Nothing against our new superstar you understand, we still think he’ll become the future captain of Chelsea someday – he’s the standout candidate after only eight weeks at the Bridge – but his performance against Stoke had us enquiring whether Delilah had been chopping his hair.

On only eight minutes, Stoke’s Jonathan Walters turned David Luiz on the half way line and left him for dead before running at our defence and drilling in a shot that beat Cech at the near post.  Depending on your affiliations, it was either a majestic individual effort by an underrated Republic of Ireland international or shocking defending by the meanest back four in the Premiership.  We’ll plump for the latter with David Luiz singled out for allowing Walters to, metaphorically speaking, mug him.

More concerning to CFCnet was that David Luiz let the same thing happen in the second half, with nearly the same result.  He’s going to have to sharpen up. Still, despite it not being his finest hour, CFCnet retains its faith in our new Brazilian signing.

To be honest, although the title now feels completely out of our reach, CFCnet is not overwhelmed with despondency.  Our mid-season run was as poor a string of results as we can remember and by January we would have settled for a top four berth – at that time any mention of the title was answered by the simple text code LMFAO.  Although our revival has come too late to resurrect our championship hopes, we’re just happy to have ‘our team back’ and we’re still brimming with confidence for our forthcoming Champions League quarter final against United.

We’re also realistic that our previous seven straight victories against the Potters had to come to an end sometime.  Indeed, Tony Pulis acknowledged that this was the first point Stoke had taken off Chelsea in the Premiership.  Even then, we nearly beat Stoke with Drogba narrowly missing a hat trick courtesy of the woodwork.  We’re in good shape, something that Ancelotti remarked on over the weekend.

Finally, a quick word about a new flag that will soon appear in the Matthew Harding Upper.  In January an anonymous benefactor asked CFCnet to help create a banner in honour of our Russian owner.  The two winning flags as judged by the CFCnet Forum were titled, “From Russia With Love” and “Roman Empire”. You’ll have to wait till Wednesday evening to see which one eventually made the cut.  Our thanks to Darren Mantle for organising it all.

People often enquire who decides what Chelsea flags appear at the Bridge.  It’s quite simple.  If there is a banner you’d like to see at Chelsea, send an email to admin@cfcnet.co.uk as well as advice on how we can finance transforming your dream into reality. We will then turn the idea over to our Forums to judge its merits and, if it makes the grade and the finance is forthcoming, you’ll see it up at the Bridge every other week.  Alternatively, you can make one yourself but, believe me, you’ll soon tire of putting it out every home game!

Perhaps what made the game so disappointing to lose was the manner in which it happened.  After Lampard’s extra time goal the momentum was clearly with us and, as seen so often at this level, an unnecessary free kick outside the area cost us dearly. 

Ivanovic has been brilliant this season and most CFCnet readers rate him very highly but he has to learn that when a player is facing away from goal in the dying minutes of a game there is simply no need to foul him. If Ivanovic does that at any time during a Champions League tie we’ll be out, period.

The same level of criticism applies to Anelka.  Again a very highly regarded player at CFCnet, he simply does his cause no good by taking penalties so casually.  To be fair, his casual style might simply be a ploy to hide his nerves but, as we’re no psychologists, we have to point out that when he misses a penalty taken like that he looks lightweight and unconcerned to the millions watching.  Still, aged nearly 32 we can’t see him changing now but we hope that Carlo has a ‘word’ nonetheless.

Everton have a superb record against us with only one defeat in the last eight matches.  That’s not bad, in fact it’s better than any other team, yet most of their goals have come from set pieces which makes Ivanovic’s sloppy foul all the more frustrating.  Surely Carlo’s future mantra against Everton must be, ‘no fouls in our half or I’ll dock half your wages’. 

As we walked out of the game as downhearted as when Villa equalised in the last minute earlier this year, we couldn’t help remembering that no team has ever won the FA Cup three times in a row since Blackburn Rovers achieved the feat in 1886 – the same year that the country of Burma was presented to Queen Victoria ‘as a birthday gift’.  How times change.  You can almost hear the Royal Courtiers, ‘Happy Birthday Ma’am, here’s Burma and, oh by the way, Blackburn have won the FA Cup a record three times.’

