Sitting down with Jim...

[Wxgba 306]

SITTING DOWN WITH JIM.

Next up in the hot-seat is the person we have to thank for giving birth to Talk Chelsea!

Name:

My real name is James, though I've always been called Jim.

Age:

24.

Nationality:

English.

Place of residence:

Beccles (near Norwich).

Chelsea fan since:

1990-91... somewhere around then. I can remember sitting down with the old man at the age of 5 watching Chelsea on TV.

What's the best memory you have as a Chelsea fan?

Walking into Stamford Bridge for the first time as a kid always will always stand out. Us winning the league at the Reebok Stadium is probably my best memory, though. Maka picking out Lampard with an inch-perfect pass, Carvalho bombing up the pitch to try and get on the end of it and Lampard rounding the keeper to put it away. Gives me goosebumps every time I watch it back.

Who are your three favourite [current] Chelsea players and, more importantly, why?

Frank Lampard - A Chelsea legend. There is no-one better when it comes to scoring goals from midfield. The amount of times people have written him off and still, year after year, he manages to hit 20+ goals. He's a great leader on the pitch and also a great role model for the younger players. As Mourinho once said: "he's the best professional, ever".

Ramires - Like many people, I wasn't sure on Ramires at first. Now he's arguably one of our most important players - there's no-one else like him in the squad. His goal in the Nou Camp against Barcelona last season epitomises everything about his game.

Ashley Cole - The best left-back in the world. End of.

Right. Let's move away from the Chelsea talk for a while and onto some "business". You're obviously the founder of Talk Chelsea, but you have owned a host of sites over the years, haven't you? How did that come about?

It was about 12 years ago - I was just messing around on the internet and came across a football forum. I didn't have a clue what it was at the time and was a bit of a noob. I ended up getting myself banned and that's where it all started for me. I decided to have a go at making my own forum, so I begged my dad for money to purchase hosting and a domain and TotalFootballForums was formed.

I also set up FootballRenders.com two years ago. I was always looking for renders and could never find the player I wanted so decided to set up a site in order to help people find the renders they want.

Ah, TFF. I didn't register until after your ownership, but you left them with a solid foundation to build upon. Did you enjoy running a site full of fans of a variety of clubs?

I enjoyed running it at the start but after a 3 or 4 years I did start to get sick of reading posts from fans of other clubs and lost interest. There was a variety of clubs - we had fans from every club in the Premier League as well as fans from overseas. Still to this day I couldn't believe my luck when someone working for EA Sports emailed me wanting to buy the forum. At the time i was thinking about selling it, I had no money as I was a student and could hardly afford to run the site. So i had to sell it.

What made you set up Talk Chelsea? Was there an evident gap in the market, or did you believe that you could build a site that is bigger and better than all the other independent Chelsea sites out there?

I just sold TotalFootballForums and always wanted to have my own Chelsea forum. I set Talk Chelsea up as an alternative to CFCnet. I wanted to create more friendly community for Chelsea fans where you didn't get judged on where you live or how long you've supported the club. I think that's one of the main reasons why there's no many counties represented on here.

One of the most notable traits that is common in all of your work is the aesthetics. We're all aware that you're a graphics genuis... but how did you end up becoming interested in it?

I have no idea, to be honest, its just always something that's always interested me. I suppose it came from doing a design course at college.

I admire your work and one of the main reasons I continued my endeavours in Photoshop was to, one day, become as good as yourself at making graphics. Do you have any tips, hints or suggestions for anyone else that may be interested in graphic or web design?

Try following some tutorials - that's all I did and I still do to this day.

You obviously do freelance work to earn some money, but do you have another job to keep a constant income? If so, what's your occupation?

Some of you might be shocked, but I'm actually a painter and decorator. It's a family business so I kinda got dragged into it by the old man. It's not something I want to do forever and one day I'd love to start my own web design business.

How far do you plan to take this web design? Have you ever studied a course, or have you learnt everything you know from self-tutoring?

I did do a course in web design to help when it comes to running this place.

Graphics is the only thing noted as in interest in your profile. What else do you like to do in your spare time?

I play 5-a-side a few nights a week and also like to bike a lot. I live in the middle of nowhere so it's the perfect place to go out biking.

I'm pretty sure I'm boring everyone - including you, Jim - with the seemingly endless questions regarding your work, so I'll swiftly move on... The first match you attended was Norwich away in 1994. How old were you at the time, and what can you remember from that day?

I was 7 at the time and it was the first football match I ever attended! I can't really remember that much of the game apart from Ashley Ward of Norwich scored twice on his debut and Norwich winning the game 3-0. I'd have never thought back then that 18 years later I'd be watching Chelsea win the Champions League.

