The estranged Chelsea fan thread

It will certainly be interesting to see if Grant can improve the style of play. There were a few promising signs at OT in the first 20 minutes or so, but I think we also have to accept the fact that teams are not going to let us play pretty football every week.

However, I absolutely hate conceding goals and I really think that back line needs a lot of work. Cech doesn't look comfortable with what's going on in front of him, and the full backs are too porous for my liking. I think a more expansive attacking game is the easy bit, fixing the defence will be a lot harder.
 
steevio_uk said:
Even Man Utd have a good element of a decent fan base which is very evident at away games. They are always superb at Upton Park, whereas even the Chelsea away fans have been diabolical the past 2 seasons.
(Everyone knows that it's the away fans that really contain the more ardent of supporters).
Chelsea and Arsenal are the worst, for sure. I think it massively comes down to the sciety in said areas; middle class wine sippers who are looking to get into 'footie', whereas despite their success you will always have a strong core of working class folk in and around Manchester and Liverpool following their respected clubs.
One of the biggest fallacies in supporters folklore is that 'more proper mancunians in Manchester support City', which is both fond thought and complete nonsense in my opinion.

I can feel it creeping into Upton Park already, booing your own players, leaving before the final whistle, fickle fans.. it's bollocks which is why away days are a million miles better than home games.
I am just concerned about the day we move into our new 60,000 stadium a mile from the Olympics site with the regeneration of the area and the new brand of clientelle in the area... I hope that isn't the day which is our turn to effectively die as a proper football club.

Fuck the success, fuck the money and the big players.... it's about the team and it's about the experience with your fellow fans and the banter.
Something that seems to now be long gone at Stamford Bridge and shows no sign of returning while the Russian is at the helm.
Click to expand...

Well I think that is a brilliant post Steevio. :applause:
 
It was brilliant, that is my opinion. :applause:

Was I supposed to disagree with you?

I must have missed a meeting Hehe :lol:
 
Yes, some very nice posts here indeed.

By Steevio :thumbup: (Enjoyed that post as well) , Gerd, Prof and the man I'm very happy to see back in TB fan. :)
I nearly always enjoy his posts and have to agree with most of what he's said here as well.
Especially the following which is sad :( but true unfortunately.

Steevio - be prepared because it's coming! It is what the Premiership is now. It creates and it feeds on hype, and that's what draws in tourists and the day trippers. The only way to avoid it is to stay crap, which I'm sure you're not about to do.
Click to expand...
 
PLF said:
I'm very happy to see back in TB fan. :)
Click to expand...

And it's good to be back! Sadly, work means I can never really get on here any more, but it's quiet at the moment and I thought I'd take advantage of that. I'd forgotten what an interesting place this is - other than the million different football conversations, there are lot's of interesting viewpoints from around the world about all manner of different subjects.

But enough of all that - down to business....

Prof, what did you think of last night? I thought it was a decent enough performance, aided and abetted by some awful defending by Hull. But a 4-0 win is just the filip we needed.

In my good books: Cudicini, Belletti, JT, Essien (though still a little slack with his passing), Sidwell, SWP, Kalou, Sinclair.

Bad books: Ashley Cole - basic errors, mainly if the man he is meant to mark is not stood directly in front of him, he just assumes the guy went off for a cup of tea.

Ben Haim - out of his depth playing against Pedersen, who probably could have done him for pace if he wanted.

Pizarro - Hasn't won a header, no matter how inconsequential, all season. Never willing to put in a tackle. Klinsmann-esque roll after being tackled that had me in stitches. I think about 4 x 360 degrees.

Overall, the signs are there that we are going forward, but we are still criminally sloppy with our final ball. A bit of work required on that and timing of runs (Mr Kalou!). Also, defensively we are still poor, and not just the back line but midfielders tracking back don't get tight on their men.

And something that has gone since our 1st season, our urgency in winning the "2nd phase ball" (The knockdowns, the rebounds, the balls that come loose in a tackle), other than Sidwell, there was no real urgency to be the first to the ball. So basic, and really beginning to piss me off. One of the first things that need fixing in my opinion.

But with Cech, Bridge, Carvalho, Ballack, Lampard and Drogba all to come back, things are looking much brighter than they were last week. :)
 
I knew Ben Haim would be getting games with the appointment of Grant :roll: I'd rather see Alex in there in the absence of Carvalho. I thought Sidwell looked good and i expect to see him play in Mikel/Lampard's absence possibly.