Without trying to nail a silver lining to a very ugly cloud, we have to applaud our team for winning the FA Cup three times in the last five years.  Indeed, if you’d told us in 1994 when Man Utd knocked us senseless at Wembley (with more than a little help from a certain Harrovian schoolmaster) that we’d go on to win the FA Cup five times in fifteen years we’d have thought the world had gone crazy.  But not as crazy as giving a whole country to a person as a birthday present, we’ll admit that much.

Pub talk later on focused on Tony Glover’s brilliant CFCnet article on the nature of ‘what constitutes a real Chelsea fan’.  It’s a must read for newer fans because it points out the need for healthy debate, not extremism.  As CFCnet can testify, our Chelsea Forum can get inundated with polarised views which stifle real discussion. What our moderators strive to do is to get people to respect each other and, let me tell you, it’s not always easy after a gut wrenching defeat.

Tony’s been a brilliant addition to CFCnet this season yet the only reason he’s writing for us is that he’s asked to.  We have been accused of publishing ‘anything’ but frankly that’s what we’re here for – so that Chelsea fans can air their views.  If you feel tempted to put pen to paper simply email admin@CFCnet.co.uk.  So long as the argument is cohesive and you’re not being lazy in the grammar dept we’ll (probably!) print the article.  By the way, Tony will be providing many posts for this very blog from next season so we’re looking forward to that …

What made the defeat almost as bad as hitting the post in Moscow 2008 was the fact we were parading our new signing in front of his old team, our arch enemy ‘the stealing thieves from Scouseland’.  A heady pre-match expectation of the type not seen since Ruud Gullit arrived in ’95 (at Gillingham of all places) was destroyed at a stroke by Meireles flukey goal.

Coming off the back of fantastic away performances against Bolton and Sunderland there wasn’t any need to play Torres.  Like a high stakes card player we could have left him to stare menacingly from the bench whilst leaving Drogba and Anelka to terrorise the Reds.  Instead, we made the classic poker error of showing our ‘three of a kind’ too early, allowing the Scousers’ to slap down a straight flush and take all the winnings. February 6^th goes down in CFCnet folklore as a nasty, nasty day.

Unfortunately, the game against Fulham last night was almost a repeat performance. Indeed if Cech hadn’t saved from Dempsey in the 94^th minute we’d be staring at two defeats in a row to loathed opposition.  That we had the lion’s share of the possession – in the second half it was one way traffic – makes the match even more mystifying.  Suddenly, with the best strike force in in the world we seem unable to buy a goal.  Even for £50 million.

With the ghosts of Tony Hateley, Robert Fleck, Chris Sutton and Andrei Shevchenko lurking quietly in the background, our new Number Nine could be forgiven for thinking that Stamford Bridge is a strikers’ graveyard. Following their moves to Chelsea, all the aforementioned players’ careers fell off a very high cliff, more Angel Falls than Beachy Head. The legendary Shevchenko scored 83 goals in his three seasons at AC Milan prior to coming to Chelsea.  His total over a similar period at Stamford Bridge? 22. That’s almost a 75% decline.

Yes, there is some daylight on the horizon. The Fulham game saw a marked improvement in the way Torres slotted into the team.  Some excellent diagonal runs had him picked out with inch perfect passes (the 50 yard knock from Luiz a particular gem) and on a better pitch he could have scored two or three goals.   He’s nearly there.

However, what disturbs us more is that the system we are playing is too narrow and doesn’t play to our team’s strengths.  We also lack creative guile and with no Joe Cole or Benayoun to unlock a defence we have become one dimensional. What other reason can there be for a side full of world class players to fail to notch a single goal against inferior opposition?  There doesn’t seem to be a Plan B, or as one CFCnet joker piped up, “there doesn’t seem to be much of a Plan A either”.

No Chelsea manager looking at our current playing staff could ever complain about the resources at his disposal.   We have one of the best squads in the world, bar none.  It’s therefore up to the management team to learn how to get the best from the 24 players available and fashion them into the kind of unit that won the league last year with 103 goals.  Surely it can’t be that hard with Torres, Drogba and Anelka at your disposal?

