[quote=âSledgehammerâ]Most of the Shed and the Matthew Harding Stands were standing for the 90 minutes singing on and off, and I couldnât hear a peep out of the Liverpool fans until they got the first goal. The celebrations for each of the two Lampard goals were fairly loud and messy with bodies flying everywhere etc (forgive them for not marching onto the pitch and cuffing the opposition keeper), and then by the end most of the ground was standing and singing.
Itâs worth bearing in mind that Chelsea fans arenât sewer dwelling unemployed peasants like a lot of United, Liverpool, and Celtic fans. Chelsea has no Munich disaster, no Hillsborough disaster, none of that shite. Most of the fans have jobs and other things going on in their lives apart from football, which is why you see the odd lad at the game in a suit, something you wouldnât see in the northern hovels.
Iâm sure farmer will come on saying the same thing as the rest of you, but he should admit that the Liverpool fans didnât get going until they scored the first goal, and didnât really get going until they got the second. Last Wednesday night it was all about Chelsea fans singing âwhereâs your famous atmosphere?â, so not a lot can have changed in the meantime. Everyone knows the atmosphere is always better when youâre away from home, and anyway Anfield has better acoustics than SB. Iâve been at 2 United home games in the league this season, and one European away, and Iâve been to 2 Chelsea home league games. Atmosphere was definitely better in SB.
Again, donât tell me how you âwould feelâ, and how you âwould celebrateâ if you took the 90 minute emotional battering that the fans did last night. Just come back when youâve actually done it.[/quote]
Chelsea have a core element who wear suits to games so the atmosphere is never going to compete with other teams? Sure thing. My posts do generally tend to express how I feel as theyâre my opinions. In short, Chelsea couldnât sell out their Champions League Final allocation last year so itâs unsurprising that there wasnât a raucous outpuring of emotion and unadulterated joy at the end. They appear to have a large element of consumers rather than supporters but Iâm sure they were happy to have received value for money last night. Again, my opinion but I felt the âfanâ reaction summed up how sanitised the game in England has become bar a few exceptions.
A ridiculous point also about being too drained to celebrate - Iâve both attended and watched on TV plenty of dramatic matches in a wide range of sports where supporters have went apeshit at the end. I know youâd rather I didnât tell you how I feel but youâre speaking on behalf of the entire Chelsea support and who the fook are you to to conclude with certainty how they were all feeling? By the way, Wexford defeating Kilkenny at the death in 2004, Celtic beating the Huns in the 94th minute last season and The Undertaker getting the better of Shawn Michaels after an epic Wrestlemania showdown are three examples of emotionally draining matches where I have done it, as you put it.
Itâs my contention that a supporter reaction to incredible games like the 3 mentioned above would usually involve some combination of pitch invasion, carnage in the stands, rousing reception given to the team/combatants and a prolonged ovation/singsong after the final whistle. You disagree but youâre assuming incorrectly that Iâve never witnessed drama at a sport event. Perhaps it can be summed up by the fact that Chelseaâs fans being more professionally successful than opposing teams didnât want to risk a tear in their suits and so settled instead for polite applause, akin to their witnessing of an above average show in the theatre.