Tweet
I have supported and loved my club now for the best part of twenty years and would not want to bore people with all the history if you are a true Chelsea fan, or lack of history if you are not a Chelsea fan. However, like any other fan in the land I have watched and listened to how my club is being portrayed and talked about and I must say it hasn't been pleasant. Again I'll like to put this down as part of what I have to put up with because I love my club.
I know this has been talked about in very many circles and is been banded about as a cliché about successful football clubs, but as a Chelsea fan it seems to me, for most of the time as 'Its Chelsea Against the world'. In fact I have tried on every occasion to look at the issues or cases that are created by, or around, Chelsea with an objective or dare I say neutral point of view, and have been left mostly disappointed by how Chelsea are treated by firstly, the media outlets, other clubs and other fans.
Life as a Chelsea fan before Roman Abramovich was not very rosy but at least
bearable and even though we were considered as flashy, southern softies, with largely old and overpaid European players at the end of their careers looking for a pension fund; we were not hated with such vehemence and vigour.
Basically, we were a nice harmless club who mostly flattered to deceive. Despite not loving us, people were generally very complimentary and wanted us to do well, especially because they knew we weren't able to do well. It was like an enemy you knew couldn't hurt you and you would tease and make fun of him/her knowing very well that they are incapable of inflicting any major damage to you and to your ego.
Then everything changed with the arrival of Roman Abramovich, at first with Claudio Ranieri still in place backed by Abramovich's money, we were then seen as a club who spent a lot of money but with no back-bone so people carried on with their admiration and I remember friends saying things like our manager was very funny and everybody liked him because when we lost he was still very nice in defeat and I remember feeling, I'd love to win and I don't care if the manager is 'nice and likable' provided we won the Premiership title.
I remember Mr Ranieri's last season were there was an overflow of sympathy and love for this guy who has just spent over £100 million in the transfer market and not delivered a single trophy...then the penny dropped for me. I realised people were just happy for us to stay where we were and never be Champions, people always wanted us to be the bridesmaid and never the bride.
Then with the arrival of God (Mourinho), things took a dramatic turn. I remember vividly, when Porto won the Champions League there were already tiny attacks heading towards both Chelsea's new owners and Mourinho. There were accusations of how Chelsea used under hand tactics, how Mourinho was only coming to Chelsea for financial reasons, how badly Ranieri had been treated, how Mourinho has no grace for not celebrating his victory with his players and the list goes on for ever.
Then there was the Press Conference when Mourinho was presented to the media, and then there were the accusations of arrogance from Mourinho when he claimed he was 'A Special One` and that he wanted to win the league. There the seeds were sown for the Anti-Chelsea campaign by the media.
From a fan's point of view, I think it is getting tiring and I am sure even though they won't accept it, most fans of other clubs are tired of the constant Chelsea bashing by the media and everybody else. Seriously, how long can we go on listening to the same how Chelsea is bad for football, how Chelsea's money is destroying the league, how Chelsea bought the league, how Chelsea have no respect for authority etc etc. I can fully sympathise with Chelsea's board and manager and the people running Chelsea.
They are in a no win scenario, I can even go one step further to say that in some people's eyes, no matter what Chelsea does it will never be good enough b
I know this has been talked about in very many circles and is been banded about as a cliché about successful football clubs, but as a Chelsea fan it seems to me, for most of the time as 'Its Chelsea Against the world'. In fact I have tried on every occasion to look at the issues or cases that are created by, or around, Chelsea with an objective or dare I say neutral point of view, and have been left mostly disappointed by how Chelsea are treated by firstly, the media outlets, other clubs and other fans.
Life as a Chelsea fan before Roman Abramovich was not very rosy but at least
bearable and even though we were considered as flashy, southern softies, with largely old and overpaid European players at the end of their careers looking for a pension fund; we were not hated with such vehemence and vigour.
Basically, we were a nice harmless club who mostly flattered to deceive. Despite not loving us, people were generally very complimentary and wanted us to do well, especially because they knew we weren't able to do well. It was like an enemy you knew couldn't hurt you and you would tease and make fun of him/her knowing very well that they are incapable of inflicting any major damage to you and to your ego.
Then everything changed with the arrival of Roman Abramovich, at first with Claudio Ranieri still in place backed by Abramovich's money, we were then seen as a club who spent a lot of money but with no back-bone so people carried on with their admiration and I remember friends saying things like our manager was very funny and everybody liked him because when we lost he was still very nice in defeat and I remember feeling, I'd love to win and I don't care if the manager is 'nice and likable' provided we won the Premiership title.
I remember Mr Ranieri's last season were there was an overflow of sympathy and love for this guy who has just spent over £100 million in the transfer market and not delivered a single trophy...then the penny dropped for me. I realised people were just happy for us to stay where we were and never be Champions, people always wanted us to be the bridesmaid and never the bride.
Then with the arrival of God (Mourinho), things took a dramatic turn. I remember vividly, when Porto won the Champions League there were already tiny attacks heading towards both Chelsea's new owners and Mourinho. There were accusations of how Chelsea used under hand tactics, how Mourinho was only coming to Chelsea for financial reasons, how badly Ranieri had been treated, how Mourinho has no grace for not celebrating his victory with his players and the list goes on for ever.
Then there was the Press Conference when Mourinho was presented to the media, and then there were the accusations of arrogance from Mourinho when he claimed he was 'A Special One` and that he wanted to win the league. There the seeds were sown for the Anti-Chelsea campaign by the media.
From a fan's point of view, I think it is getting tiring and I am sure even though they won't accept it, most fans of other clubs are tired of the constant Chelsea bashing by the media and everybody else. Seriously, how long can we go on listening to the same how Chelsea is bad for football, how Chelsea's money is destroying the league, how Chelsea bought the league, how Chelsea have no respect for authority etc etc. I can fully sympathise with Chelsea's board and manager and the people running Chelsea.
They are in a no win scenario, I can even go one step further to say that in some people's eyes, no matter what Chelsea does it will never be good enough b
Comment