With that in mind we’d like to extend a very Merry Christmas to all Blues fans, young and old alike.  The support this year was sensational at times with the home match against Wigan perhaps the best atmosphere of all.  What a rush.  If you’d like a reminder of what it was like to witness Anelka’s first goal against Wigan, take a look at the clip below.

We’d also like to say a huge thank you to all our Forum Moderators and Writers who, totally unpaid, strive to bring you the very best Blues content for the sheer love of it.  These chaps and lasses, all fifty of them, spend hours each week moderating and writing for your entertainment.  They deserve a special mention.  Thank you, you know who you are. Merry Christmas.

A big thank you also to David J, Dazz and Steve for getting the banners up both home and away.  Those banners don’t walk to the ground on their own you know!  Merry Christmas, guys.

Also a very special mention and a big Santa bear hug for Peter Sampson, CFCnet Chairman, and his long suffering family without whom this site would not exist in its present form.  Merry Xmas Peter, Carolyn, Tyler,  Jamie and Frankie the dog.

Finally, a special thank you to everyone at Chelsea Football Club for continuing to make our dreams reality.  Santa’s got nothing on you guys…. In just 13 short years we’ve won 3 Premierships, 3 Carling Cups, 5 FA Cups and Stockholm ’98. Nice one.

Finally, a Merry Christmas from everyone at CFCnet – we leave you with a clip from the pub when we won The Double.  Enjoy.

Looking back, perhaps the turning point and the start of the Indie’s slow decline was the death of Matthew Harding in late 1996. A real champion of the Independent, Harding was a fan in the real sense of the word and for once there was a glimmer of hope that Chelsea would be owned by a multi-millionaire fan who appreciated and respected all that CISA and the Indie had done. Harding’s death in a helicopter accident returning from an away tie at Bolton was a hammer blow to the Indie. Bates soon resumed his tirade against CISA and all hope of board representation had gone.

By 1998, the writing was on the wall so to speak. Andrew Wrench (who had taken over from Mark Meehan’s editorship) stepped down to be replaced by Mark Wheeler and James Edwards with David Johnstone looking after CISA. Max Dowling and myself wrote the match reports, something we also did for Sport’s First newspaper in the late nineties. It was strange pulling over in a layby at the Stadum of Light and other away venues filing copy to the Press Association. Sport First paid us £30 a report.

Whilst the Indie’s editorial content was stronger than ever there was a convergence of factors that killed off Chelsea’s best-loved fanzine. Perhaps the greatest of these was, perversely, the team’s success. In 1987, there were just over 9,000 fans at the Bridge to watch Chelsea play Oxford on a cold February day. A decade later, Chelsea had four times that amount watching the Blues. Where had they come from? We were a victim of our own success. Due to our location, our high prices, our cosmopolitan image, our team of world stars and the re-emergence of football as a worthy pastime following Euro ’96, the Bridge was flooded with glory hunters and new fans. For these fans, what was there to complain about? Who needed board representation when Zola was scoring the last minute goal in a European Final? Who needed a fanzine mouthpiece?

Football used to be much more than just the game. Like other youth movements (mods, punks etc) it was a way of life. It had its own culture and fashions. This was original lad culture before the pathetic emergence of quasi-cool magazines such as Loaded and FHM. With the gentrification of Chelsea and Stamford Bridge, fanzines lost their appeal. Sales went down. The hammer blow, paradoxically enough, was the Internet and the proliferation of football media. Football was everywhere, on TV, on Satellite, on the magazine newsstands, on the back pages of the Nationals, in books – all competing for readers’ attention. With mobiles and email also producing a cultural shift, the Chelsea Independent went into a quick decline and in 2001 stopped altogether.

Mark Wheeler, had by that time already decided to start a (very) small website dedicated to Chelsea. Mark and I posted our Sport First reports and various match reviews as well as the odd editorial. The url, famously, was http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/cisa.

With the ending of CISA and the ending of the Chelsea Independent, Mark Wheeler, new operative and technical wizard Peter Sampson and myself decided to go it alone reborn and realigned as CFCnet. Within a few months CFCnet hit the national news as being responsible for what was called “Mission Celery” by Reuters.

