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I am a glory seeker ! I make no bones of it. I support Chelsea because when first choosing a team, I wanted to see my team win. I was growing up in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and at the time, Chelsea were winning. They were the fashionable team. The team of Hudson and Cooke, of Peter Osgood, the King of Stamford Bridge. It was the trendy team with players being the new stars of the Kings Road. The highlight was of course the FA Cup victory against Leeds in 1970. The first match that I went to was on Good Friday, April 1969 and I was immediately hooked.
However, for years after, I used to swear at my brother for introducing me to this team as I had to put up with 30 years of pain as we oscillated between the old first and second division. It was too late. There is no way that I could change my allegiance once I had made that initial decision. A Chelsea supporter cannot become an Arsenal fan.
There are very few reasons why people choose their particular football allegiance. In the old days, people used to support their local team. Newcastle United supporters had a Geordie connection, Aston Villa fans usually came from the Midlands. West Ham supporters had a local connection with the East end of London.
Television has changed all that.
The power of television has meant that wherever one is, one can now watch the Premiership, one can always get to watch the big Spanish matches, and those of Seria A. The result has been that the world has got smaller and the big entertainment in Singapore and China on a Saturday night is the afternoon kick offs in England rather than their local matches. This is the same in Malta.
Television also means that the clubs have become richer and in particular those who are in the Champions League. As they generate more funds, so they can buy better players, which means that they can win more often, which means that they can attract more supporters. Supporters and in particular, young supporters like to win and be associated with success. This is why there are so many Manchester United and Arsenal fans worldwide. They have been winners. On the whole, youngsters choose the first club that they support from the clubs that are most successful at the time.
Manchester United have been successful for years and even though older people claim to support them because of the Munich disaster in 1958, what they really mean is that they started following them because like me they were glory seekers. That team of Duncan Edwards and Bobby Charlton included a number of young stars.
There are some supporters in England who still follow their local team. However, people in for example, Watford, are likely to follow Watford and one other Premiership club. The vast majority of supporters like to follow winners and therefore most kids in England support their local team AND Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool or now Chelsea because these are the only teams that win consistently.
The number of new supporters that Chelsea have attracted over the last few years suggests that their fan base has tripled. This is simply because kids love to win. Nobody likes to be associated with winners as much as children. For example, I do not expect Juventus to pick up many new supporters this year.
Historically of course, there have been other factors. It used to be said that Catholics in Scotland supported Celtic whilst Protestants supported Rangers. The well-off Milanese supported Inter while the workers supported Milan. It used to be said that Barcelona was more than a football club as it was also a way of expressing one’s distaste for the central Government in Madrid. The number of black men in London aged between 25 and 35 who support Liverpool is disproportionate and is due to the influence of John Barnes who was the first black player who made it in the Premiership on a grand scale. The new television rights has changed much of that.
Recently, we had Real Madrid buying players in order to sell shirts rather than winning football matches. Beckham was bought at a bargain price as it is said that his transfer fee was immediately reimbursed from shirt sales. The problem is that though they bought all the Galacticos like Beckham, Ronaldo and Zidane, the reality is that they have not won anything since the uncharismatic Makelele left to come to Chelsea. The result has been that a great number of children started supporting Barcelona instead of Real Madrid! Recently Madrid have decided to buy Cannavaro and Emerson and to have a new manager like Capello - they are looking to become winners again. In this way they will be able to attract supporters.
Chelsea are buying players to win football matches because they know that this is what attracts supporters. Children are fickle, they are glory seekers. Chelsea know that.
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