting Swansea is an addiction!

What was the first game you remember?

Newport County – a local derby – at home

What memory of Swansea City will you still remember when your memory has finally faded and you are old and senile?

Apart from this year it is the first game in the old First Division at home to Leeds United. August 1981, a packed Vetch Field, about 3,000 from Leeds, lovely sunny day and we won 5–1!!!!! Jeremy Charles scored first, a hat trick from a truly great centre forward Bob Latchford and the most stunning individual goal from Alan Curtis. I still get goose bumps whenever I see it. What a feeling, what a noise, what a quiet away end… what a memory!

Chelsea and Swansea have a number of connections at the moment, not least your manager Brendan Rogers. What’s your opinion of him?

With a debut season like he just had it has to be admiration. His contacts have been amazing, his time at Chelsea with Mr Mourinho must have been an experience, but to listen to him speak is a refreshing change for a manager – whatever the result, no slagging the referee / linesman, no criticism of individuals in public – but the main thing is so much common sense.

And Scott Sinclair? Borini? Yves Ma Makalambay?

Scott Sinclair found himself a “home” or was it maybe the manager – either way coming here has brought the best out of him. A great season last year which saw him the calmest, coolest person at Wembley taking not only one penalty but two – and scoring them both!! What a man.

Fabio Borini, came on loan, showed great class and genius but not a 90 minute player from what we saw. What we did see was a lot from Chelsea training ground at set pieces. Would have loved to have got him for a season in the Premiership.

We didn’t see too much of the keeper Makalambay apart from cup games as Dorus de Vries was in such good form. Both have now left so we have 3 new keepers.

Frank Lampard – did you see him play during his loan spell at the Vetch?

Yes, certainly did! Would like to think he learned everything he knows from his time at Swansea but maybe we can’t claim that. [Can’t see why not, surely he couldn’t have learned much at Upton Park…? – Jehode]. It was easy to see that he was going to be a top player – hope he keeps a place in his heart for Swansea!

If you had to pick your favourite Swans player of all time, who would it be?

Alan Curtis springs instantly to mind – from my era – and from the time that we went from the old 4th Division all the way to the old 1st Division. Curt, along with Jeremy Charles and the late (great) Robbie James came through the ranks and played for Swansea and Wales as a unit.

Curt had such skill, trickery and an honesty that you don’t seem to find much today – great to see him still involved with the club and he will always be a true legend of our time. I’m sure others older than me will name names too, but even they would agree that Alan Curtis has to be up there somewhere and he is my choice.

Back to the present day – who is your favourite player at the moment?

Favourite doesn’t necessarily mean the best, the fittest, the most skilful does it? Because my answer is going to be Alan Tate (could have been Leon Britton too but I’ll go for Tatey and I’ll tell you why). He joined us on loan from Man Utd and played a great part in helping us stay in the football league that year. His loan spell was up and when he played his last game he took off his white Swansea shirt to reveal a T-shirt underneath saying “Once a Jack, Always a Jack” – but what’s more he meant it. We were able to re-sign him and he’s been with us ever since!

Now, he has got a great football brain and reads the game well but he has played right back, left back, either centre back, midfield and has even been in goal when we played without a reserve keeper once! He left a premiership club to come to us at rock bottom and has played consistently in every level since to lead us out at Man City as vice captain. He is an honorary Jack legend. (Sorry Leon, but you would be too short to play in goal anyway!!)

Did you enjoy being re-united with Roberto Martinez at the Swansea v Wigan game?

Yes, he deserves so much credit for us being where we are today. As a player he helped us stay in the league; as a manager he built on what Brian Flynn and Kenny Jackett had started and got us into the Championship as Champions of League 1 (and I still have my photo with Roberto and the trophy in my office!) He had a decent reception from the home fans.

Swansea are one of the few clubs with a bright ‘n’ shiny new home. From an outsider’s point of view the stadium looks fantastic, the pitch always looks good and access is excellent.