With only a small initial readership the website took a lot of work and a level of dedication that Mark, a full time journalist, did not have available. Late in 2002 he decided to take a break from the site as Editor and, after a few rudderless months and numerous auditions later, Rob Hobson took up the Editorial role just in time for Roman Abramovich’s takeover.

The rest you could say is history!

Ken Bates joined in the contempt by announcing that to improve the Shed, he’d install an electric fence to keep us in. A sort of eighties version of the Taser gun. The GLC, headed by Ken Livingstone, objected to the power being turned on which avoided some nasty shocks and led to Bates calling the GLC ‘cretins’.

After Italia ’90, football became fashionable again. The only fists being raised on the terraces were more for the ‘let’s all do the disco’ conga rather than global supremacy. Everyone wanted a part of it and after the advent of the Premiership in 1992 and also, don’t forget, the Euro 96 hysteria, football re-entered the mainstream as a ‘cool’ pastime.

I got involved with the Chelsea Independent fanzine at a time of great transition in football, when money started pouring into the game as a result of Sky TV and with Chelsea hiking ticket prices by up to 25 per cent per year. As our fanbase changed and evolved (with many more families and women attending), it was also the start of the Chelsea revolution with Hoddle reinventing our style of play with a fluid pass-and-move game. Whiilst we’d still lose 13 or 14 games a season, we played with a panache that brought back some semblance of self esteem to a support that had been seriously battered for its allegiance to the Blues over the previous twenty years.

It was 1993. Ross Fraser, a former Guyana gold prospector, was the then Editor of the Chelsea Independent. Smart, funny and simply a great guy, Ross managed a hostel for 25 ‘care in the community’ adults in Maida Vale whilst editing the Indie fanzine at the same time. I don’t know what was more chaotic, Ross’ house or the Indie, but he still managed to pull out a cracking edition of the fanzine each month.

A long time reader of the Indie from almost its first issue in ’87, I responded to an ad placed by the Indie staff for more writers (just like CFCnet is doing today). I then found out that Ross Fraser lived down the road and hence began my association with the Chelsea Independent fanzine and CISA. There were some real die-hard Blues involved – Mark Meehan, Paul Roberts, Neil Brown, Mark Pulver, Andrew Wrench, Nicola Roberts, Neal, Tom Bowtell etc – too many to mention. Many a day I’d help Ross type in some more hand-written copy provided to us by regular contributors.

At the same time, Bates, as ever, was busy castigating anyone who remotely got in his way. As he was often quoted, he liked to work in a committee of two with one member absent. Whilst he had an ever-increasing dislike of the Chelsea Independent, we weren’t the only ones to be on the receiving end of his barbed tongue. Here are just a few of Bates’ quotes at the time:

The FA – “an inept administration”
Matthew Harding – “an evil man. He left a legacy of bitterness”
Ruud Gullit – “a part-time, playboy manager”
Glenn Hoddle – “besotted by Harding’s bullshit”
Ham’smith & Fulham Council – “bloody loony-left council without a pot to piss in”

Footnote: thanks to Nick Brow, Mark Wyeth and Dave Faulkner for additional information.

“The years I was editor were great years (1989-1992). The Blues held themselves in the first/Premier but never quite impressed. Prices rose at the ground, the ‘end of the Shed was nigh, the ownership situation was still uncertain and Chelsea continued to lose to lower division sides in the Cups.”

“There were ‘ups’. Winning at Anfield was one of them. The 6-4 win at Derby was another (for younger Blues fans, dig out a copy of this game – it’s a Blues classic). Chelsea’s European travels in those days consisted of pre-season friendlies in Scandinavia and Ireland or Cross-Channel trophy matches with Le Havre. After some dreadful cup performances we finally reached some semi-finals only to lose to Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday (still painful memories).”

“The centre pages of issue 22 of the Chelsea Independent greeted Chelsea’s superb 3-0 victory at White Hart Lane in a cup that we believed was ours. The Independent also got two in-depth interviews with Pat Nevin and David Webb. With the advent of new IT hardware and software, the Chelsea Independent began to lose its literal cut and paste look of its early issues. When Ross Fraser took over the Editorship for issue 34, colour finally splashed out.”

