Atmosphere at Home Games

[Styles 9,790]

Well the reason why away support is much better it's because the price are cheaper right?

So if that's the true then that's your answer.

But then again that might be the same issue for a lot of top clubs.

No, the away support is much better because those who are willing to travel up and down the country/all over Europe are naturally the more hardcore supporters.

[zolayes 14,489]

Well the reason why away support is much better it's because the price are cheaper right?

So if that's the true then that's your answer.

But then again that might be the same issue for a lot of top clubs.

have you ever travelled in uk .. train fares are about 3 or 4 times that in France and Spain ..

It costs away fans a fortune to support the club ,, For games in Europe the airlines usually increase their fares bt the same amount ..

I dont understand how a man with a family can afford to go to away games. One reason I was annoyed bt Mourinhos comments

about home fans

[Styles 9,790]

More comments:

Reporter: “You spoke last season a few times of the crowd being not as up-for-it as others, and you mentioned it there (in the press conference). Do you think you'll ever get a crowd that really roars from the start and tries to make this an intimidating ground? Is that never going to happen at Stamford bridge?”

Mourinho: “I think it’s getting worse.”

Reporter: “Really?”

Mourinho : “I think so. Comparing to my previous time, I think it’s getting worse. I don’t question the passion and the love - I’m nobody to question that and I know clearly that’s not true.

"Because Chelsea fans, they show us every day their passion for this club. But there is a certain line of living (way of behaving) at the matches at Stamford Bridge, where I can clearly say that we are the team that gets less support in home matches.”

Reporter: “Is that complacency?They come expecting to see the win, and they think it will be easy?”

Mourinho: “I don’t know. And I will always love them and respect them, but I don't know.”

Reporter: “Is that, as Roy Keane says, too many prawn sandwiches?”

Mourinho (wryly): “I’m not here to sell books.”

Reporter: “There is a feeling in the country that the more money you pay for a ticket, any ground in the country, you are going to expect to be entertained. That's been something that's happened across the last 20 years all over football.”

Mourinho: “OK.”

Reporter: “Maybe it's more corporate fans than what you might call real fans?”

Mourinho: “I don’t know.”

Reporter: “Would you like to see people maybe coming in for £10 tickets? Cheaper tickets?”

Mourinho (agitated, shakes head): “I don’t know.”

At this point the Chelsea press officer ends the discussion.

So at best he's unwilling to discuss the factors involved and at worst he's just downright ignorant and criticising the supporters for the sake of it.

Well done, Jose.

The way he was scowling after the first goal was pretty fucking pathetic. I was wondering at the time what his problem was. Just embarrassing really.

[Liquidator 5,176]

New quotes in the telegraph from Jose saying 've receive the least support at home of any team in the league'

Ok Jose, ok. Did you not show up at places like Sunderland, Southampton, Newcastle (very overrated), Hull, Arsenal, Fulham last season?

Seriously, his comments yesterday were unreasonable but this is just taking the absolute piss. If you publicly criticize our home support which is no worse than the other shite in the league why not praise our away support which is one of if not the best in the country? Not even R**a went this far and he was being called a twat every week. Some people praise Jose like he can do no wrong and will praise him for being a wanker and generalizing the whole home support.

He also mentioned how the atmosphere was better in his first spell here. Might have something to do with you moving 3000 vocal fans from a traditional 'hardcore' area so that away fans could go there because he couldn't put up with mean things being said about him by them when they were in the East stand

[zolayes 14,489]

THANKS for expressing my thoughts so forcefully .

[bababoom 4,478]

Poor move, if Jose really cares about this he should take it up with Roman and the board privately maybe even speak to some Chelsea fans... but to publicly slate the fans is not on.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

[Smithette 22]

Football changes. Atmosphere changes.

A combination of:

- less working class attendees at games

- increase in women attending games

- full seater stadiums

- more 'tourists'

- stricter drinking regimes

- a lowering in drinking pre-match

- ticket pricing

- lifestyle changes (people don't spend their whole Saturday revolving around football)

The atmosphere at away matches is much better as (in general) more committed fans attend, there is a higher concentration of men, the crowd stands for 90 mins, people drink more before the match and there are no 'tourists'.

We can't expect to sell the Premier League to 'the world', attempt to attract money through sponsorship , attempt to attract younger and female fans to the ground and still keep the 'atmosphere'. It's unfortunate but football crowds have evolved.

