Ripamaru

I would be sad if Samsung was replaced, particularly for something hideous like Turkish Airlines. We are the 6th most valuable football team on earth. We should have a sponsor fitting of that standing. I am a fan of Samsung products so it doesn't bother me to wear it on my chest. I am an American sports fan though so I won't be happy with just anything on my shirt. I am still adjusting to the idea of sponsors on a team uniform, I would not be happy with something ugly or a company I dislike. Apple for example would make me sick.

As an American (I shudder to lump myself in with that group but I was unfortunately born here) I will readily admit that I don't know how this would play out. It seems that there are questions about EU membership and currency. I am not sure how they could reject the union and expect to keep the currency seeing how it is the currency of the UK. The impression I have been given during my lifetime is one of English dominance over both Scotland and NI. A dominance that has had bitter feelings in the past, some more recent than others. I am generally for independence for any peoples who have been colonized and I do (with my very limited knowledge) feel that Scotland and NI are occupied territory more than equal partners in the union. I cannot begin to imagine the personal feelings involved on either side. I am a student of 20th century history in particular and England/UK lost a massive empire during this span. I have long viewed the separation of Scotland and NI as the final step in this process that has been long overdue. However this question belongs to the people. I am certainly not a part of this and have no stake in the whole thing other than how it generally affects global politics which I readily admit to having no clue how it would. From that perspective I do not want to see a weakened UK in international relations. It would seem from an outsiders view that more tax revenue is spent in Scotland than is produced by Scotland for the UK. Correct me if I am mistaken please. If the future financial stability of the proposed nation rests on limited oil deposits it would seem foolish to jump ship from a pure economic standpoint. I have read in the past that the lions share of national revenue comes from England. again correct me if I am wrong. I wonder if this is the case why the opposition from an English point of view other than purely nationalistic reasons (pride). My final thought here is that from my limited view it would seem that both the Scottish Yes support and the No push from the rest of the UK are both based on nationalism and pride. That many in Scotland don't want to accept that they benefit from England in particular and could be hurt by splitting. Also that many in the rest of the UK are clinging to what land remains in the empire and not accepting that it might benefit them to let Scotland go. It is a very odd situation to me that is unique among nationalist movements. Keep in mind that living in the US makes it very difficult to obtain any real knowledge about the outside world or even what is happening within our our Govt seeing as how we have no real free press here. Most of what we get is only what is meant for our consumption. So forgive any display of ignorance you may see from me. I am one of the few that honestly seeks knowledge here but that doesn't mean I always get it. It is the sad state of affairs that I am stuck living under. In an Oligarchy that most here still believe is free and democratic. It is quite depressing personally, it is getting to the point of no return where I take my family and leave. Every day brings that closer to reality.

Try to forgive me for not being around as long as most of you and thus being ignorant of some things. I am fairly new if you read the new posters threads.

You make an excellent point about advertising during games. There didn't used to be long commercial breaks in American sports either. Baseball games were 2 hours long as well. It was the broadcasting companies that demanded it in exchange for the fees. Basketball was an even shorter affair with it never taking more than 90 mins. Then they put in mandatory TV timeouts in basketball and football and continued to stretch the breaks between half innings in baseball until people started getting bored with the pace of the game and it has declined. I wonder why the rest of the world went the other way. I actually would prefer to have the game not be slowed down and take the sponsors on the shirts but I don't see how that helps the broadcasters who pushed the commercials to begin with........How do they collect large TV fees for the EPL etc with so little adverts? And yes, that would look amazing as you described it......

I can agree with that.... Mercedes has always been my favourite logo but I am not sure how that would do on a shirt. Have to see it photoshopped on first. Probably would look better spelled out with a smaller logo than just the giant one. I have a real interest in seeing Samsung stick around as long as possible. They are wiping Apple off the map. I only use Samsung smartphones (Note series) and they are the best in the world IMO. I would hate to see us associated with Apple as they represent all that is evil and wrong to me. They have this level of arrogance that is offputting, they have up til now refused to allow users to do any customizing, they heavily restrict apps available to users. You cant watch virtually any streaming content on their devices, they have stuck to the tiny cookie cutter model and are just now starting to wake up after having their market share wiped in half by Samsung. I am happy we are associated with the best.

People all have different views on what a good shirt looks like. I have heated discussions with Kentucky basketball fans over this regularly. Nobody can agree on anything. I personally think the Chevy logo looks sharp. Even the dark blue they wore yesterday looked very good to me. Can someone answer a question for me? As an American fan I am used to teams using consistent colours on their uniforms. They might change a bit in shade or get an update every few years to some degree. But what is with the club football tradition of massive changes in road/3rd kits on a seemingly annual basis? In all American sport the teams road jerseys may be white or coloured depending on the sport (Basketball uses white at home for some stupid reason). But even at that they always incorporate the main colours in there. Like the 49ers use a red/gold at home and a white with red/gold accent on the road. You would never see a blue/white home set and a bright yellow road set. The only non team colour ever used is white here.... Just looks odd to me and when I play FIFA it makes me want to use the home kit every game.

I can understand him having problems playing in Italy. Even as a native they are terrible to black players. I don't know his history prior to his last couple years so I cannot speak to his stay in the EPL. If he managed to win a league title here than he can't be that much of a cancer???