“Looking at the last issue I edited, it is amazing how far we’ve come. Chelsea finished mid-table as usual; fans were protesting about Jason Cundy’s sale to Rottenham; the ground was still not ‘safe’; Chelsea lost to Leeds but still outsang them at Elland Road; a rising star was interviewed for the Indie while on loan at Cardiff (his name was Eddie Newton) and Andrew Wrench, a rising new contributor who was later to become editor, told us how he ‘hated Arsenal from the heart’.”

The Chelsea Independent fanzine still remains a well-loved publication by older fans. Mention ‘the Indie’ and memories of reading a sodden copy on the tube journey home after we’ve lost yet another home game on a damp Saturday renders a warm glow to the heart. It’s best quality was its humour. Funny to the core and deeply irreverent, the Indie often left reader’s helpless with laughter. We’ve all got our favourite articles but a London Scene round-up in Issue 100 where London Clubs were ‘reviewed’ was a typical Indie joke-fest. Here’s the reviewer talking about the Arse and Wenger’s inability to see any match decisions that might affect his team:

“They always said there was no such thing as the perfect crime, well they are wrong. If you’re a burglar, all you have to do is break into Arsene Winger’s house whilst he’s at home. All you need do is wear an Arsenal shirt and you can nick what you like, you could even give him an elbow and flatten him with a smack in the mouth. One thing is for sure, if you’re wearing that shirt, he won’t see a f**king thing.”

Mark Meehan, Editor of the Indie in the mid-nineties, collected the pick of the Indie’s articles over a period of ten years and wrote the book, “From Save The Bridge to Wemberlee”. A sort of ‘Fever Pitch’ for Chelsea fans, the book spans years of desperation at being almost Groundless to winning the FA Cup in 1997. There are still some copies for sale (at £10 I believe) and if anyone is interested we’ll forward enquiries to Mark Meehan himself. Simply email indiebook@cfcnet.co.uk Any true blue who was too young during those years to really remember what it was like supporting Chelsea owes it to him/herself to buy and read this book. When you realise how lucky you are in 2005, you’ll never even think of booing a current Chelsea player, let alone opening your gob to do so. It’s about heritage.

Footnote: thanks again to Nick Brown for additional information and Dave Faulkner.

Although Ken Bates was rallying fans against Cabra and trying to get Chelsea fans to purchase its shares (to get a seat on the board etc), Bates’ attitude to the Chelsea Independent and CISA was, how shall we put it, ‘unfriendly’. This was rather surprising given CISA and Bates shared the same goal – Chelsea staying at Stamford Bridge.

Within the third issue of the Chelsea Independent was news of CISA’s first meeting. At the gathering people dared to criticise management and bemoan the lack of fan representation which was pretty radical stuff at a time when Bates ruled Chelsea with an iron fist inside an iron glove. Knuckledusters were merely child’s play. From the off, Bates railed against CISA and for the next 13 years would annually find space in his programme notes to slag off individuals. Indeed, any new Editor of the Chelsea Independent was deemed not to have ‘made it’ unless his name appeared in print in Bates’ programme notes.

Central to Bates’ hatred of all things CISA and Chelsea Independent was the accusation that the Chelsea Independent made bucket loads of cash and ripped off fellow fans, a charge I’ve also heard aimed at CFCnet. Nothing could have been further from the truth, both now and then. Immediately below I have copied a sample Bates diatribe from his programme notes:

“Let me make it quite clear. CISA do not support the Club, they are not independent and their little association has an extremely small membership, furthermore they try to make money by competing with Chelsea, all this while seeking recognition, free press tickets on match days and a place at the table for discussions – they have no relevance”.

In the late 90’s Bates made one too many smart comments and a brave (make that very brave or slightly unhinged – depending how you look at it) CISA member, David Johnstone took Bates to court following his negative comments about CISA. With litigation lasting two years, David took Bates up to the wire before Ken settled out of court. Following his days at CISA, Dave subsequently set up ‘blueandwhitearmy.net’ and still sells his fanzine cfcuk outside the ground on match days. David is a legendary Stamford Bridge figure and season ticket holder, and is currently employed by the Club as an archivist for the Chelsea Centenary Exhibition and Museum. CFCnet is proud to call ourselves friends of both cfcuk and blueandwhitearmy.net.

