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We deserved to lose tonight, worst European performance at home in a decade and against ten men

— FamousCFC (@Famous_CFC) March 11, 2015

Last night’s performance in the Champions League was an absolute shambles, Chelsea lacked the heart to overcome PSG despite the visitors spending the majority of the game a man short, twice coming from behind to stun Stamford Bridge.

One of the main talking points was the performance of former Blue and European champion David Luiz who put in a world class performance and scored against his former club. He also celebrated and was a general nuisance to our chances all night. This has led to lots of frustrated Chelsea fans taking out their frustration on David Luiz and have fallen out of love with this former blue.

However let’s be realistic he is no longer a Chelsea player and it is his highly paid job to do what he can to win. It is understandable that he would celebrate as it was an important moment in the match.

He has since apologised but that is in my opinion unnecessary, celebrating when you score is a part of football and all this ex player “respect” has become a faux parade of political correctness.

David Luiz was loved by Chelsea fans because although he was not perfect he left it all on the pitch and was a larger than life member of the team. This curly haired defender may not have been a Chelsea legend but he played his heart out for Chelsea and won a bunch of trophies. Not to mention the fact we sold him for £50m a figure which one game will not stop being an insanely good ROI for the club.

David Luiz was a cult figure when he was a Stamford Bridge and should be remembered for what he did here good and bad, not what he did once we sold him for big monies. During his time at the club fans would sing this song

Oh David Luiz, you are the love of my life

Oh David Luiz I’d let you shag my wife

Oh David Luiz I want curly hair too

He may no longer be Chelsea but the game needs more players with the personality and mentality of David Luiz, and deep down I will always remember the time when I wanted curly hair too!

 

As you know football now is all about prawn sandwiches, champagne and meeting celebrities in your corporate box, this is what every football fan wants and eventually UEFA will have its way and make this a reality. There are however people out there who remember a simpler time where the football was diabolical but supporting the club was a bit more rough and ready.

Therefore I thought I would tell you about one written by Chelsea legend Kelvin Barker.

Celery! Representing Chelsea in the 1980s

Kelvin Barker was just five years old when he stood on Stamford Bridge’s famous Shed End terrace for the first time in December 1970. Chelsea beat Newcastle United 1-0 that day, although Kelvin, standing just two foot tall, was able to see precious little of the action. Nevertheless, it heralded the beginning of a love affair which lasts to this very day.

By the time the Eighties arrived, Kelvin was a fully paid-up member of the blue army, and had already witnessed more ups and downs than an average adult movie as a result, and it got a whole lot worse before it got better. But it did get better, and in Celery! – Representing Chelsea in the 1980s, Kelvin has gathered together the thoughts and recollections of twelve star performers of the time, to add to his own memories of an incredible decade for the Blues.

From his own amusing tales of hugging skipper Colin Pates on the hallowed Stamford Bridge turf and serenading Bob Geldof in the King’s Road, through to the incredible behind-the-scenes stories as told by the players themselves – the mysterious case of Mickey Thomas’ disappearing gold chain, how a kick in the head made Joey Jones a fans’ favourite, the role physio Norman Medhurst’s hair played in David Speedie’s departure from the club, and many more – this book lays bare the facts of representing Chelsea in the 1980s, as recalled by those who were there.

Come along, come along, come along and sing this song. We’re the boys in blue in Division Two and we won’t be here for long

Note: FamousCFC.com received no payment for this article we just love the book.

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.