It Won’t Be Over, Til It’s Over, Over There!

Another blog from @CFCScience  who takes a fascinating look at the forthcoming Chelsea post-season tour to the USA from a US based supporters perspective.

Everybody knows that the ‘post-season tour’ to America is a bad idea. There are many reasons why this is so: It comes at the end of the longest season in recent memory, it’s a blatant example of how money is the driving force behind the game, it’s all about ‘Brand Chelsea’, the ticket prices show that the club is taking advantage of the American fans who are desperate for any chance to see the players in the flesh. All of this has been said before, and is absolutely correct. But I want to put across the perspective of a fan living in the USA. There are three silver linings to this tour that I hope people can bear in mind while they (rightly) complain that it shouldn’t be happening. I’m not trying to excuse the tour or say that it’s a good idea, but if it’s going to happen, we might as well try and find the positives in it, right?

Firstly, it allows North American fans the chance to say thank you to the players for all that they’ve achieved. I imagine that playing for Chelsea has not been easy this year. Seeing us start the season like a house on fire, to watch our defensive form deteriorate, so see Robbie getting sacked, witnessing Benitez come in and the inevitable reaction that this got from the stands, to struggle through match after match after match in glorious European locations(?!), and finally to achieve our main targets must have been an emotional roller-coaster and – despite them being paid professionals – I don’t envy them one bit for that. They deserve our respect and our thanks and I can’t wait for the opportunity to give it to them.

Secondly, it gives Chelsea in America an excuse to get together and have an almighty good time. Building the relationships between fans in far-flung parts of a country the size of the USA is not an easy task, and any extra help that can be got from the club to do this is welcome. I realize that this might not be recognized by London residents, but even if it looks a bit different, fans here are very passionate for the club and we are a growing group of people. The exposure that Chelsea gets (even if it comes about in the wrong way) is helpful for building the community of Chelsea fans on this side of the Pond. Plus, we get the opportunity for a proper piss-up, and to stand together and sing our way through the song book in a way that we can’t normally do. Friendships will be formed, the community here will be reinforced, and we get to have a go at the City fans who think they’re so much better than us. (They’re wrong. Obviously.)

Finally, and most importantly, Rafa Benitez will be on the tour. Anti-Rafa sentiment in the States is just as high as it is in SW6, and we haven’t had a chance to tell him or the club exactly what we think of the Scouse-loving Iberian waiter. It will mean so much more to sing “We don’t care about Rafa” when he is stood a few yards away than it does to sing it at the TV in the bar. As a point of principle, I want to show him that fans here know their football and their club history well enough to understand why it is such a disgrace that Robbie was sacked, why he is anathema to us, why we wish he was never appointed, and why we think that the only thing for him to do is to resign immediately.

So there it is. The tour shouldn’t be happening, but there are at least a few good things that might come out of it anyway.

Up the Chels!

By CFCScience

Follow him on twitter @CFCScience