Chelsea fans save football as team shows what they fought for

Chelsea’s higherups made a monumentally stupid decision that pitted them against the fans that make the club what it is in its heart. Fans turned up in droves outside of Stamford Bridge to make their voice heard. Their club would not be taken from them by Roman Abramovich, the board, or anyone else.

Shortly thereafter, rumors broke that Chelsea would be pulling out of the Super League. Supposedly, the wheels for that had been in motion internally even before the fans protested, but it is hard to deny the call being made when it was wasn’t attached to the protests.

Then Chelsea still had a match to play. It ended 0-0 between Chelsea and Brighton. Not the result fans wanted, but it was the results fans fought for and that’s the point of this ordeal.

What is football about? Ask 100 people, get 100 answers. But at the end of the day, nearly everyone would agree that they want to see the result be fair. Its why, nearly every weekend, VAR is an issue. It is why VAR exists at all. At the end of the day, fans want to see their team do the work required to get the job done.

Had Chelsea not built itself up through the 90s and early 2000s, would Roman Abramovich even have been interested in buying them? Even with Abramovich’s money, the team of mostly young soon to be stars had to break the duopoly of Arsenal and Manchester United. Ask Atletico Madrid fans how easy that is with or without money. The Blues had to earn their Champions League victory, overcoming obstacle after obstacle with a team that was supposed to have missed their chance.

That bites both ways too, which is what the clubs in the Super League feared. The ones in the Premier League are certainly looking at the likes of Leicester, West Ham, and Everton with concern right now. But again, that’s the point.

Brighton drew the Blues 0-0. That is not the result Chelsea fans wanted after everything that happened. But it is exactly the point they protested outside of the Bridge in favor of. That on any day, a team like Brighton can come to Stamford Bridge and they have to earn their point. Not long ago, Chelsea would have been on the other side of a clash like this where they had to earn their point.

That’s what was fought for. Earning it. Yes, coming from a Chelsea fan on a Blues blog that seems hypocritical. But the Super League was never about earning anything. It was pay to play. The giants of the game, current but mostly previous, setting up a system where they were guaranteed supremacy. That isn’t the game fans fell in love with. With people like those that protested at Stamford Bridge, it never will be.

Brighton earned their point against Chelsea. With top four once again on the forefront of everyone’s minds, Chelsea will have to earn their points to make top four. That’s the beauty that fans just spent days fighting for. With any luck, that beauty will never be threatened again.