Latest cfcuk Fanzine Article (128) from the CSG
FREE TO JOIN THE CHELSEA SUPPORTERS GROUP
Following the CSG’s Annual General Meeting on November 26th it was decided to introduce free lifetime membership with immediate effect and for a trial period, dependant on take up.
The decision was taken in an effort to boost numbers and get more supporters on board with an organisation that has a permanent seat on the Fans Forum and , hopefully, getting a broader base of opinions and ideas to take to the forum in future.
While new members and fresh blood is always welcome, it is particularly relevant at this time when Ron Gourlay is continually criticising the forum for not being representative of the Chelsea support in general (and had done so that very morning at the second forum of the season).
Obviously the CSG cannot hope to represent the millions of overseas fans that the club now have but we genuinely feel we can properly speak up for a lot of the match going supporters that do attend at Stamford Bridge or at grounds up and down the country or across Europe.
Mr Gourlay feels that there needs to be more representation from fans from the Far East and USA. Of course as the CEO of Chelsea FC he is entitled to that opinion but in the opinion of the CSG the matters that concern overseas followers will be vastly different to those that concern match going supporters and with that in mind it may be time to split the Fans Forum into different sections.
One of Mr Gourlay’s constant complaints is that the same things are often raised at the Forum meetings. The short answer, of course, is if these matters were properly dealt with in the first place they would not come up again and again. The club clearly missed the point when they appointed a fans liaison officer with no stand alone contact phone number or email address who could have dealt with many of the complaints on a day to day basis.
If you wish to take advantage of the free membership please send your details to the link shown here, or on any one of the membership forms that have been printed in cfcuk to the relevant address given.
This article is being written the day after the Newcastle away game and it was great to see and hear the fantastic support we had up there. Where the media get the “magnificent Geordie support” from is anyone’s guess and the “It’s so quiet, Sports Direct” chant was both funny and appropriate! The fact that Chelsea initially only took a smaller allocation for the game and then had to take more spoke volumes for the travelling supporters, many of whom were on the road at 5.30am for the ludicrous, TV arranged lunch time kick off.
With games coming thick and fast this time of year and many people having to pick and choose the matches to attend because of economic circumstances, the FA Cup draw gave us a cheap game with the home tie against Portsmouth. The down side to this is the fact that, once again, we will have to give up the Shed End to 6000 away supporters (Pompey now only taking 3,000 so, Shed Season Ticket Holders get their own seat for this one – Ed).
The sight of that many Liverpool fans in the ground for the recent Carling Cup game being allowed to do what they wanted with banners and ball stealing surely beggars the question why our club lets them get away with it especially when they are only too keen to eject home supporters for the heinous crime of “persistent standing?”
According to the club talks are still under way with both Thomas Cook and the appropriate railway company for running a club train to Swansea for our game there on January 31st. With there being no chance of getting a normal service train home after the game we hope that arrangements can be made for the train and good notice given to allow supporters to book for it.
A nice subsidy for the cost of the travel would, of course, also be very welcome in these hard times! In the light of rumours circulating that the Chelsea players had agreed to pay for the train and provide it free of charge for the travelling supporters and then being refused permission to do so by the club management, it is surely the least they could do!
Article from the latest edition (128) of the cfcuk fanzine
Posted by Cliff Auger – Juvenile rep of the CSG