Bit harsh on us female fans that go regularly and sing/chant just as loud as the rest, especially your last sentence. Of course there's some female fans that just get dragged along with boyfriends, husbands, etc, or go because it's 'cool', but in my experience, the fact that it's such a traditionally male crowd means that the women who actively choose to be a part of this aren't the problem. It's easy to group female supporters into a stereotype, but I've noticed just as many men in the crowds doing what the women are criticised for. I got deafened at Palace Away by the two women in front of me!

I agree with your other points though.

Anyway, I think it's a good thing that Mourinho made these comments, as it's sparked a high-profile discussion that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Also, I wish we could ban photography at the Bridge. The number of people who sit back and watch the match through their phone screens never fails to amaze me.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

A Chelsea fan recently contacted JT via Instagram and the legend responded:

joecfcdavies

Hi JT, I thought I would write to you because I feel you're someone in the club who would understand, because you're a fan like us and many of us believe something needs to be done. As much as we all love Jose, his comments yesterday was not called for and was completely bang out of order for people who pay ridiculous prices each week to watch Chelsea. Here lies the first issue, pricing. It has become so expensive following football now that many proper fans are being priced out of going to Stamford bridge and being replaced by tourists who of course won't be singing or making noise. Another one problem is the stewarding, the problem is as soon as people try to stand up and make an atmosphere (you're obviously not gonna have atmosphere sitting down) we get threatened with ejection if we don't sit down so no one wants to make an atmosphere now in fear of getting chucked out. Another problem is the away fans in the famous shed end. If the away fans were in the west upper or East upper then they wouldn't be heard as much as we have a bigger platform to make noise. There are many solutions to the atmosphere problem like singing sections, safe standing, cheaper tickets but the club has done nothing. As you know John our away support is brilliant, because we are standing all game, not being threatened to be kicked out and tickets are generally cheaper. The whole point i am trying to get across is ths all well and good Jose slagging off our support but will he actually do anything about it? because down thing needs to be done rather than just slagging off people who pay loads of money to be told to sit down or face ejection from the stadium. Sorry to bother you JT but as our greatest ever player and a fan yourself, I feel you have influence and understand what we are feeling.
Regards, Joe.

johnterry.26

Joe
I'm just about to go and train but will contact you after training today.
Please send your number. JT.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I agree with Mourinho.

[cosmicway 1,260]

There should be song writers & and psalms books for the fans like church.

That will keep the atmosphere lively.

Fans should be kept on their toes.

Have I mentioned that my Greek team is AEK of Athens ?

In 1989 we won the league championship and we scored in the 90th minute against Panionios who were very strong that year. It was under torrential rain and the ball got stuck in the mud - was going to be an easy clearance for the defenders otherwise. So it was Christmas-easter and new year's day all in one. As I jumped about in the terrace, I knock a fellas umbrella and it breaks into pieces. He was going to get soaked as a result, plus the umbrella became useless. But all he did was to hug and kiss me for the goal !
So it is a question for the organizers.

We need to avoid lewd verses though I should think. I 'm fed up with those.

[Myself 793]

Smithette, on 02 Nov 2014 - 7:29 PM, said:

Bit harsh on us female fans that go regularly and sing/chant just as loud as the rest, especially your last sentence. Of course there's some female fans that just get dragged along with boyfriends, husbands, etc, or go because it's 'cool', but in my experience, the fact that it's such a traditionally male crowd means that the women who actively choose to be a part of this aren't the problem. It's easy to group female supporters into a stereotype, but I've noticed just as many men in the crowds doing what the women are criticised for. I got deafened at Palace Away by the two women in front of me!

I agree with your other points though.

Anyway, I think it's a good thing that Mourinho made these comments, as it's sparked a high-profile discussion that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Also, I wish we could ban photography at the Bridge. The number of people who sit back and watch the match through their phone screens never fails to amaze me.

I know, fucking weird those people are. They take so many selfies you wonder if they actually know which teams are playing. Because watching a recorded game is better than watching it live amirite

[Fernando 6,376]

No, the away support is much better because those who are willing to travel up and down the country/all over Europe are naturally the more hardcore supporters.

So then the excuse of that Chelsea supporter that because home tickets are expensive is just that excuse.

[Rom2013 446]

This has everything to do with the policy in England against the "Ultras". The same thing happens in Real Madrid and Barcelona, in all the other stadiums in Spain they have great support.

The 2 worst atmospheres in Europe are Barcelona and Madrid. And CHelsea is not far from that.

Just put 500 young fans together singing and another 2000 will do it also.

