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AVB was sacked after defeat at the Hawthorns against West Brom

They say life is all about coincidence and defining moments. This season, when I think of the Allianz Arena, I cannot help also thinking about the Hawthorns and the last game of AVB’s reign.

Like much of the AVB reign our performance was dire, even though our support was good.

A few times the “Don’t worry about a thing, cos every little thing’s gonna be alright” song  broke out from sections of the ground. In particular, one girl in front of us was singing it on her own for 10 minutes.

Whatever we sang I am not sure that we believed ourselves, particularly when West Brom scored late on to consign us to defeat.

We left the game dejected and I remember taking this picture walking down the pathway to the exit and seeing the head steward for the Matthew Harding stand in his hi-vis organising the transport for fans back to London.

We chatted to him briefly about how poor we had been and how bleak things looked before walking out into the Birmingham night.

I did not put much significance in seeing these people at the time, but then I did not know how significant the next time I saw them would be.

May 19th 2012

The next time I saw the girl and the steward was the 19th of May 2012 at the Allianz Arena.

During the break between full time and extra time   “Don’t worry about a thing,  cos every little thing’s gonna be alright” was being sung in our section and I looked to my right and who did I see 10 seats away and one row down but the singing girl from the West Brom game.

Well I think it was her, I didn’t walk up to her in ultimate stalker fashion and go “hello, you don’t know me, but were you at West Brom”, but I am sure it was her, and hell, it makes a much better story if it was.

After the game and post-match celebrations we dragged ourselves away and towards the exit of the stadium compound and saw the steward from the Matthew Harding stand on coach trip once again. What are the odds?!

My Dad shook his hand and summed it up quite well: “Who would have thought when I last saw you that the next time we would be CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!”

We headed into the crowd from a miserable away day at West Brom and ultimately emerged the Champions Of Europe. It really was an incredible few months and it all started on a dreary day in Birmingham.

This is an excerpt from our eBook – 720 Miles to Munich which you can buy for 99p here!

The Champions of Europe have completed another long and arduous journey by reporting an annual profit for the first time since the arrival of Roman Abramovich.

The figure is small, a humble £1.4m which may not sound like much but represents a move towards sustainability and a long term future that will undoubtedly upset the UEFA fair play merchants of doom.

Remember they framed their policies to spite teams like Chelsea.

UEFA fair play is here to stay and it looks like we are on track, even better we are not saddled with any debt.

Part of the announcement today was that that Abramovich has again changed any debt owed to him into equity (i.e. he has made it part of his shares in the club).

We needed some good press coverage and this is very welcome news.

The key test will be whether this is maintained next season, with the signings of Hazard and Oscar this seems unlikely but with a new TV deal and the benefits of being Champions of Europe we have a fighting chance.

Football is all too often dominated by matters off the pitch these days, but the financial security of the club is important.

“Debt free, wherever we maybe”

After the Champions League not much fuss was made over Chelsea’s group and it certainly did not earn the moniker “Group of Death”.

However our opponents yesterday Shaktar Donestk are playing fantastic football and have set up the group in a way that could see us or Juventus fail to qualify from the group.

Last nights game was one for the football purist with both sides fielding strong, creative and attacking line ups with both sides taking seeming to give little thought to how they would prevent the opposition from scoring.

This was the kind of football that neutrals want to see every game, the game was free flowing and had a fast paced end to end tempo from start to finish.

Shaktar dominated the first half but went in behind due to less than impressive goalkeeping and a moment of divine skill from Oscar.

The second half belonged to Chelsea although it saw Shaktar equalise earlier in the half and only a last gasp header from Victor Moses prevented the Ukrainian champions from claiming a well deserved draw.

This was the first defeat in 25 for Shaktar and a huge result for Roberto Di Matteo, only one point separates the top three teams in the group and the game against Juventus will be huge for us.

Earn a draw and a win at home against the group minnows will be enough to see us through to the next round, lose and well there are several potential outcomes.

Onwards and upwards and hurrah for good football.

Stamford Bridge is fast becoming the place to watch the entertainers of European football.

The last four games in SW6 have each yielded five goals, with Chelsea on the wrong end of the results just once, just the controversial league game against Manchester United muddying the waters.