I would be saddened to lose Samsung for some ugly looking sponsor shirt. Right now ours is good looking. The past couple years Man U had that terrible shirt and this year the Chevy logo looks great. As a side note, you have to be a prominent brand to sponsor one of the major clubs. Now maybe for a Burnley it can be a smaller company trying to get noticed but to get on the front of one of the big boys you have to have a very deep advertising budget. We Americans are not at all used to the idea of sponsors on jerseys. Only the poor minor sports resort to that here like Arena Football. All of our major sports have never used this and I don't see that changing any time soon. As trivial as it may seem I believe that this doesn't help endear American fans to club football. We are barely used to stadium sponsors and most dislike that greatly and in a lot of cases refuse to call the stadium by the sponsors name.

Everywhere I look there is no replay of the game today. I am getting very sad and discouraged. There has to be enough Blues fans to upload the EPL matches.......

It is great now that NBC picked up the EPL and you can get every single match on Directv or on NBCSN Extra online. Chelsea is almost always on the main NBCSN and some big matches on NBC proper. This will help grow the EPL in the US. I really think though that the biggest keys to American success in football is both getting some of the best athletes in the states to choose the sport over American football, Baseball, and to a lesser degree basketball. DeAndre Yedlin was a big win for the sport here as he had those chances, chose football, and now is with Spurs (though I expect he will be loaned for a while). I think educating young athletes about the advantages of choosing football is critical. In America we have a school system that uses the athletes in some cases up til age 23-24 without pay (except a university scholarship) We need the EPL clubs to all set up youth systems here in the states. Especially in the states the produce the most elite athletes (Texas, Florida, California, Ohio, and the Northeast). The rest of the southern US is likely a losing battle as American football is so deeply entrenched in the culture but even there there are MANY great athletes who are not academically inclined and get left out in the cold because they cannot make the grades. Outside of Baseball and Hockey you are basically required to go to college in order to succeed. If they are able to reach young people by explaining that even as a 14-15 year old you can get professional training and make a salary however small, it would be huge. The majority of our best athletes come from poverty and would see this as a much better chance to help immediately to bring their families out of that situation. Sorry for the rant.......BTW I think the NFL should do similar things in Europe. There are tons of potential American football players there that don't fit the world football prototype. Big 300lb lineman for example. Players who can throw but may not be great athletes otherwise, etc.....

I certainly hope that I am not considered a bandwagoner by fellow Blues fans. I take my teams very seriously and in spite of my nationality (which I not only cannot help but rather dislike largely due the crazy neo fascist party that holds power in congress and somehow has convinced poor people to vote against their own interests and who make all Americans look bad with their foreign policy. I can assure you that while I am a new fan I will remain one through any ups or downs until the day I am buried. This is my nature as a fan.

I love the way Ivan played but having a true left footed FB is nice and I would like to see Luis used instead of Azpi. He is more natural there and will be more of a threat offensively IMO.

Not so much as a welcome? Tough crowd haha. On a side note. I am working on my degree in political science with an international specialty. I would like to move out of this country at some point following graduation. The question I have for those in England especially anyone who has moved into the UK from outside the EU is this. How difficult is it to make a move from the US to the UK? Would a degree from here in Political Science allow me to find employment suitable to gain a work permit as I have heard those are difficult to obtain. Any input would be helpful, thanks in advance

The Spurs shameless attempt to try and get American fans to flock to them helped turn me off. I would love to see Chelsea come play here again so I can see them live but the way the Spurs did it by their own admission was simply to get fans of the MLS clubs they played to choose them as their EPL team. I want to see Chelsea here to reward the loyal fans here not just to cynically grab for more. The article I read says they have more American supporters than anyone in the EPL.......This is odd if true considering they are 3rd in their own city :

I am relatively new to following the sport full time having followed international competitions for the past 12 years or so. I grew up with American football/basketball/baseball mostly like the majority of sporting fans here. I have been to London twice in my lifetime and attended my only live match at Stamford Bridge as a youngster. I have fallen in love with the sport and when it came time to adopt a Epl side it was a natural choice. I am a lifelong Kentucky basketball fan and the parallels are there as well being a massive team in their respective sports and both in blue and white. When I follow a team it is a lifelong commitment and one I take seriously. I feel I am coming in at a perfect time. Shortly after I began following Chelsea the signings of Cesc, Costa, Luis, and return of Courtois came quick and have me very excited for this coming season. I am familiar with many of the players from international competition and from general lurking around watching for fun rather than as a specific fan of any side. I am hoping for a warm welcome here. I am aware that unlike with my other teams I am a newcomer without any credibility as a fan but I expect that to change over time. Please forgive any ignorance I may display. Football in the states has been ignored by the media and fans during most of my lifetime so there are many like myself that are still learning. I am hopeful that this generation will change that trend as well as bring far more elite American athletes to the game. I don't think the US gets the respect internationally that it deserves considering that virtually all our best athletes go into 3 other sports before football is even considered. Imagine if the same effort were put forth here that is in other countries. More children here now play football than any other sport but the elite athletes still gravitate to the big 3 sports and the goal is to change that. Sorry for the rant, it is in my nature to do so. I am happy to be here and look forward to sharing many great moments with you.