All is quiet on the football front. There`s not much going on except the usual nonsense that occurs during these tedious international interruptions.
As such it seems like a good time to ask a question that some may regard as controversial. Are Chelsea FC a big club? As far as I`m concerned it doesn`t matter. They`re the team I`ve supported all of my life, I`m not about to change now. However, in my opinion, we`re not a big club, and I`m happy with that.
In terms of Stadia, Stamford Bridge is small in comparison to the ‘bigger` clubs. We fail the big club criteria there. Clearly it’s something Roman Abramovich wants to address by tearing the old ground down and redeveloping the site. But with a current capacity of 41,500, it`s a way behind the United`s and Barcelona`s.
On the playing side, there appears to be a reluctance by top players to come to Chelsea at the peak of their careers. There have been one or two exceptions, Diego Costa, being one that comes to mind recently. In general though, they stay away.
One area where some may consider us to be a big club, is the size and spread of our fan base. Chelsea are without doubt, well supported throughout the world. But that only makes us a popular club. That popularity has occurred because the owner invested vast sums of money into the football club. That in-turn brought trophy after trophy, and fan after fan.
Not that there`s anything wrong with supporting a club because they`re good. I`m a glory-hunter myself, I started my support off the back of an FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup haul. If we`re not a big club, it begs the question, do we want to be become one?
A bigger ground would make it easier to get tickets for sure, but would I want to be rocking up to the ‘Gazprom Stadium`. I remember going to Stamford Bridge for the first time as a boy with my dad. The East Stand was under construction, so it would have been around 1974.
It wasn`t on a matchday, it must have been during the school holidays and the team were actually training at the ground. Access to the ground didn`t involve a whole lot of security back then. It consisted of some old guy wandering about in a hat. He let us go in a watch the players being put through their paces.
After the players had finished training we were walking out around the perimeter, when our big central defender Micky Droy came careering towards us on a dumper truck off the building site. Health and Safety would have gone nuts today. I`ve never forgotten that.
Part of being a ‘big` club is, according to many, having some sort of historical relevance. Chelsea were formed in 1905, you can`t exist for over a hundred years and not have that, surely. However, it doesn`t stop football supporters, no doubt jealous of our current success, from throwing around the ‘you`ve got no history` crap. Website`s have been built around that whole premise.
What is history and why haven`t we got it? Is it trophies, is it fanbase, is it simply being around for longer than us, or is it getting the country banned from European football. I assume we are just not allowed to have any because a Russian oligarch came in a bunged a whole load of money at us.
Let`s face it, we`ve got bags of history and we`re still making it whilst others wallow in past glories. This season may or may not result in the trophy cabinet having to be opened to allow another FA Cup to be popped in. If it doesn`t, no matter.
Antonio Conte may leave along with Eden Hazard and countless others. That will make no difference to the personal history I`ve accumulated through the years following the Blues, I prefer the newer nickname. I could never attach myself to the Pensioners. As I a child I didn`t want to be known as a pensioner. I`m still a way off that, but it doesn`t sound any better now.
I guess in answer to the question ‘are we a big club?` It`s a no from me, we are extremely popular though. I`m happy for the big clubs if that`s what they want. I`ll stick with little-old-Chelsea thank you very much.
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