And there are teams in terms of support better than others, we can't compare Anfield to the Bridge, they are a lot better.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

A Chelsea fan recently contacted JT via Instagram and the legend responded:

joecfcdavies

Hi JT, I thought I would write to you because I feel you're someone in the club who would understand, because you're a fan like us and many of us believe something needs to be done. As much as we all love Jose, his comments yesterday was not called for and was completely bang out of order for people who pay ridiculous prices each week to watch Chelsea. Here lies the first issue, pricing. It has become so expensive following football now that many proper fans are being priced out of going to Stamford bridge and being replaced by tourists who of course won't be singing or making noise. Another one problem is the stewarding, the problem is as soon as people try to stand up and make an atmosphere (you're obviously not gonna have atmosphere sitting down) we get threatened with ejection if we don't sit down so no one wants to make an atmosphere now in fear of getting chucked out. Another problem is the away fans in the famous shed end. If the away fans were in the west upper or East upper then they wouldn't be heard as much as we have a bigger platform to make noise. There are many solutions to the atmosphere problem like singing sections, safe standing, cheaper tickets but the club has done nothing. As you know John our away support is brilliant, because we are standing all game, not being threatened to be kicked out and tickets are generally cheaper. The whole point i am trying to get across is ths all well and good Jose slagging off our support but will he actually do anything about it? because down thing needs to be done rather than just slagging off people who pay loads of money to be told to sit down or face ejection from the stadium. Sorry to bother you JT but as our greatest ever player and a fan yourself, I feel you have influence and understand what we are feeling.

Regards, Joe.

johnterry.26

Joe

I'm just about to go and train but will contact you after training today.

Please send your number. JT.

That's a strong message and I'm happy JT got it.I fucking love this connection between the fans the captain, makes me very proud to be a blue.Happy days anyway, I think we are living some of the happiest days since Munich in football terms.

[cosmicway 1,260]

This has everything to do with the policy in England against the "Ultras". The same thing happens in Real Madrid and Barcelona, in all the other stadiums in Spain they have great support.

The 2 worst atmospheres in Europe are Barcelona and Madrid. And CHelsea is not far from that.

Just put 500 young fans together singing and another 2000 will do it also.

And there are teams in terms of support better than others, we can't compare Anfield to the Bridge, they are a lot better.

My first glimpse of ultras was in the mid-seventies.

Those were guys with bell trousers, the fashion of the seventies, but not from boutique shops - you could see they were shopping from uptown prams.

Some are horrendous.

Many are ok, but one time the club gave me ticket among ultras - by mistake.

Those characters threw the entire row of seats onto the pitch and they were threatening to eat the ears (!) of decent supporters nearby who did not like them destroying the seats. We were of course all with the same team. The opponent's ultras were right across, on the other side. So if I was on the other side as well, it was going to be my ghost writing here.

Those characters should be taken to the army for nine months every time and live with bears in the mountains.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

For sure Jose will be asked about it tomorrow. And as Fulham Broadway already mentioned earlier, yes Jose might praise the away fans as one of the best this time.

Also I could partly blame Rio and Barton absent, if at least one of them playing, the crowd will be more lively a bit, at least 'booed' more often, and Jose might never criticized about our support. Damn it those two.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho refuses to back down over criticism

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9547273/chelsea-boss-jose-mourinho-refuses-to-back-down-over-criticism?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has refused to back down from his scathing attack on the club's lacklustre support.

Mourinho criticised his team for a lack of intensity after the 2-1 home win over struggling QPR, but his biggest frustration was aimed at the home fans who he claimed were far too quiet during the game.

Chelsea are riding high at the top of the table, after winning all five of their Premier League home games this season, but Mourinho is mystified as to why the atmosphere is so poor at Stamford Bridge.

"We are the team to get less support in home matches. When compared to my previous time I think it's getting worse," he said.

"I don't question the passion and the love - I'm nobody to question that and I know clearly that is not true.

"I will always love them and respect them, but I don't know (why the atmosphere is poor)."

After two games in little more than 48 hours - the 1-1 draw at Manchester United and 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat of Shrewsbury - Mourinho was relieved to negotiate a difficult week.

"The week was very strange," added the Portuguese, whose side play at Maribor in Champions League Group G on Wednesday.

"You play Manchester United on the Sunday, on the Monday you travel. Some of the players had two days off.

"Some of the others had to go to Shrewsbury immediately. Some of them in Shrewsbury played 90 minutes.

"Some had a free day the next day (Thursday) but it was a working day for the others.

"It was a very strange week to work and to be focused. We tried, but the individual performances weren't there and the collective performance was not there too.

"We have to be more consistent and to play better. In the end we deserved to win, (but) the result could've been more than such a narrow result.

"It's important to win when you don't play so well as normal."