The Chelsea Lions, A Soulless Bridge
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Loading ...This superb read appeared in my inbox a day or so ago from an anonymous writer only dubbing himself retroblue. What struck me was the candid nature of the post and how the very essence of supporting Chelsea had reached a breaking point for many fans. The revelation was in that this dystopic post was written 6 years ago. Do enjoy.
‘Brand’, ‘Marketing Mix,’ ‘Market Forces’, ‘Revenue per Head’ - hardly the words we grew up with when reading our football annuals and “Shoot” magazine. Chairman of old talked about star players, glorious cup runs, winning the league, crowd favourites who were over the moon and sick as a parrot - today’s suits dream of the global brand, customers, clients and turnover
In the Irish Examiner sport’s supplement “Arena”, three of the four independent columnists, supporters of the big four, despair over the future of their clubs and our beautiful game; they talk of the marketing machine of Old Trafford, it’s extended partner in West London and the next ‘brand on the block’ Arsenal, where, at the Emirates Stadium, what is ‘in’ are club seats, restaurants, 4K season tickets and corporate entertaining.
Liverpool fans may currently mock and may have the upper hand in terms of big match atmosphere, but their day will come, especially if the news of an American billionaire benefactor is to be believed. Along with a spanking 60,000 seater new Anfield, will come attached an army of marketing and sales people to pull Liverpool into the corporate jungle of big time football.
Every day Wembley seems to extend further outwards into the North West London sky, but the talk isn’t of football coming home, its of ten year season tickets, entertaining suites, a supporters band, cheer leaders and restaurants - whilst overhead the ghost of the old Wembley Stadium quietly watches and sheds a tear for the modern game.
The highlight for me and many others over the years was the trip to old Trafford; I took great delight in chanting “do you come from Tokyo” and “you’re just a ground full of tourists” to the thousands of people packed in the K stand. Walking away from the ground we laughed at people clutching their ‘united megastore’ bags containing the latest piece of tat not worthy of a market stall in the North End Road, smugly knowing that whilst we might not have a fantastic team, we were still a real football club, with a support that was humorous, loyal and prepared to die for our team. Bates talked of us being the ‘Man U of the South’ - we all laughed, and in reality put ourselves on par with Man City ‘the ‘Chelsea of the North’.
But how wrong we were; Stamford Bridge on a Saturday is now no different from the very team and supporters we mocked for all those years – every season the next level of support is priced out; the chants of “Chelsea, Chelsea ok yah” mocking the residents and the new class of people who now live in Fulham, are now the very people the club wants to attract to the ground (along with assorted one-off day trippers). They are replacing the loyal support of Chelsea Football Club; of this hard-core, many are hanging on, just, but many are also falling off as the relentless pursuit of global domination continues.
The suits at Chelsea used to belong to the mods and skinheads who ruled the Shed end in days gone by; fashions changed but the ‘belonging and being part of something unique” remained. The suits now are from Saville Row worn by people who run our club and who do not understand, and have never belonged to the hardcore support of a football team; who don’t comprehend what it is to be a Chelsea fan. To them it’s just a job where they go home at night, shut the door, and the ‘football product’ is forgotten until tomorrow - another day at the office chasing that sales target and monthly bonus.
Chelsea has always attracted a wide mix of fans across the social spectrum, it’s what’s made our club so different and so attractive; what we all had in common was our passion for all things Chelsea. When the new East stand was built, with it came boxes and restaurants; supporters accepted that and it was priced accordingly, and no one really had any complaints. Most of us were still paying a few quid and grabbing a dodgy burger, a wagon wheel or a bag of Percy Daltons and that was enough for us.
The point is that there was a choice - there were price bands that were affordable for all, and the make up of the support reflected that. What we are now seeing is a huge swing away from the weekly match going supporter, to a once or twice a season punter who is quite happy to pay top prices, visit the megastore, stay in the hotel, eat in the club restaurants, basically buying the brand - Kenyon’s dream.
Is it any surprise that at last football fans are starting to say “enough is enough”. The early stages of the Champions League is never brilliantly supported, but the huge non attendance against Anderlecht and Betis was something new; it was the supporters who would watch Chelsea play five a side in the local park at midnight on a Sunday night who finally said No; this was the hard core - the people who pay their money up front, season after season – those that arrange their loves around those boys in blue. They still came to the ground - they still chose to do what they’ve always done - drink in the pubs, meet their mates, but they said NO to the ticket prices; it hurt, but they stayed away.
What the Chelsea management failed to realise (or chose to ignore) is that there were punters a stones throw away from the ground willing to pay a fair price to attend a football match; they didn’t need to be coaxed to the ground by page three stunners in Victoria Station, to be enticed on the airwaves of Virgin, Talk Sport, XFM, or read about the “limited availability” of tickets for the Anderlecht game in the Evening Standard. Chelsea need to think long and hard if they are willing to lose this level of support in the long term. Football is a habit – once lost, these supporters will be nigh on impossible to get back.
Chelsea supporters also have a part to play; for too long we have accepted everything that the club has thrown at us, high prices are nothing new at the Bridge but they have now been pitched at a level which is turning fans away in droves. It’s time to act and now before we lose everything we’ve stood and fought for over the years.
“We’re Chelsea, United, we’ll never be defeated” sang the Shed End.
“Time for action” sang Secret Affair – maybe this is the time for those words to ring true.
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