A good away result, when you consider the fixture (evening fixture away in Hull, premiership egos etc). Good to see Scott Sinclair bag a goal too. I think Pizarro will prove more useful soon. I always preferred Roque Santa Cruz though :mryellow:
 
Mind if i join you fans without having seen the match???
I always thought Sidwell could prove to be a good signing for Chelsea...i would play him alongside Lampard...
I could be wrong but i don't think Pizarro will succede in the Premiership (mind you if i say so, there's a chance that he will become top scorer).

TB: seen any matches with Tchité in Santander???? (yes i know...off topic).
 
steevio_uk said:
Chelsea and Arsenal are the worst, for sure. I think it massively comes down to the sciety in said areas; middle class wine sippers who are looking to get into 'footie', whereas despite their success you will always have a strong core of working class folk in and around Manchester and Liverpool following their respected clubs.
Click to expand...

This is short sighted, you can't pigeon hole Chelsea and Arsenal together because of our away fans. We have a hard-core away support to rival anyone. The way football is going the "proper" away support is dwindling because of the money in the game and the cost to follow your team away all season. This is true for all clubs in the prem, not just Arsenal and Chelsea.
 
Clockender said:
This is short sighted, you can't pigeon hole Chelsea and Arsenal together because of our away fans. We have a hard-core away support to rival anyone. The way football is going the "proper" away support is dwindling because of the money in the game and the cost to follow your team away all season. This is true for all clubs in the prem, not just Arsenal and Chelsea.
Click to expand...

Speaking of the local people that attend games, I was referring to home fans.
For what it's worth, I find Arsenal's away support to be good.

What I meant was that in terms of glory hunters and tag alongs out for a day 'at the footie' Arsenal are perhaps the worst.
It's by no means a slant on proper Arsenal fans, just that you have the biggest contingent of fad wannabe fickle glory hunters. Maybe should have made that a bit clearer.

In my experience anyway. My best mate is a gooner and he would say the same thing.
I have spent ages talking to different fans of different clubs and have found Man City fans to be some of the most down to earth bunch whilst so many Arsenal 'supporters' I speak to in pubs and such just seem to not have a clue what they are talking about.
You see it at many of the games too.
 
Considering we have the biggest club stadium in London then I would accept we have a lot of fans who are on "a day out at the footie", however as a percentage of the whole attendance again I feel that sort of statistic is really hard to pin down and is just guess work on your part. I really don't think we have any more or any less of these types then anyone else in PL, West Ham included. Unfortunately this is the way football is going. and its a fact of life. If you feel that West Ham are immune from this type of fan then you are either turning a blind eye or are very naive.
 
gerd said:
Mind if i join you fans without having seen the match???
I always thought Sidwell could prove to be a good signing for Chelsea...i would play him alongside Lampard...
I could be wrong but i don't think Pizarro will succede in the Premiership (mind you if i say so, there's a chance that he will become top scorer).

TB: seen any matches with Tchité in Santander???? (yes i know...off topic).
Click to expand...

Sidwell looks the sort who could probably step into Lampards shoes in the next couple of years. Still aways from the finished article, but I like his general 'busy-ness' and he has an eye for goal as he proved for Reading.

I agree with you on Pizarro. For a guy who doesn't like a bit of rough and tumble, England was the wrong place to come!

As for Tchité, well he missed a hatful of chances against Levante, and since then we've been beat 4-0 and 2-0 by Atletico and Villareal respectively, neither of which I've seen (fortunately). Please tell me there is more to come!!!
 
Tchité was fabulous in Belgium, but "Big in Belgium"????
The guy went to see his mother in Africa (first time in lots of years) and when he came back in Brussels, he was out of form. Anderlecht sold him to Santander in the very last minutes of the transfer window (literally).
I have a feeling that they wanted to cash in on Tchité because they were afraid that they had seen the best of him.

But i've seen him score splendid goals...
 
gerd said:
The guy went to see his mother in Africa (first time in lots of years) and when he came back in Brussels, he was out of form.
Click to expand...

Thats what nagging does to you.....

Well thanks Mama Tchité! Who did Anderlecht replace him with?

And to keep it vaguely on subject, the FA must be skint again because Chelsea have just been charged with calling a bent twat a "bent twat". Another large fine on the way then....
 