You know, I thought the Vetch Field was better than the Bernabeu, Old Trafford, San Siro all put together but, boy, looking back, it was awful! Don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere at the Vetch was something special and I couldn’t imagine watching the Swans anywhere else, but going to the Liberty has been the best thing for the club and the atmosphere has now transferred there too. The pitch is fantastic and deserves the awards it and the ground staff have received – games at the Vetch cancelled because of too much rain, all a thing of the past.

So how did it feel to have to leave the old Vetch Field?

It was emotional, but as the song goes “Time to say good-bye” we went on the pitch and my Mrs dug up a piece of the turf to grow at home so we had a piece of memorabilia. Some people had seats, adverts, whatever they could rip up (if it hadn’t already fallen down!!).

Do you foresee the limited size of the stadium being a problem in future?

As it is now I have to say yes, though rumour has it that if we stay in the premiership or should I say when we stay in the premiership (!) there are plans to increase it to 30,000 capacity. Fingers crossed.

You share the ground with the Ospreys (Rugby Union) side. Does that ever pose a problem for you?

Not really, the egg chasers don’t use that many of the seats to be honest! I don’t follow rugby much. I wish them success, but there is more interest nowadays in football anyway.

Is ground-sharing ideal for a Premiership club?

Probably not, but the pitch is so good it doesn’t seem to make much difference. As we are tenants of the Council at the moment we don’t have much choice.

Swansea have become renowned for their attacking play. Do you think your style will be suited to the Premiership, or is it going to leave you too vulnerable at the back?

Yes! It will be well suited to the Premiership but it could well leave us either too goal shy or too vulnerable at the back. Don’t know how else to answer that but maybe strengthening the squad in the transfer window will help.

How do you view your performance so far this season?

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. That’s what we have to do. It couldn’t get much tougher than away to Man City first game, it’s just a case of getting a settled squad, new players bedded in take it steady then pick up points along the way. Don’t forget, 8 years ago we were facing up to the prospect of starting off in the Conference! Here we are in the Premiership instead – reality check please!

How do you view your season going this time around?

It’s going to be hard, but I would hope for 15th or 16th come the end of the season.

And how are you going to fare at Stamford Bridge on 24 Sept?

Oh no! I think we’ll win, lose or draw – not too sure at the moment. Okay, everyone will say an odds on home win but who can tell? Maybe a draw 1–1.

Are you going to the game?

Unfortunately no, due to other commitments, but would love to be there.

Have you ever been to Stamford Bridge?

Strangely enough, no, not inside just around the outside.

Your favourite Chelsea Swansea game?

April 1981, Swansea 3 Chelsea 0 last home game in old Division 2. It was also my mate Steve’s stag day (before weekends in Prague were ever thought of) just pub, football, pub, club, curry – a proper day out! I seem to recall “Jimmy” Hadziabdic scored a cracker with the outside of his right foot. Great day and the chant of “Going up, going up, going up” was being sung with belief.

What is your prediction for Chelsea this season?

2nd in Premiership and winners of either Carling or FA Cup.

What do you think of our new manager, Andre Villas-Boas?

Looks like a smooth operator!

If there was one player from Chelsea you could have for free….

Drogba. Is he available on a free…..?

Hands off! So, whyDrogba?

Because he’s so flippin’ good! Everybody hates him (but they don’t really) but that’s only like a respect thing. He can change a game in a second, he is so imaginative and unpredictable. When did you say we could have him?

Change the subject: Club or Country?

Club!

Prediction time! Your prediction for the top three for the Premiership this season is?

Two Manchesters and Chelsea in a 1-2-3? Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City. Then possibly Liverpool ? Maybe Swansea ?

FA Cup?

Chelsea

Champions League?

Final at Bayern’s ground? But predictably I guess Barcelona .

Five star dining at an upmarket West End restaurant, or bacon egg and chips at a greasy spoon?

Despite considering myself to be fairly cosmopolitan, when you have a Swansea accent it is slightly difficult to carry it off with any degree of success or credibility, so let’s go for the greasy spoon!

Eastenders, Coronation Street or Pobol Y Cwm?

Corrie every time because it not only has humour in it, it also has Rosie Webster who is Scott Sinclair’s girlfriend and she is often at Liberty Stadium and away games and was at Wembley. Top girl!

Okay dude, and finally….

