Plains of Almería was created in June 2011 by myself (@JoeTweeds) as a place to pen my thoughts concerning everything to do with Chelsea Football Club. The original idea was to post pieces of a tactical spin, looking at previewing and analysing Chelsea games as time allowed. As the blog progressed so did the pieces that featured. There is a conscious effort to stay away from the plethora of football blogs that excel at posting timely pieces about current stories or transfer rumours. Our aim is to provide intelligent, passionate and (hopefully) interesting pieces related to Chelsea - ranging from a look at following Chelsea in the 80s to the magnificence of Eden Hazard.

Tim Rolls (@tim_rolls), the current interim Chair of the Chelsea Supporters Trust, provides us with pieces that look at things of yesteryear. Tim has been following Chelsea home/away for decades and is currently a home and away season ticket holder. Tim features regularly in the CFCUK Fanzine and in various media outlets as a respected and trusted Chelsea voice.

Sam Poplett (@daspecial_1) is our Swiss Army Knife at Plains of Almería. His Twitter account is of particular interest to any Chelsea fans on social media - press conference quotations, coverage of youth team games etc. are all features.

Why ‘Plains of Almería’?
This is something that I am often asked - what does POA have to do with Chelsea? It was firstly an attempt to move away from anything that has obvious Chelsea connotations, something a little more esoteric. Speaking with Chelsea’s Official Historian Rick Glanvill (@RickGlanvill) he suggested a quotation attributed to Raquel Welch in a Guardian interview from 1971, “Tell them Osgood is not forgotten on the plains of Almería”. It seemed something perfectly quirky to fit the purpose of the blog and seems to have captured the essence of what we are about here.

We have moved into the digital publishing sphere for the 2012/13 season and the return of José Mourinho. Currently offering a pre-season publication (likely to include a post-season review) that provides detailed individual player profiles, tactical insight, an overview of the academy (and spotlights a few current players) and supplementary opinion pieces ranging from Chelsea’s compliance of financial fair play and a purported stadium move. All of this content comes at just 99p (and a pay what you like basis), written by Chelsea fans, for Chelsea fans.