The Pride of London
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The Pride of London’s 10,000th article: Chelsea fans’ origin stories

By The Pride of London Staff

Chelsea's German midfielder Kai Havertz (L) vies with Wolverhampton Wanderers' Belgian midfielder Leander Dendonckerduring the English Premier Lea gue football match between Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge in London on January 27, 2021. (Photo by NEIL HALL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by NEIL HALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea's German midfielder Kai Havertz (L) vies with Wolverhampton Wanderers' Belgian midfielder Leander Dendonckerduring the English Premier Lea gue football match between Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge in London on January 27, 2021. (Photo by NEIL HALL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by NEIL HALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – JULY 11: Jorginho of Chelsea runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Chelsea FC at Bramall Lane on July 11, 2020 in Sheffield, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Peter Powell/Pool via Getty Images)
SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – JULY 11: Jorginho of Chelsea runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Chelsea FC at Bramall Lane on July 11, 2020 in Sheffield, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Peter Powell/Pool via Getty Images) /

George Perry (Former Site Expert)

One of my favorite books as a kid made a single, incidental reference to Chelsea Football Club. 10 or so years later, probably within just a few months of Roman Abramovich supposedly flying over London, pointing down at Stamford Bridge, saying “that one,” I spent a 12-hour overnight layover in London wandering on foot around the city. My ambulation took me within a mile or so of the Bridge en route to the Tube station at Hammersmith, where I caught an early train out to Heathrow.

So there, I have two pre-Roman touchpoints to the club, even though neither had any conscious influence on my journey to being a Chelsea fan, which started around 2008.

That may not be enough to win the approbation of the match-going supporters, who are, depending on the day, the true heroes or victims in all of this. But to the extent they value an international fan base, even in this post-Super League world, they should be glad I had those earliest interactions with the club through a book in America, a solitary trek in nocturnal London and in front of a TV in Bahrain. We’re all better off that I came to identify with the club in the days before Twitter, instead forming my bond to the club as I caught up on their history and recognized that a club founded partly out of pique by two businessmen who acquired a lease on spec is a club with whom I could share a heart. That as I moved into a new career, I had the words to understand that I was surrounded by specialists in failure and that I was not and am not like the others. I am a Special One.

Had the gatekeepers of fandom or the FIFA fanboys had a chance to repulse me in those formative days—as they nearly did when I spent four years sharing the helm of this site—you, loyal reader, would have been deprived of those four years, 1600+ articles and countless tweets. Without those, you might have missed some of the 8,400 other gems (excluding the only one I regret publishing) that Khaled, Aj, Travis and Gabe and a few dozen Blues worldwide have all brought into being.

Congrats, PoL. To 10,000 more.

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