How are the Swans settling into the Premiership and – I really must ask this one – how does it feel to be above Arsenal in the table?

Well…”finding our feet” I would say is a fair assessment – together with finding the back of the net against West Brom – which was a relief!  Mind you, take away the 4-0 defeat at Man City (and even that was not as one sided as 4-0 might suggest) and the games have been really good contests. Nice to hear Mark Lawrenson say so on MOTD on Saturday too.

At least we’ve not compromised on our style so far and despite a long list of injuries we’ve brought other players in from the squad who have not looked out of place either!

Above Arsenal in the table? Steady on now, though I have to admit to texting my mate on Saturday 5.30pm saying I’d be happy if the season could end now as we were 12th! If it wasn’t for that freak goal last week at the Emirates we could have been 4 points above Arsenal now – at least our goal difference is better than theirs! Almost 3,000 Jacks singing “we’ve got more points than you” to Arsenal before kick off was good, though not true by the end of that game!

Ask me next May (please) what it feels like to be above Arsenal in the table and assuming Arsenal will be at least 17th then I’ll have a pint or two with you!

At the moment, let’s keep two feet on the ground as we prepare for a journey to the Bridge on Saturday hoping that we contribute to a good game and that includes off the pitch as well as on it – a strong travelling support is forecast once again.

Apart from this Saturday and again on Tuesday 31st January 2012, have a great season – hope you like what Brendan has put in place here!!

1987 wasn’t the best of years for me; the only year I really loved with any kind of memory during the 80’s was 1984.

However, for this nostalgia trip, I’m going to forsake the good and move to the bad. Don’t give up reading just yet, because it gradually gets better.

I honestly wouldn’t want to depress anybody with my torturous scything events of 1987; still, what do they say, better out than in? I suppose it depends upon what we’re really talking about; anyway, this is a family site and above all a Chelsea site. So for now, it’s out and definitely not in.

So, in 1987 I was firstly working at an Insurance company in Romford; for anybody who knows Romford, it’s on the Southend Victoria/Liverpool Street line by train. I was never the best at waking up in the mornings (I’m still not!) let alone getting the train; in fact sometimes I’d cut it so fine that my train would arrive at Shenfield from Billericay at 0837, with the train from Shenfield to Romford leaving at 0837.

I blame British Rail, how could they have a train come in only for one to depart from another platform at the same time? Running from one platform to another was not a happy experience for me and the worst part about it? if I was truly late from Billericay I’d end up on a train going straight through to Liverpool Street, purely by mistake (ahem!) then I’d have to come all the way back again to Romford.

Considering that I was supposed to start at 0900, the mission was implausible, let alone impossible. I don’t think that my boss appreciated, that on occasions, I’d roll in at the earliest, sometimes at 1030. Still, with lunch at 1200, the morning seemed to fly by.

In 1987/88 under the leadership of John Hollins, we were in the First Division as it was back then, the Premier League as it is now. The season had started well with two wins in the first two games against Sheffield Wednesday (H) 3-1 and Portsmouth (A) 3-0. In fact, our record up until the end of October 1987 wasn’t that bad.

However, October and November of 1987 were not good months; firstly there was “The Great Storm” I call it a Hurricane, which caused damage to London and the South-East. There was also the stock market crash, nothing has changed much there. Then later on in October my best-mate, who was at Warwick University had to come rushing back down to Essex as his Dad passed away suddenly. On top of that, there was the Kings Cross Rail disaster in November; not a happy time for anybody concerned.

By the November, I had left my job in Romford; getting on a train to London nearly every morning and coming back to Romford was getting to be a right old pain in the arse, plus my boss had been putting pressure on me to get in earlier “Once is a mistake, twice is an oversight, but Mr Bully, when it gets to seven or eight …” I’ll let you guess the rest.

So, with all of the above problems, Chelsea were the shining beacon of light, as they always have been for me, but wait, what’s that I remember? Let’s take a look at the season from October 31, 1987 to the end of the season; count how many bright, sparkling wins there were:

Oct 31 (H) Oxford United (Won) 2-1 *Sparkle*
Nov 3 (A) Arsenal (Lost) 3-1
Nov 22 (A) Derby County (Lost) 2-1
Nov 28 (H) Wimbledon (Drew) 1-1
Dec 6 (A) Liverpool (Lost) 2-1
Dec 12 (H) West Ham (Drew) 1-1
Dec 20 (A) Charlton Athletic (Drew) 1-1
Dec 26 (H) QPR (Drew) 1-1
Dec 28 (A) Norwich City (Lost) 3-0
Jan 1 (A) Luton Town (Lost) 3-0 (Happy New Year)
Jan 2 (H) Tottenham (Drew) 0-0
Jan 16 (A) Sheffield Wednesday (Lost) 3-0
Jan 23 (H) Portsmouth (Drew) 0-0
Feb 6 (A) Nottingham Forest (Lost) 3-2
Feb 13 (H) Manchester United (Lost) 1-2
Feb 27 (A) Newcastle United (Lost) 3-1
Mar 5 (A) Coventry City (Drew) 3-3
Mar 12 (H) Everton (Drew) 0-0
Mar 19 (A) Oxford United (Drew) 4-4
Mar 26 (H) Southampton (Lost) 0-1
Mar 29 (H) Watford (Drew) 1-1
Apr 2 (H) Arsenal (Drew) 1-1
Apr 9 (H) Derby County (Won) 1-0 *Sparkle*
Apr 23 (A) Wimbledon (Drew) 2-2
Apr 30 (H) Liverpool (Drew) 1-1
May 2 (A) West Ham United (Lost) 4-1
May 7 (H) Charlton (Drew) 1-1

Isn’t it lucky that Social Networks weren’t around at that time? Imagine all of the fools back then who moan about a draw, let alone a defeat these days?

The form guide in the league showed two wins; eleven defeats and fourteen draws, during that period of time, above. The club finished 18th, which you may think was lucky in a league of 21 as we were out of the relegation places. This particular season however, the 18th placed club went into the play-offs, seven points away from Portsmouth who were relegated on 35pts. Had we beaten Charlton on May 7 then we would not have been in the play-offs as both clubs ended on 42pts, unfortunately for Chelsea we ended with a goal difference of -18 while Charlton ended with -14.

The play-offs gave us a small glimmer of hope as we beat Blackburn 0-2 at Ewood Park and then 4-1 at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately because of other circumstances I couldn’t get to the home leg, but thanks to Clubcall, I listened to some of the commentary; when I say some, it was probably for 20 minutes. With the going rate of about 80p per minute over the phone, I was glad that I wasn’t paying the bill!

Our next game, the play-off final was again over two legs: our opponents were Middlesbrough with the first game at Ayresome Park. Hope was high for a result there so that we could bring them back to Stamford Bridge and finish them off. Back in those days, the play-off final was over two legs played both home and away, not over one game at Wembley like these days.

By this time my own life had changed, London was no longer my work venue as I was now working just five minutes away from home. After those days of being late and the journey’s I could leave home at 0755 and start work at 0800, did this work though? I hate to admit this but even being five minutes away from work I would roll in at 0815. Not quite as bad as previous employers, but late all the same.

The new job gave my fellow colleagues room for laughter, after all they supported Spurs and West Ham, oh and one particular chap supported Celtic and Southend, as you do. The away leg at Middlesbrough was tough to take as we lost 2-0. Although I had to work part of the Saturday, the day of our second leg, I was able to get to the game.

After the 1983/84 season, the promotion, the exhilaration and the joy, came the doom and gloom. A solitary Gordon Durie goal gave the 40,000+ crowd hope, but it wasn’t enough as we lost 2-1 on aggregate and we were relegated. The defeat gave way to abuse of the away support with various items thrown at the travelling fans.

The 1987/88 season was definitely bad and ugly, but if relegation had not have happened, would we have enjoyed the 1988/89 season as much?

To be continued…

One of the tenets of being a football fans is that, by and large, nothing will hold you back for being “there” for your team.

However, with our supporters being stretched not only by the financial demands of everyday life – you know, those luxuries like mortgage or rent, food, etc. – but the demands of the early season European and domestic cup games, it appears that we may just have reached what scientists refer to as the “Tipping Point”.

Those of you who read Twitter will be aware that over the last few days a campaign called “Boycott Genk” has been launched by one of the many supporters groups that cover the interests of Chelsea fans. I’m not here to pick a hole in the argument for a boycott per se, but simply to put the point of view as to why this one action is unlikely to succeed and to outline an alternative that really might impact on Chelsea FC.

The numbers game part one – the people.

Chelsea FC have over 350,000 “followers” on Twitter. Whilst “Boycott Genk” will only have come to the attention of followers of said supporters’ group over the course of the weekend, at the time of writing the “Boycott Genk” account has 106 followers. So hardly a rush, then. A companion account is said to be operating on Facebook (I haven’t yet seen this).

To have any kind of success, they need to accrue many more followers. And not just followers in terms of their accounts. It needs to have a impact on the number of people who were going to attend the game, but now won’t directly as a result of this campaign, i.e. if you were never going to any of the group games, your support for the movement could quite reasonably be described as counterfeit.See also those who aren’t going to CL group games but are more than happy to let friends use their account for tickets and accrue the loyalty points themselves (don’t kid yourself this doesn’t happen).

The numbers game part two – the cold hard cash.

The reason for the boycott is the £10 per ticket rise in Champions League prices from £30 last season to £40 this season (plus obligatory £1.50 breathing charge). However, it is worth remembering that in Jose Mourinho’s last game against Rosenborg in 2007, West Lower tickets were priced at £48. So in real terms, the cost of the Genk game is still less than we were paying four years ago. It is of course remembering that since that time we have been through the worst recession since WW2.

Whilst economic difficulties were cited for the drop in CL group game prices, one wonders whether the club dropped prices too far in the beginning – an economist might certainly argue that they could not have seen that people’s standard of living would still be moribund, if not actually in decline, by 2011. The argument seems to be that we shouldn’t be asked to pay £40 to watch Genk. Remind me again how much people are paying for games in the Premier League against the likes of Norwich and Swansea?

The Media Involvement.

The involvement of media figures in the campaign, at least one of whom in my humble opinion seems to have no great love for Chelsea, concerns me. The Boycott Genk group need to be sure that they are not entering into a pact with the devil known as the Fourth Estate, sections of which seem to have the sole aim of further blackening the name of Chelsea FC with the general public. With the demise of the anti-Glazer “Green & Gold” campaign, they also need something new to get their teeth into.

The Radical Solution.

Boycotting Genk won’t work. It’s a cop-out. If people want to protest about ticket prices at Chelsea, then boycotting a non-event CL group game isn’t the answer. It requires a genuine sacrifice on our part. What I am about to propose will shock many people, but it would have the effect of letting the club know that fans are serious about price increases. I’m certainly not saying this would be the answer for members, but season-ticket holders are in a position to make a significant stand.

It’s worth remembering that however much your season ticket costs, it’s still cheaper (a game and a half, roughly) than buying on a match-by-match basis. My proposal is that on the day of the 12.45 kick off against Arsenal on 29th October, fans do not take their seats until 41 minutes and 50 seconds of the game have elapsed (get it?). This would have the effect of leaving the ground half empty in a major televised game; it would also show that fans are capable of making a real, genuine sacrifice in order to get their point across.

One of the anti-Genk boycott arguments is that the players need our support. I would argue that they need our support to raise their game far more in a match against mediocre opposition than they do against the likes of Arsenal. If you can’t gee yourself up for that as a player, you shouldn’t be playing for our club. People don’t have to miss the first half, they can stand on the concourse inside the ground, or lurk in a nearby hostelry. But the whole point is to absent ourselves.

Conclusion.

I don’t know how people feel about this suggestion; and at the moment it is only a suggestion. And please don’t think that I’m having a go at anyone involved in the Boycott Genk campaign. Their intention is admirable, I just don’t think it will solve anything simply because it’s an easy option.

What will cause the suits at Chelsea more grief? A half empty ground against Genk in midweek, or a ground empty for 41 and a half minutes in a massive game against Arsenal?  Embrace a cause to assist our fellow fans by all means, but make sure it’s the right solution.

And before you ask – I’m not boycotting Genk.