Question by Kevin K: Chelsea Fans: How many of you were fans of Chelsea before Abramovich bought the Club?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Jack
Question should be ‘before they were successful’
And I think the answer will be very few, but none of them will admit it.
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
undercover blues Viv says
i am nearly 56 and had a season ticket at 6 years old. i think that was before Roman was born.
I can remember Stamford Bridge always being packed as a child.
Think this question should go to Liverpool and Man u supporters.
How many before the 1980s???
Also how many Man u fans have any link to the city compared with the amount of support they have.?
Every Chelsea fan i have met recently – even whilst on holiday in India, all have been fans for years and years.
Of course younger fans in their early teens unless having a strong family football team do tend to choose one of the top four.
John M says
about 25% were there before Abramovich came along
its amazing how many are SUPPORTS now
BigJock says
Probably aabout rhe same as those who were fans of Manchester United or Arsenal before SkySports bought English football.
Spike says
I definitely was a fan before Roman came around.
I started watching English football in 98/99 and loved Chelsea from the start. How could you not with Zola, Flo, Hasselbaink, Desailly, etc, etc.
I do love the team now but I definitely loved them then too.
English Knight says
I'm a Manchester City fan and even i know Chelsea were a good side, and sometimes a thorn in the side of teams challenging for the title, and even won the FA Cup (when it was still a reputable trophy to win) a couple of times and reached a few finals, plus a couple of European campaigns.
Chelsea were known as having popular, public-friendly players such as Zola and Vialli. This was something like 12 years before Roman sniffed them out. Before that they were an also-ran club with a slightly delapidated stadium, but craved success and so Ken Bates, the then chairman set about reversing their fortunes.
They erected a new, state of the art 3 tier stand, that left them almost bankrupt, so any mad spending sprees were put on hold indefinitely.
Chelsea had a reasonably sized fan base, which has exploded since Roman came on the scene, but it's no different to any club that has see success. Liverpool, Arsenal and notably Man U have become plagued with fake, plastic glory hunters who discredit the image and reputation of the true fans of each club. Chelsea have had the same thing happen to them, but the true fans are easily identifyable. You just have to know what to ask. Questions like this don't help.
David C says
there will be around 20,000 loyal fans, all above the age of 30
after that there will be a load of glory hunters who claim to have been a chelsea fan all there life
this is also similar to manchester united, but they actually have been a fan all there live, but this is because their dad is, and they will live around 200 miles away from old trafford
Far King A says
Since before you were born sonny