Going back to the late Eighties, here is Nick Brown in his own words on editing the Chelsea Independent:

“The early Chelsea Independents, like all fanzines, brought fans back to football and allowed supporters to air their views, where otherwise they would have been ignored. The Independent could also challenge the Club on the serious issues of racism, policing, pricing and ticket arrangements.

When I look back over the mantle I had as editor of the Independent, Chelsea were back in the first division (the current Premiership) and it was the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties.

The Taylor Report had just come out, the ‘members only bill’ had been defeated but now it looked like we were going all-seater. On the fan subject, in my first issue we printed a yellow card with ‘off side’ written on it to wave at Tony Adams and Arsenal at the forthcoming Highbury game. Over 4,000 cards were printed and they went down well (I know, I was there and loved it: Jez) with Adams receiving a torrent of ‘off side’ abuse. The Blues won thanks to a half volley from Jonny Bumstead who cracked in a goal from the edge of the penalty area. Chelsea were the only side to win at Highbury that season.”

End of Part Two.

Footnote: thanks again to Nick Brown for additional information. Also to Mark Wyeth.

In early 1987, Chelsea was not in a good state. A demonstration in front of Hammersmith Town Hall was called in March of that year to protest against the proposed merger of Chelsea FC with QPR and Fulham – Fulham Park Rangers as it was distastefully referred to. A property magnate, Bulstrode, owned all three grounds and his property company Mahler Estates/Cabra was eyeing the heady prospect of developing prime real estate at Stamford Bridge and shipping the Blues off to QPR’s ground. It was a very real and ugly prospect.

At the demo, Fulham fans were represented by an established independent supporters club whilst QPR were similar to Chelsea in that they had no ‘independent’ representation. Yes, QPR and Chelsea did have supporters clubs but they were official supporters clubs that merely spewed out the same optimistic propaganda from official ‘channels’.

A group of twelve Chelsea fans took it upon themselves to therefore set up an independent supporters club, the Chelsea Independent Supporters Association (CISA), in April 1987. The official mouthpiece of CISA, the Chelsea Independent fanzine, spawned well over 100 issues and became the Bridge’s best-loved football fanzine. Spanning thirteen years, the fanzine was sold in all weather outside the Lost Theatre (now a shopping mall and church) on the Fulham Road. The original Dirty Dozen fans remain mythical figures but the names Nick Brown, Mike Titcher, Peter Collins and Paul Roberts all spring to mind – Peter and Paul later graduated to write for the Club’s official magazine, Bridge News.

Issue One of the Chelsea Independent was produced using a £12 subscription from registered members and 500 copies were produced. The first ever issue became legendary for the simple reason it was never sold at a football match. It was due out for the last game of the season but never made it – a production ‘gremlin’ that plagued the Independent right up to its final issue! Instead, the fanzine was sold at pubs, clubs and other outlets.

End of Part One.

Footnote: thanks to Nick Brown for additional information.

For our younger readers, Ken Monkou was a core team member of Chelsea’s infamous 1989/90 team that stormed into 5^th place in the league following promotion from the then second division.  What a season that was and what a team of legends – Micky Hazard, Kevin (the tache) Wilson, David ‘Rodders’ Lee, Kerry ‘I’ll have a lager thanks’ Dixon, Steve Clarke, Dave ‘Lurch’ Beasant and Graham ‘I’m a spud at heart’ Roberts.  A classic period, the best support and great memories.  Incidentally, at the end of the 1989/1990 season, Ken Monkou won the Chelsea fans Player of the Year.

Ken currently has a number of projects on the go and also works for Chelsea FC both in corporate hospitality and also for Chelsea TV.  Our thanks go to Ken for taking the time to talk to us and we apologise that our Costa Coffee studio was so hopelessly inadequate. We’re talking about the coffee. Viewers will need to turn the sound up to the max.