Free from the shackles of our Champions League success we have gone out and recruited a clutch of players that are the perfect support for Juan Mata who is somehow managing to build on his debut season during which he won the Champions League and the supporter’s player of the year.

Oscar and Eden Hazard have taken to the Premier League like a duck to water ably assisted by Victor Moses who has chipped in with a goal in our last two games, including the dramatic winner against Shaktar Donestk.

This is great entertainment but each of the games should come with a health warning as we have been almost as leaky at the back as we have been deadly going forward.

Despite a solid defence on paper we are vulnerable to pacy wide play with Manchester United and Shaktar scoring from wide positions.

It seems a shame to want the drama to end but if we are to challenge for major honours this season we will need to remove these leaks from our game, however if we outscore our opponent does it matter?

If not we will have to start selling popcorn and beta blockers at Stamford Bridge as the Champions of Europe are putting on a show that will get your pulse racing.

This weekend’s result is frustrating; despite Swansea arguably deserving a point to have got the lead and concede so late is oh so frustrating.

Last season we caught the late goal concession bug and it was at least partially responsible for the dismissal of Andre Villas Boas.

We cannot afford a recurrence if we are to challenge for major honours this season.

This year we conceded in the 88^th minute against Swansea and this should be the time when we are at our most dangerous and rely upon superior fitness to punish our rivals as they push for a way back into the game.

This is just one game so it is too late to panic, but after the last two November’s I am on edge and keen to avoid the slumps that effectively ended the reigns of two former managers.

Hopefully Swansea will be just a minor aberration on our record as November is an important month.

Starting with Shaktar Donestk and Liverpool we need the performances that will put us back in the hunt for trophies.

I would like to open this blog by stating categorically that the majority of Chelsea fans are not racist and Chelsea Football Club is not institutionally racist.

Like all football clubs there is not a selection process for supporting Chelsea football club, fans come from different backgrounds and all walks of life. Unfortunately some people who choose to affiliate themselves to the club I love tarnish the image of the whole group.

Chelsea attract fans ranging from upstanding members of society to those that are at times morally reprehensible. The spectrum goes as low as Members of Parliament and those lacking intelligence such as the racists that continue to blight football.

This is true of other clubs, Osama Bin Laden was reportedly an Arsenal fan and David Cameron an Aston Villa fan, this does not make Arsenal fans terrorists or Aston Villa fans inept politicians.

Therefore please do not associate these idiots with my club, these people are not representative.

On Wednesday of the 40,000 fans at Stamford Bridge it took just one to steal the headlines after a pulsating match where football should have been the story.

With tickets on general sale it is even harder to identify this individual or even fully determine if he was even a Chelsea fan, however this is immaterial this fan should be found and an example made so football can again show that racial hate will not be tolerated.

There is Racism In Football

I am not denying that there are people who try and affiliate themselves as Chelsea fans that are racist I have heard songs that are bigoted and frankly chilling when on a football day out, there has been some success though as you generally do not hear these in the stadium due to enforcement.

The links between some Chelsea fans and racist far right groups in the past have been written about before however, these fans never represented the majority and are fortunately a dying breed.

Extreme chants are now only heard in places the fans know they will not be heard by authorities as they have been driven out of the ground by the club and fans who demand that this behaviour is not wanted or tolerated at Stamford Bridge.

For all the hard work of the club there is still a small minority that need to be continually reminded that racism will not be tolerate and a drive towards eradication maintained.

The Other Chelsea Related Racism Scandals

The John Terry racism saga was not a great advert for the club, innocent in a court of law but guilty in the eyes of the FA no party feels truly vindicated by what happened and football was damaged by what happened.

I do not believe John Terry is a racist but our club cannot afford any more incidents alleged or otherwise of this nature.

I will not comment on the allegations made against Mark Clattenberg as I do not know what evidence exists, it is positive that this is being investigated but we must not condemn the referee until the facts are clear.

Racism is a serious issue and must be taken seriously, we must avoid making it a points scoring exercise between opposition fans and instead use it as a way of rallying together cracking down on incidents as needed.

Focussing on The Football

I love football as a game and am passionate enough to write about it regularly, it upsets me that these social issues are impacting upon our game.