Chelsea have responded to their disappointing attendance in the Champions League game against Rosenborg by further lowering ticket prices.

The Blues reduced prices from £45 to £36 for the 1-1 draw last week, yet only 24,973 turned up.

Chelsea have now put tickets on sale for the group games against Schalke on 24 October and Valencia on 11 December at £25 for adults and £12 concessions.
Click to expand...

Oh, they've noticed then...
 
And very welcome too - Rosenborg was the first European home game I have ever missed. There were numerous extenuating circumstances, but even if I had been able to go, the thought of paying £36 to watch what was predictably dross, I would definitely have stayed at home and kept my money in my pocket.

The stupid thing is, I'm sure a full house paying £25 would spend more in total (including beer, burgers etc.) than 25k people paying £36.

Anyway, they've cut the price and I'm pleased they've done it.
 
Clockender said:
Considering we have the biggest club stadium in London then I would accept we have a lot of fans who are on "a day out at the footie", however as a percentage of the whole attendance again I feel that sort of statistic is really hard to pin down and is just guess work on your part. I really don't think we have any more or any less of these types then anyone else in PL, West Ham included. Unfortunately this is the way football is going. and its a fact of life. If you feel that West Ham are immune from this type of fan then you are either turning a blind eye or are very naive.
Click to expand...

To be honest I would say you haven't read the thread properly as you will have seen I have openly admitted that off my own back.
If you think I am wrong then fair enough, as I said it's just my experience so you cannot say that is wrong of me.
I am not the only one that would think that either though, I reckon....
 
Clockender said:
Fair enough..you have your opinion. I suppose the real issue is how can you have glory hunters at West Ham? There's no glory to hunt...;)
Click to expand...

Was fucking waiting for that!! :lol:

Well, last team to win at Highbury, first team to win at the Emirates and done the double over you last season.... Saturday should be a piece of piss for us! :lol:;)
 
Blimey you two - get a room!

The fact is people are, in general, attracted to clubs who win things. People like to associate themselves with success and so the most successful clubs have these hangers on. It will happen to West Ham too, if and when you start amassing the silverware.

But I agree with Clockender, I don't think you can single out any particular club. Football fans are still humans at the end of the day, and if you meet a penis from time to time, it is not the club that did that to him, he was always a penis - and every club will have supporters that you think are twats. But as you have never, and will never, meet them all you can't justifiably base your opinions of a club on a handful of people you've met.

But we're all guilty of doing it because again, it's human nature. ;)
 
Professor Nutmeg said:
Nice summary TB ;)

Steevio, i think it's fair to say, the more successful/popular/prominent the team, the more glory hunters. Just look at Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Click to expand...

Exactly, so I don't think it is overly unfair of me to pinpoint Arsenal as having perhaps the most gloryhunters amongst their fans.

I mean I am not picking on the poor club :lol:
 
steevio_uk said:
Let me ask you TB... have Arsenal or Man City got more glory hunting prawn sandwich munching tits in their ranks?
Click to expand...

The answer is Arsenal, although I haven't met an obvious one yet I have to say (I try to stay away from their sort ;)). Glory hunters, by definition, hunt glory not pain and relegation a la Man City. But in 5 years time it may well be Man City, and then you'll change your opinion of them once you've met a few of the hangers on. (I bet they've sold a lot more shirts already this year than any other previous season)

Next it will be Villa - Or West Ham! \\:o/
 
steevio_uk said:
Exactly, so I don't think it is overly unfair of me to pinpoint Arsenal as having perhaps the most gloryhunters amongst their fans.

I mean I am not picking on the poor club :lol:
Click to expand...

Now for me, it would be Liverpool by a country mile. I suppose it all depends on who you meet really.
 
Of course.

A lot of Liverpool fans have been quite sound compared to the 'gooooners' I have met.
Sitting in pubs shouting at the screen to 'KICK IT THAT WAY!!' :lol:
 
steevio_uk said:
Exactly, so I don't think it is overly unfair of me to pinpoint Arsenal as having perhaps the most gloryhunters amongst their fans.

I mean I am not picking on the poor club :lol:
Click to expand...


If thats your argument then surely its Utd who have the most. I've lost count of the amount of times I have seen "Cornwall Reds" and "Man Utd Hastings" flags.

At the end of the day, if WH start to actually be successful then it will happen to you, I am sure you wouldn't mind that if it meant you actually won something!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom