If you are a MEMBER who hasn’t signed up yet and are thinking of joining in, please be aware that the cut off date is Sunday evening, 9 March. We need to hand over details to the club on Monday.

We’re joining up for this one with some of the guys from the Swedish Chelsea supporters club, who are coming over for the game. There should be a cracking atmosphere in the Shed as a result.

Please email clubshed@cfcnet.co.uk or contact me on jerrykendik@cfcnet.co.uk, or Paul Eden on pauleden@cfcnet.co.uk, to register as part of the Shed 100. We need to know at this stage is how many of you are coming and confirmation that you are member(s).

We hope to see you there.

Further info can be found in our forums by clicking here.

It’s also possible that some of the Shed 100 for Wigan will be interviewed and featured on Chelsea TV.  The feedback from the Newcastle game was very positive and we know we can improve things further still. We’re looking to be sat in a rectangular block this time (around gate 4, so centrally located behind the goal(ish)).

All we need at this stage is confirmation that you want to be involved and how many of you there will be.

Paul Eden is managing things again and he will gather membership, payment and contact details from you shortly after you register your interest. Normal Shed End ticket prices (£48 Upper) + booking fee apply.  Student concessions, if you qualify, also apply.

We need to submit details to the Club by SUNDAY 9 MARCH 2008 which is the day after the Barnsley cup tie. So, please drop an email to clubshed@cfcnet.co.uk if you want to take part.  Remember, this is for MEMBERS ONLY WHO WANT TO GET BEHIND THE TEAM. Looking for people who can make either the Monday or the Saturday really, but we have a day or so to confirm either way once the cup tie result is known, so you have a (brief) chance to decide before you commit to pay.

To register your interest(s), please email clubshed@cfcnet.co.uk asap. This offer is open to ANY Chelsea FC member.  More details will follow once you’ve signed up.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

* If we draw against Barnsley in the FA Cup 6th round, the Spurs away fixture on 19 March will be moved to 15 or 16 April to accomodate the replay. This means the Wigan game will revert back to a Saturday kick off.

** Or Shed Lower, but only if Wigan bring 3,000. If they do bring that many, we’d be very surprised.

We have a Club Shed forum where anyone can participate in a wide range of topics.  It’s free to join but you have to register on cfcnet.co.uk to be able to post. The link to the Club shed forum appears in the “useful links” section below.

The guys organising initiatives like Club Shed, Shed 100, Return to the Shed, banner campaigns, awaydays and the like are just like you – ordinary supporters wanting to make a difference.  We have a committee which is made up from the major CFC supporters groups represented on the Fans Forum and we publish all our articles on these fan-run sites.

The committee meets regularly with senior officials at the club with a single aim – to continue to boost the atmosphere when following Chelsea FC. Most if not all of the atmosphere-related articles you now see on the Official Chelsea FC website emanate from this committee.

We don’t claim to represent or speak for any single body, other than fellow fans who, like us, would rather walk the walk instead of just moaning about atmosphere.

You have received this newsletter as you’ve either asked to subcribe to it or been part of the atmosphere discussions on the forum.  You may have had it forwarded on by a fellow Chelsea Fan.  If so, and you’d like to subscribe yourself, send an email to clubshed@cfcnet.co.uk with a subject header “Subscribe”.

NEXT SHED 100 WILL NOW BE WIGAN ON APRIL 12

We’ve been scuppered by a combination of the FA Cup and TV schedules. We were going to go in again for the Derby match.  However, if we get past Huddersfield, the FA Cup 6th round would be played on 8/9 March, meaning the match having to be rescheduled.

The first alternative was Middlesbrough at the end of March.  Sadly, Setanta has chosen this game for TV, meaning ko is currently set for Monday March 31st.  Or rather it won’t be, not if Chelsea get past Olympiakos in the Champions League, as any potential Quarter Final 1st leg would be played later that week.  This would mean the game reverting back to either Saturday or Sunday, with ko time unknown too.  Impossible to market for and ask people to sign up weeks in advance.

So…  We’ve decided to go in again come what may for the Wigan match on Sat 12 April, currently a 3pm kick off.  The Shed 100 will run for this REGARDLESS, even if the kick off date/time is changed for TV.

 A separate email + online publicity will be circulated shortly to gather numbers.  Let’s make sure we get maximum take up – it’s a great day out.

BANNER VOLUNTEERS IN THE SHED UPPER – WE NEED YOU

We have 5 great banners to compliment the existing ones on display from other fans, but we rarely get to display more than two because we don’t yet have the volunteers to put them up and take them down.

All we are looking for is a number of regular Shed Upper fans (preferably Season ticket holders) to pick up the banners from the So Bar, put them up just before kick off and return them immediately after the match. A few minutes effort, that’s all is required and if we get a number of volunteers, you’d just have to do it a few times a season.

Thanks to Big Bob, Paul Eden and others for doing what they can so far. If you feel you can help, please reply asap.  Paul would be happy to  coordinate this once we get a few takers.

BANNER VOLUNTEERS IN THE MATTHEW HARDING UPPER – WE NEED YOU TOO!

Thanks to a magnificent gesture from a fellow fan, we are shortly to have two banners appearing in the Matthew Harding End.  They will read

“Matthew Harding’s Blue and White Army”, and “Chelsea Our Religion”

A small blue union flag with “Chelsea FC” on it will accompany them.

Same issue though.  We currently have one volunteer happy to put them up/take them down (thanks Dazz), but he needs help.  Banners would be stored in the So Bar right outside the Britannia Entrance.

So, if you are a MH Upper ST holder and feel you can help, please reply asap and we’ll put you in touch with Dazz & Paul.

BACK THE YOUTH MOVEMENT AT CHELSEA

You may be aware that the various major Chelsea fans groups have been lobbying hard for the Club to recognise that there aren’t enough youngsters in the Ground.  The gap from going in the family section with your parents as a kid to being a full-blown grown up fan is huge.  It’s no wonder that Chelsea currently has the smallest percentage of younger fans (13-24 age group) in the premiership.

In an attempt to remedy this, CFCnet, CSG and cfcuk have got together and are backing an initiative from a young fellow fan, Tom Allen.  These articles explain its aims

http://www.cfcuk.net/story.php?id=100471 - http://www.cfcuk.net/story.php?id=100575

You will see a reference to the East Upper.  This is NOT set in stone. What we are really after is for younger fans to once again feel a sense of belonging, to be given a chance to attend matches on a regular basis at affordable prices and to really help the atmosphere along.  For this, we obviously need the Club’s help and so the Fans Forum reps will be raising this at the upcoming meeting.

If you like the aims of this initiative and are either a young fan yourself or know someone who would like to take part, please contact Tom at tomallen@cfcnet.co.uk and register your interest.

EAST UPPER EXPERIMENT – TELL US YOUR VIEWS

 As you know, Shed Enders have to relocate for most domestic cup ties. We’ve tried the East Upper (Shed side) for a few matches now and the feedback so far has been mixed.  Please have your say on this and let us know what you think of this initiative and what could be done to improve things next season.  Reply to this email if you have any views.

MAKING WHAT WE DO ON THE ATMOSPHERE COMMITTE VISIBLE

This was always an aim of ours.  Too often things done behind closed doors remain private.  For all but the most confidential of topics related to atmosphere, this is not right.  We’ve been pressing for a supporters page on the Official Website where we could publish our minutes, documents and newsletters, together with achieving better
publicity for all our initiatives.  This has been agreed by the club but is taking forever to implement.

We’ll let you know when the page is finally available so that we can get the exposure this deserves and swell the numbers.  Once we do that, we will have a better chance of achieving our objectives.

WE ALL AGREE, JULIANO BELLETTI IS MAGIC!

 It’s an ongoing gripe that we don’t have enough songs for our players. I’d like to nominate Juliano Belletti for special attention from Club Shed members.  Why?  Just love the fella and the swagger in which he plays. Read on…

http://www.cfcnet.co.uk/2008/02/07/we-all-agree-juliano-belletti-is-magic/

If you’ve got a favourite who is deserving of a song, then let us know and we’ll publicise the good ones.

USEFUL LINKS

 RTTS main site  http://www.returntotheshed.co.uk (waiting for the Club shed page on the Official website)

We’re going in again with another Shed 100.

Following on from the successful day out v Newcastle, we are looking for the first 100 MEMBERS who want to sit together for this match in one block in the Shed End. You will be able to get behind the team with like-minded fellow fans and will hopefully have a great day out, with an optional added incentive of pre/post match refreshments in the So Bar or Butchers Hook.

It’s also likely that some of the Shed 100 for Derby will be interviewed and featured on Chelsea TV.

All we need at this stage is confirmation that you want to be involved and how many of you there will be. We will then gather membership, payment and contact details shortly afterwards. Normal Shed End ticket prices (£48 Upper, £45 Lower) + booking fee apply. Student concessions also apply.

We need to submit details to the Club by FRIDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2008. So, please respond asap if you want to take part. Remember, this is for MEMBERS ONLY WHO WANT TO GET BEHIND THE TEAM.

To register your interest, please send an email asap to clubshed@cfcnet.co.uk. This is open to ANY Chelsea FC member.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. If Derby bring 1,500 fans, the Shed 100 will be in the Upper tier. If 3,000 away fans come down, the Shed 100 will be in the Lower tier. We only want you if you’re prepared to join in regardless of location.

2. There is still the possibility of a time or date change (to cater for TV scheduling), and we won’t know for sure till around the submission date. You won’t have to buy tickets until the date and time is confimed and you’re happy to take part.

NO TIMEWASTERS PLEASE.

Now obviously in those days it was much easier for groups of teenagers to get up and go to watch the team they love with a group of mates, due to the fact you could just pay at the gate. But is that really a valid reason to stop youngsters following Chelsea in the way in which they want? I and I am sure many others want to be able to have the same opportunities as the older generation. We want to be able to go to a game with a group of people and be able to sing our hearts out for this club. Some people might not realise, but it is these young fans that will grow up to be the future voices of the club, and the way the club, and if you like football is going, passion and atmosphere will be a thing of the past.

Why the decline?

Since the days of paying at the gate, and the inflation of money in football, much has changed. Football has become an expensive sport to follow. It is even expensive for many adults to follow yet alone young fans. I hear and know of many Chelsea fans who have over the last ten years ripped up their season ticket due to the fact it is far too expensive. That aside, if you are a young Chelsea fan, and you’re most likely not earning, ok you maybe in a part time job, you are still not going to be able pull in the money needed to watch Chelsea. If you are like me, and 16 from a working class family, you will have realised that being able to pull together the £33 pound needed to sit in a singing area (in this case the shed) is impossible unless you are from a rich background.

At the moment I get my tickets in the east lower, but I have to be honest and say that I am quite frankly getting fed up with it. The reason I go to football is not just for the entertainment on the pitch but, the sheer passion of being able to get behind this club. Many of the older generations say the reason they became a Chelsea fan is because they were hooked by the CHELSEA ROAR that echoed round the ground. The problem is the young fans can not enjoy a day out at Chelsea how we would like. This sadly the case for many young Chelsea fans, and the fact they cannot get behind Chelsea is enough to stop them from going to Chelsea all together, and instead they get their Saturday entertainment watching lower league football. This truth can be reflected in the statistic released by the club saying that only something like 3% of season ticket holders at Chelsea are of the young generation. No surprise to me really.

THE PAST IS THE PAST AND IT CAN’T CHANGE… OR CAN IT? IS THERE HOPE FOR THE YOUNG GENERATION?

Now it was the club, who released that statistic out of the blue without any pressure from fans, so perhaps they are willing to listen? We can only find out. Now much has been made of teams like Fulham and Wigan’s poor support but I tell you something, in 20 years time they could both well be well supported sides. The reason for this is because they offer special deals for kids, which in the long term can only benefit the club. On category C games you can get in for a fiver at Fulham. Now I am not suggesting the club should do something like this as their atmospheres are still shocking but I am going to suggest something much different. Now mentioning the 80’s again, I’m always told of how the shed was very much a community. How you knew everyone in the Shed well is there any reason why we cannot create a sort of young community?

We are starting to see how well the ‘Return to the Shed is going’ so why can’t something similar be set up as a replica if you like of club shed, but aimed at the younger generation. I was thinking along the lines of creating a youth group at Chelsea. This group can go to home games together, and sing their hearts out plus giving the Shed and Matthew Harding a run for their money. Now the area where this ground should be is up for discussion. The majority of the Matthew Harding is season ticket so that is a no. The shed upper is pretty much season ticket. West Upper and lower is majority season ticket and so is the East Lower. That leaves only two places able to hold a large block of fans, the east Upper and Shed lower.

I was thinking the East Upper south side seems the best option, because the shed already makes noise and it would be good to have another part of the ground making noise. The idea of being able to go to games with like minded young fans who have for so long been restricted to family sections or even worse not going to Chelsea excites me! In the long term what would happen is the ‘east youth’ would be a feeder to the places like the Shed and Matthew Harding and once youngsters get older and start earning they can move.

I have asked CFCnet, the CSG, cfcuk, VitalChelsea and others to sponsor and help get this going, as well as hopefully using facebook and MySpace. It will not happen overnight but I would like to think that we can have a test of it towards the end of the season.

SOUND GOOD?

Here is a summary of the ‘east youth’s’ objectives:

• Create a East Stand Group for mainly ages 13-24.
• Share thoughts and ideas online.
• Meet up and start a community of young fans.

Overall, create something which can help the younger generation enjoy their day out more and feel a sense of belonging at Chelsea.
With the help from the atmosphere and fans forum reps lobby, we would like the club to introduce reduced student and junior tickets and a student season ticket that is reasonably priced for students in the chosen area.
Transfer younger fans from other parts of the ground who want to get behind the team and who cannot afford Shed Prices.

If your keen and want to help get this going send me an email with your ideas and how you want to help.

UP THE CHELSEA!

We are looking for 100 MEMBERS who want to sit together in one block in the Shed End, get behind the team with like-minded fellow fans and have a great day out, with an optional added incentive of pre/post match refreshments in the So Bar or Butchers Hook.

All we want at this stage is confirmation that you want to be involved and how many of you there will be. We will reply to confirm membership, payment and contact details shortly after, and whether you qualify for a 16-21yo concession price.

Not much time though. WE NEED TO SUBMIT DETAILS TO THE CLUB BY WED 28 NOVEMBER. So please respond ASAP if you’re interested. Remember, this is for MEMBERS ONLY WHO WANT TO GET BEHIND THE TEAM.

PLEASE NOTE: If Newcastle brings 1,500, the Shed 100 will be in the Upper tier. If 3,000 away fans come down, the Shed 100 will be in the Lower tier. We only want you if you’re prepared to join in regardless of location. Normal Shed End ticket prices (£48 Upper, £45 Lower) + booking fee apply.

To sign up for this excellent day out or if you want more details, send an email to ClubShed@cfcnet.co.uk – This is open to ANY Chelsea FC member.

DISPLACED SHED (AND OTHER) SEASON TICKET HOLDERS FOR CARLING CUP v LIVERPOOL

If you’re going to the Liverpool Carling Cup Quarter Final and are…

• A Shed End ST holder who will be displaced for this game.
• A ST holder who normally sits in West Lower/Upper but wants to get more involved in getting behind the team.*
• A member who feels likewise.

Get your tickets for this game in EAST UPPER, (SHED/SOUTH SIDE). Help us create a second area to assist the Matthew Harding End.

Tickets go on sale to ST holders on 22 November and to members a week later. Do your bit and spread the word.

* You can buy your ticket in the East Stand during the initial Season Ticket sales period.

It gets worse for cup ties. Hordes of day trippers coming down to London to meet their footballing doom. Some resplendent in jesters hats and balloons. The cries of “Where were you when you were . . . ” coming from one end of the ground. Don’t you just love it – they have no idea where we were. Never mind the fact that most of these “fans” wouldn’t be at their own ground for the next home game, let alone in years gone by. Oh well, Chelsea fan-bashing (the verbal kind) is big news these days, and it’s so easy to jump on the bandwagon.