Here's a video of the match:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbF8T3GKSpg&noredirect=1

Talking about memories: one of your favourite memories as a Chelsea fan is Makelele scoring a penalty against Charlton in the last minute - is this correct? What other memories spring to mind? Try and avoid the obvious "Champions League win"... perhaps some memories from games you've attended?

If you had to choose three players - past and present - to be stuck in a lift with (for over 24 hours), who would they be and why?

David Luiz - Even though he's not been with Chelsea that long, could you imagine being stuck in a lift with him? Don't think I even have to give a reason, although I'd like to touch his hair.

Gianfranco Zola - The man's an absolute legend. He was my hero whilst growing up - I idolised him. Would love to have a conversation with him about his time with Chelsea.

Ron 'Chopper' Harris - To hear great Chelsea stories from the past...

The question above doesn't really take in to respect the players' ability on the pitch: this one does. Name the two best players to put on the Chelsea blue during your life time. Only two.

Drogba and Zola. Do I even need to say why?

If you were to meet Mr. Abramovich, what would you do? Would you riddle him with questions or would you thank him for what he's done for the club? If neither of the aforementioned, feel free to explain what you would do...

I'd thank him what he's done for the club. I never thought I'd see Chelsea win the league in my life time, let alone the Champions League!

We all know that following Chelsea can hit you hard economically, so what else do you spend your money on? To clear up any confusing, running this site is included with following Chelsea!

I run a car so most of what I earn goes on that. Then there's helping my mum out with bills and the like as I still live at home.

Do you have a partner to spend any of your money on? If so: ASL? In all seriousness, how long have you been together? Or if you're single, do you plan to meet anyone in the near future?

I'm single at the moment. I was seeing a girl last year who was a Liverpool fan. After I went to her gaff and her room was all Liverpool i soon put an end to that... I think if I met someone else in the future they'd have to like Chelsea or I'd just bore them to death. I'm completely obsessed with Chels - it's my life.

We can't tell, Jim. Honest.

List three achievable ambitions you would like to fulfil in life:

- Meet Alex, Kez and Steve.

- Own a web design company.

- Live in Italy.

'Firestarter' by the Prodigy blasts out every time I click on your profile, but what genres of music are you into? Any favourite bands/singers?

I'm into the likes of Oasis, Blur, Kings of Leon, Bloc Party etc. I do like a bit of trance music aswell.

Snog, marry, avoid: Zooey Deschanel, Emma Stone, Kim Kardashian.

Snog- Kim Kardashian

Marry- Emma Stone

Avoid- Zooey Deschanel

Are you a big fan of television shows or films? Name a few films and TV shows and let us know what you like about said show/movie.

Never really been a fan of films, although I do like British gangster/football hooligan films. As for TV shows, I do watch Hollyoaks ( ) and like watching The Apprentice when it's on.

If you were to invite three non-footballing celebrities out for dinner, who would they be and why?

Keith Lemon - Funny as fuck.

That's only one, Jim - you'd better amend this or I'll smash ya back doors in!

You have three words to describe your relationship with BlueLion. Go.

- Loving.

- Affectionate.

- Romantic.

Do you consider Talk Chelsea to be a success? Where can you see the site being in two years time?

A massive success, I never expected us to get this big. To get 6,000+ members with hardly any advertising and no media exposure is an achievement in itself. I hope in two years time we're still going strong and members are still frequenting the forum.

Who would your dream signing this be this summer? Scrap formations, tactics and all that bollocks; simply name the player you'd love to see sport the blue of Chelsea.

Lionel Messi.

What are you predictions and expectations for the season ahead?

Hopefully we can carry on where we left off last season! Di Matteo did a great job turning it around and I was so happy when he was given the job full-time. Obviously we have to do better in the league next season; finishing 6th really wasn't good enough. I think with the new signings - Hazard, Marin and hopefully Oscar - we're in store for a great season.

This is probably the most excited I've been before the start of a season since Abramovich took over and made all those signings back in 2003-04.

Last but not least, would you be so kind enough to share a photo of yourself for us all to see the face of Talk Chelsea?

One of the most recent photos of me I could find:

As the founder of Talk Chelsea, Jim runs our very own Twitter page, which you can follow here: @talkchelsea.

[capriccioso 2,545]

You're an artist?

[Strike 7,183]

I was seeing a girl last year who was a Liverpool fan.

Ouch

[termninja 5,290]

Brilliant work again Greg, enjoyed it

[BlueLion. 21,491]

You have three words to describe your relationship with BlueLion. Go.

- Loving.

- Affectionate.

- Romantic.

Love you Jimmy baby

[Kez 2,727]

Really enjoying these. Keep it up