So much progress has been made since the dark days where open racism was tolerated in our stadia.

Let’s hope that football can pull together to “Kick It Out” so we can all focus on the football.

Kristian Downer is the owner of FamousCFC.com a Chelsea fan blog

Well what a great game of football, 120 minutes, nine goals and a come from behind Chelsea victory that included a last kick of the game penalty to send the game to extra time.

Both teams made changes but both sides were relatively strong with a blend of fringe youth players and squad members mixing with regular first teamers to create a blend that lead to a brilliant game dynamic.

This time the second half was not ruined with red cards and we were treated to a goal fest with the pendulum swinging backwards and forwards across the 90 minutes.

Whilst both defences were porous the attacking prowess on display made the game exhilarating and meant that we were on our seats for the full hour and a half.

We saw an inspired performance from Victor Moses whilst if Cesar Azpilicueta and Oriol Romeu struggled but once we brought on the big guns we looked like scoring at every opportunity.

After the weekend we needed something to raise our spirits and breed positivity coming into another important month in the Premier League.

Scoring 5 goals and coming from behind is a perfect tonic, confidence in a can you might say.

Final Word: Well done to the ref, despite giving three penalties he got the big decisions right, only criticism was that Scott Wooton stayed on the pitch.

Chelsea have made six changes as Roberto Di Matteo rotates his squad. Lucas Piazon retains his Capital One Cup starting berth and George Saville is the only youth player to make the bench.

Chelsea

• 01 Cech
• 04 David Luiz
• 24 Cahill
• 28 Azpilicueta
• 34 Bertrand
• 06 Romeu
• 10 Mata
• 12 Mikel
• 13 Moses
• 23 Sturridge
• 35 Piazon

Subs

• 40 Hilario, 19 Ferreira, 07 Ramires, 11 Oscar, 17 Hazard, 21 Marin, 56 Savill

TeamTalk

Roberto Di Matteo’s team talk tonight should be simple given the events on Sunday.

Even though just five players from that game are playing tonight, the anger at the result should be enough to spark a performance tonight.

Football is facing a new racism scandal, with Chelsea making formal allegations about the conduct of referee Mark Clattenberg during our game against Manchester United on Sunday..

These allegations are very serious and leave this referee’s career hanging in the balance. For this reason I implore Chelsea fans to be objective and separate what was an abject refereeing performance from the alleged inappropriate comments, particularly if they have a racial element.

If these allegations are true and proven then this may well be the end of the Clattenberg’s refereeing career with the men in black unlikely to be given the same opportunity of redemption as players charged with using racial language by the FA.

As others have stated as a referee the standard that referees are held to should be higher than than the players as they are supervising the game and are the inforcers of the rules.

The FA cannot risk their refereeing appointments being bigger news than the game, particularly after the controversy over the recent Kick It Out week of action that attracted the wrong kind of media attention and called into question action being taken on an important issue.

Unlike the FA I believe in nnocent until proven guilty and this should be applied to this case.

Therefore as tempting as it is to transfer anger at the result on Sunday onto the allegations against Mark Clattenburg, we should refrain.

Due to the seriousness and the fall out, we should wait for the evidence to become clear and let others judge guilt or innocent, in turn avoiding rash judgements or letting the influence of bias impact our opinion on this issue.

For now Clattenberg is just a shocking referee, is he a racist? Well that’s for somebody else to decide.

Yesterday was a very frustrating day, however sometimes in life things will not go your way.

Defeat was painful and many decisions were unjust but we must not let the anger and bitterness consume us as a set of supporters or as a club.

We may have been defeated for the first time in the league, the players must use the anger and taste of defeat as a driver to move on and ensure that defeat does not become a normal feeling.

Looking at the positives

Bar a lax opening 15 minutes we bossed the game until we went down to 10 men, we looked full of energy going forward and showed for the second week in a row real heart when faced with adversity.

If we play as we did against Manchester United in all our other games this season we will be in with a real shout for the League.

November has in the last few seasons been our undoing and we are better than a brief flirt with success, this year we must kick on and ensure we are still in the race coming into the New Year.

Next up is United at home in the cup, what better way to cleanse the soul than a convincing victory.