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May You Live In Interesting Times

January 27, 2014
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This was originally meant to be the first article of 2014, but was superseded by the news of Juan Mata’s sad departure for Manchester (a transfer which was finally completed yesterday).  Chelsea Football Club appear to have sailed into calmer waters during the past six months.  The return of Jose Mourinho, replacing the almost universally detested B*n*t*z, has delighted and pacified the supporters, and our outpouring of love for The…

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The Heart of the Mata

January 23, 2014
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Firstly – an apology for the hiatus in the ramblings of this column, caused by preparing for the Chelsea Supporters Trust Christmas Party, Christmas itself and flu, in that order.  Well, not really that order.  The flu manifested itself just before Christmas, set in on Christmas Eve and left me with an attack of the horrors on Christmas Night.  By Boxing Day I could barely stand up and, as a…

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A Giant Leap To The Small Screen

November 18, 2013
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Since making its debut, the Chelsea Football Fancast has gained a cult following, winning a prestigious Football Blogging Award in 2012 for Best Podcast, and subsequently moving to live audio broadcast via Mixlr. This season however, the team said goodbye to their ancestral home at the Putney Station bar and took a giant leap on to the small screen, with the show now broadcast live on Sports Tonight Live HD…

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It’s Just The High Cost Of Loving

October 11, 2013
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This is a season where the cost of attending football has been under the spotlight like never before. As the Age of Austerity drags into its sixth year, even those supporters who are in relatively well paid employment are having to juggle increasingly high living costs, coupled with below-inflation wage rises – and that’s if you’re lucky. The Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) launched their ‘SCORE’ campaign (motto: Twenty’s Plenty’) in…

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Sit Down? Shut Up?

September 27, 2013
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The demographic among the supporter base at Chelsea FC resolutely remains middle-aged, male and white. The young men who were the fighters of the 70s and 80s are now not only fathers, but in some cases grandfathers. They constitute some of our most vocal and passionate supporters. Among our younger support (i.e. late teens and early 20s) there is a good proportion who “get” Chelsea. They flog themselves up and…

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Diplomatic Immunity: Everton

September 13, 2013
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An occasional series of open discussions with opposition fans. They can say what they like about Chelsea and I promise to just shut up and listen. Toffee Tomy This is Tomy. Not Tommy, Tomy. She is from a long line of – no, let Tomy describe it herself… When did you start supporting Everton? I can’t remember honestly. As early as I can remember. My Dad used to rattle off…

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Natters With TheChels – Rick Glanvill

September 12, 2013
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This week TheChels is having a natter with journalist, author, genealogist, Pitch Owners’ Director and Chelsea FC’s official historian, Rick Glanvill. TC: These days you’re probably best known as Chelsea’s club historian, but your background is journalism. How did you start your career? RG: I always wanted to be a writer and my degree is in communications but I was earning a decent living as a nightclub DJ. I had…

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A Chaos Theory and The Element of Surprise

September 4, 2013
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I have to admit to a strange feeling before games these days. I only realised I’d had this feeling before the Manchester United game. But it had been there from the start of the season. It was a feeling I didn’t wholly understand. And then again, before the European Super Cup Final. Something was missing. There were the usual matchday feelings of course. Excitement, building up as the day wore…

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Chelsea Supporters Trust AGM – A Sense of History

August 22, 2013
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History. The thing that the Scousers (and others) accuse us of not having. There is a banner that says ‘making history, not re-living it’, and there was a sense of a bit of both in SW6 on Saturday, when the first AGM of the Chelsea Supporters Trust was held in the Attenborough Suite at Stamford Bridge, preceded by a hugely enjoyable tour of West Brompton Cemetery led by Chelsea FC…

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Assessing Chelsea’s Chances for the New Season

August 16, 2013
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Following the dispiriting gloom of the Benitez era, the return of the prodigal One seems to have brought with it an optimism long missed around Stamford Bridge. Pre-season results have been mostly encouraging, with a returning batch of loaned youngsters adding competition and depth to last season’s stretched squad. Bookies have installed the club as favourites for the title in a season where managerial upheaval has made unknown quantities of…

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