Supporting this great club gives you a thick skin because without it you might never survive. Being frequently goaded by your work or school mates, most of whom have never been to see the team they are supposed to follow just isn’t much fun. Especially so if the media have whipped them up on any given day. It makes you want to seek solace from within, although up until recently that has been hard as well because under previous regimes, Chelsea has hardly been a family club, has it?

Batesy did so many good things for us, but unless supper clubs were your thing, the average fan hardly felt part of the action. That, in my opinion, is a bad thing, and perhaps a whole generation of Chelsea fans have missed out on something special. We had it in the 70s and 80s because we made it happen and there were fewer obstructions around to belonging to the huge Chelsea community.

It can never be like that again but the good news is that times could be changing. Yes, we’re all “customers” now and we may feel so distant from our mega-rich heroes on the park (especially ones who seemingly only play for managers, not the shirt), but the feeling of belonging is returning, due to the supporters’ efforts and the club who are listening to the fans.

This article is about drumming up further support for the trip to Wigan on 3 November, but it’s so much more than that.

On the face of it, going to this away game is a no brainer if you are able to attend. A Saturday 3pm kick off, not on the telly, cheap match ticket, subsidised travel if you go by official means, loads of space to park if going privately, the best pies in the land and a massive away support like we had in the old days. All for a match in November in the frozen north when the media think the Chelsea bubble is about to burst, just because Jose is no longer around and others are thinking of jumping ship.

Well, it ain’t. Not from where I am standing and I’ll tell you why.

I am lucky enough to be at the forefront of these supporters’ campaigns into boosting atmosphere and generally making it more of a buzz at matches.

One of the things that used to be wrong with the club was that they didn’t listen, and certainly didn’t appear to want to help. The “missing generation” I spoke about may never return, and the club is worse off for it. However, you can’t look back all the time so it’s we, the fans, who need to make a difference NOW. If the club didn’t want to help, then that still shouldn’t stop us. Major progress doesn’t happen overnight, so we have to stick at it and take our initiatives as far as we can. As it happens, the club ARE helping us, and helping bigstyle.

What does it all mean? Well, we are starting to feel a sense of belonging again. There are hundreds of members now registered with Club Shed (you don’t have to sit in the Shed to do so). A community of Chelsea fans who care about the club at least as much as I do, if not more. Club Shed members make up part of the 2,000 or so ST holders now in the Shed end. Who knows if this would have come about had the “Return to the Shed” campaign not got off the ground last February? It’s all snowballing, and the sense of belonging to something worthwhile at last is very real. We have guys from CFCnet, cfcuk, CSG, BAWA, Vital Football and the old CSR forum 2 (theshedend) all pulling together on this. Who’d have thought it possible? The community is growing again. We’re ALL Chelsea.

This free to join community can only flourish from here and a major factor is the club. I’m not paid to say any of this but from small things like getting the Liquidator played when the lads come out to the Hull train for a tenner – the club has to be applauded for listening to us and doing their bit. There are still loads more initiatives on the go, but most of them need YOU, the match-going fan, to join in and make them happen. We have no input into how the club manages its coaching staff, players and PR, but we certainly do when it comes to getting behind those who do want to play for us.

That’s why the Wigan away-day is so important and means much more than just another fixture. It is the fans coming up with ideas like this and not just talking the talk. Ideas like this taken on by the reps amongst the supporters groups and taking them to the club. The club then listening and helping wherever possible. There you go, a club in a real sense, at last.

Players and coaches will come and go, the club will make good and bad decisions along the way but you know what the constant factor is? That’s right, YOU, and the rest of the Chelsea community out there.

With two weeks to go, we are already taking more fans to Wigan than we can to Old Trafford, The Emirates and Anfield. Let’s not stop now. Show the players and your fellow fans that you care by coming along and help us sell out. Join the community of supporters who are at last making such a difference to OUR club. Hey, you might even want to come again to help out the magnificent support the regular away fans give us.

The Club Shed forum can be reached by visiting www.returntotheshed.co.uk. Wigan match and travel tickets can be booked via the Official website at www.chelseafc.com.