Chelsea fanbase in Holland

[BlueLion. 21,491]

We have a lot of Dutch members on TalkChelsea, so I'm led to presume we have a large fanbase over in the Netherlands? If so, what makes the team so popular over there?

This is mainly aimed at the likes of Badboy but feel free to comment, this is mainly to satisfy a question that's always begged for an answer.

[zolayes 14,489]

WE had Dutch players with high profiles in our recent past JFH ...Ruud ...Ed de Goey ...and Robben ,,,they might have attracted support

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Correct, that was the line of thought I was taking. However you can argue the same of other nationalities, like our history of having some great French players (Desailly, Makelele, Deschamps, Gallas) for example.

[Badboy 1,526]

ruud gullit was one of the greatest dutch players ever, when he became chelsea coach many dutch people became chelsea fans. Plus chelsea has had a lot of dutch influence over the years with robben hiddink JFH and frank arnesen.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Ah, so it was Gullit's status as manager then.

I'm surprised about Arnesen though... I know he discovered many talents in Holland but how has he improved the Dutch support for Chelsea?

[Badboy 1,526]

Ah, so it was Gullit's status as manager then.

I'm surprised about Arnesen though... I know he discovered many talents in Holland but how has he improved the Dutch support for Chelsea?

Frank arnesen is is a major major fav of the psv support because of his ability to find youngsters then bringing them into the first team then selling them for huge profits like robben van nistelrooy ronaldo and jaap stam. Frank takes all the credit for it because he found them, so many psv supports love him for that. so any were he goes psv fans want his club to win !

[Vincent 402]

After i started to like soccer, I was like watching it once a month as little kid. I wasn't very interested in soccer, when I watched Chelsea on the tele against Arsenal if im correct - I started to like it. I also started play soccer myself, when I saw the second match of Chelsea I was sold. I was watching all the news of Chelsea and watching the games (summary's - if thats the correct word). It's true that Chelsea had some good Dutch players and we still have some for the future. I wouldn't say thats the reason why I followed Chelsea. Maybe it is the reason why i KEPT following them, Hasselbaink, Ed de Goey, Gullit.

If I could tell it in Dutch it would be a lot easier for me. Its hard for to articulate myself. There will probaly be a view spelling mistakes - excuses for that.

Forza Chelsea!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Your English is excellent - certainly better than my Dutch! I totally get where you're coming from. Thanks for the reply, its something I've always wondered about.

[Vincent 402]

Your English is excellent - certainly better than my Dutch! I totally get where you're coming from. Thanks for the reply, its something I've always wondered about.

Thank you very much! You're welcome mate! :tophat:

[Term-X 7,891]

education system is much better in holland, if you ask someone if they speak english as a tourist in amsterdam for example they will take it as a mild insult.

Praatjes vullen geen gaatjes.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Terminator X

[Vincent 402]

education system is much better in holland, if you ask someone if they speak english as a tourist in amsterdam for exmaple they will take it as a mild insult.

Haha! I was in Amsterdam like one week ago, I'm from the north of Netherlands myself. The shops in Amsterdam are totally different then in my city. I think there are like 40-50% foreign owners when we went in the shop they asked us first if we speak English. Also when we went to a shop with a Dutch owner he answered us in English not in Dutch. Also the looking for staff papers behind the glass are always whritten in English. Speaking English is a must for staff in Amsterdam so many tourists from so many different countrys.

[Luke 60]

As mentioned, I'm guessing our Dutch support started with Ruud Gullit in 95, and hopefully not anything to do with Winston Bogarde lol.

The same can be said for our Italian following when Vialli, Di Matteo and Zola came over and so on.